Jose Luis Tortosa Movies

Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls is a romantic drama set against the turbulent tapestry of the Spanish Civil War. Gary Cooper plays Robert Jordan, an idealistic American fighting with a Spanish guerilla band. He is assigned to blow up a crucial bridge in order to halt the enemy's progress. He falls in love with Maria (Ingrid Bergman), a young peasant girl who's joined the fight after being ill-used by enemy troops. Pablo (Akim Tamiroff), the eternally drunken leader of the guerillas, resents Jordan's attentions toward Maria, and he refuses to help Jordan in his sabotage work. Pablo's wife Pilar (Oscar-winner Katina Paxinou) takes over command of the guerillas and helps Jordan by arranging horses for the band's departure after their job is done. The man supplying the horses (Joseph Calleia) is killed, and Jordan is left to finish his task minus a means to escape. For Whom the Bell Tolls was a long, faithful adaptation of the Hemingway novel, with excellent performances, torrid love scenes, and first-rate Technicolor photography. Available for many years only in the 130-minute reissue version, it was restored to nearