Fernando Rey Movies
An architecture student, Fernando Rey interrupted his studies to fight in the Spanish Civil War against the Frangiste. He entered films as an extra in 1940. Resembling a Goya painting come to life, the cadaverous Rey is best remembered internationally for his appearances in such Luis Bunuel projects as Viridiana (1961), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), and for his work in such costume epics as The Last Days of Pompeii (1960), The Castillians (1961), and the made-for-TV Jesus of Nazareth. In 1977, he won a Cannes Film Festival award for his work in Elisa Vida Mia. Often cast as a world-weary, cosmopolitan villain, Fernando Rey's most celebrated performance within this character range was as drug lord Alain Charnier in the two French Connection pictures of the 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Oz must call on his magic to overcome the forces of evil. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1947
This Spanish cinemazation of Cervantes' Don Quixote may well have cost more money than any previous adaptation of that literary classic. Rafael Rivelles stars as the ageing, windmill-tilting knight-errant, while Juan Calvo plays Quixote's faithful manservant Sancho Panza. In fact, it is Calvo's sure-handed comic performance that keeps this elephantine production afloat. At 138 minutes, the film proved too much of a good thing for American filmgoers, many of whom were probably still resentful that they'd been force-fed Cervantes in high-school Spanish Class. Herman G. Weinberg, a film critic and historian best known for his essays on director Ernst Lubitsch, wrote the English-language subtitles for Don Quixote de la Mancha. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rafael Rivelles, Juan Calvo, (more)
- 1948
The Mad Queen is Doña Juana (Aurora Bautista), the daughter of Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. In truth, she is no more mad than anyone else in Spain, but sinister forces have her declared insane so that they may claim the throne. Left unbalanced by these court intrigues, Doña Juana is driven further into lunacy by the philandering of her husband, Don Felipe (well played by Fernando Rey)---better known to history as King Philip. Though Aurora Bautista plays the title character, the film is stolen by the moody histrionics of Sara Montiel, cast as Don Felipe's moorish mistress. The English subtitles for The Mad Queen were written by noted film scholar (and Erich von Stroheim and Ernst Lubitsch biographer) Herman G. Weinberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aurora Bautista, Fernando Rey, (more)
- 1952
Bienvenido Mr. Marshall (Welcome Mr. Marshall) is a comedy predicated on the Marshall Plan, which provided American financial aid to deserving European communities. When two Marshall-Plan representatives announce plans to drive through a small Spanish town on the Iberian peninsula, the mayor, in cahoots with a publicity agent, intends to make as good an impression as possible. As a result, all signs of Western culture are hidden, and the town is transformed into a picture-postcard version of Old Iberia. As the townsfolk await the arrival of the Americans, each citizen conjures up visions (mostly inaccurate) of what life might be like in the good old USA. The satirical thrust of Bienvenido Mr. Marshall was misinterpreted as "leftist" by some observers when the film opened at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lolita Sevilla, Alberto Romea, (more)
- 1954
Robert Simmons stars as a secret agent assigned to the Tangier beat (hence the title). Simmons is assisted by songstress June Powell. The head of a gun-running gang captures Simmons and Powell, and for a while the outlook is decidedly grim. But Powell effects an escape and notifies the police. Slow going until its final reel, Tangier Assignment is a good example of the sort of espionage fare that audiences were willing to accept until being spoiled by James Bond in the sixties. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Spanish Marcelino Pan y Vino (Marcelino Bread and Wine) is a seriocomic effort about a foundling child. Left on the doorstep of a monastery, the boy is adopted by the monks and raised by them. The film then flashes forward to the kid's sixth year, by which time he has developed into a mischievous young sprout. Yearning for friends his own age, the boy inadvertently causes all sorts of havoc when he ventures into town in search of companionship. It will take a miracle to undo the boy's damage -- and on cue, that miracle manifests itself before the wide-eyed villagers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pablito Calvo, Rafael Rivelles, (more)
Per its title, Faustina is a distaff variation on the Faust legend. In this case, Mexican film favorite Maria Felix plays a woman who sells her soul to the Devil in exchange for beauty and wisdom. Actually, she bargains with the Devil's assistant (Fernando Gomez), who happens to be one of the woman's former lovers. The would-be demon spends the rest of the film trying to thwart the poor woman's happiness, but eventually declares that he's still in love with her. Not to be taken seriously, Faustina was an enjoyable digression from the usual portentous fare at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Felix, Fernando Fernán Gómez, (more)
- 1957
Financed in the U.S. and filmed in Spain, Day of Fear was one of the first films to be directed at a bilingual audience. Essentially an American gangster melodrama with a Latino accent, the film stars Fernando Rey as a Madrid mobster who forms an uneasy alliance with a young doctor (Ruben Rojo) and a nurse (Elena Barrios). The doctor needs the mobster's aid in stemming a deadly epidemic, which rages unchecked because of the crooked activities of a dishonest medico (Rolf Wanka). His sense of humanity aroused, the gangster strong-arms his associates into releasing the rare drugs necessary to stem the epidemic. Day of Fear comes to a particularly exciting climax at a deserted amusement park. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruben Rojo, Elena Barrios, (more)
- 1957
Two of Spain's leading film personalities - star Carmen Sevila and director Juan Antonio Bardem - pool their talents for La Venganza. The Steinback-like scenario finds Sevila playing the sister of Raf Vallone, a recently released convict. Convinced that one of a group of migrant workers betrayed her brother to the authorities, Sevila insists that Vallone seek revenge. Complications begin piling up when the girl falls in love with the so-called informer (Jorge Mistral). La Venganza was one of Spain's entries in the Cannes Film Festival of 1958. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carmen Sevilia, Raf Vallone, (more)
This Brigitte Bardot vehicle is better known by its American title, The Night Heaven Fell. Bardot plays a young, sensuous French girl named Ursula, who arrives in a Spanish mountain community to visit her aunt (Alida Valli) and uncle (Pepe Nieto). It isn't long before uncle is killed by handsome stranger Lamberto (Stephen Boyd). Against her better judgement, Ursula falls in love with Lamberto, and helps him to elude the authorities-thereby beating her Aunt (who also loves Lamberto) to the punch . The Night Heaven Fell was the third feature-length directorial effort of Bardot's then-husband Roger Vadim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alida Valli, Stephen Boyd, (more)
- 1959
Filmed inexpensively on location, Mission to Morocco (aka Mission in Morocco) stars Lex Barker, Juli Reding and Fernando Rey. Ex-Tarzan Barker is cast as a wealthy American oil man. While in Morocco on business, he is forced into a murder investigation. The key to the mystery is a microfilm, showing the locations of newly discovered oil deposits. The saleability of Mission to Morocco might have been improved had the producers shelled out the extra money for color film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Set during one day in Retiro Park in Madrid, this series of static skits involves people interacting in the park or sitting on benches, and talking. People passing through the park include a gentleman looking for a wealthy woman to romance. The woman he encounters, and other characters, alternate between the comic and the melodramatic as the skits unfold. Based mainly on dialogue rather than action, this day in the park features talented actors with not that much to say underneath it all. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luisa della Noce, Fernando Rey, (more)
- 1959
A Marquis (Francisco Rabal) has a comfortable, predictable life until the women in his life inspire him to greater deeds. He first loves the wife of a Spanish nobleman, then the mistress of a Mexican dictator. He is convinced by his experiences to join the forces of the Mexican revolution. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Felix, Francisco Rabal, (more)
- 1959
An oil executive (Lex Barker) is forced to travel to Morocco to investigate the murder of one of his employees. While there, he tries to find a valuable microfilm (which points out the location of large oil deposits) but begins to realize that others are looking for it also. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1960
This was ironically the last film made by director Mario Bonnard, and it follows the pattern of the classic Italian costume dramas about macho or mythic heroes, in this case, a certain Glaucus (Steve Reeves, the glorious Greco-Roman past could not occur without him). Taking the cue from its larger-than-life hero, the story, set in 79 A.D., bounds from one spectacle to another without undue concern for nuanced dialogue or subtleties of character. Glaucus has to single-handedly tackle the brutal thugs that are taking over Pompeii and is forced to fight off a lion and a crocodile -- though not all at the same time. He overcomes wounds and enemies in preparation for his toughest fight, that of rescue and survival when Mt. Vesuvius blows its top, the biggest and final spectacle in a series of battleground fireworks. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Reeves, Christine Kaufmann, (more)
- 1960
This hit-and-miss, low-budget comedy is a first effort for director Mariano Ozores and stars his two brothers Jose Luis and Antonio Ozores), two of Spain's more recognized comics. Although this generation of the family dedicated itself to humor, this tale of a fake corpse is not their best offering. The heirs to a fortune are anxious to get their hands on the money that is waiting for them, but are in no mood to wait and let nature (or mayhem) take its course. So a few amateur undertakers agree to prep a (living) body for a ceremonial burial at sea -- thereby opening the door that unlocks the inheritance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Luis Ozores, Elisa Montes, (more)
- 1960
This lurid Spanish thriller involves the efforts of a revolutionary plastic surgeon (Fernando Rey) to graft a lovely new face on a former mental patient (Lisa Gaye). Though she requires regular applications of an experimental skin cream in order to render the new look permanent, she escapes into hiding after committing murder to cover her shadowy past. When her supply of the treatment runs out -- on her honeymoon, no less -- she undergoes a grotesque transformation and sets out on the requisite murderous rampage. A bit of impromptu (and sloppy) cosmetic surgery was also performed on this film by its U.S. distributor, with additional English dialogue scenes haphazardly edited into the already confusing original. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this biblical drama, set during the waning years of the Roman Empire, the trouble begins as the Christians continue to be persecuted. The daughter of a wealthy patrician whips the stuffing out of a newly purchased Christian slave who stubbornly refuses to wrestle in the ring. Later the girl and the slave fall in love, and she comes to understand their plight. She then learns that some of her closest friends and relatives are closet Christians. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
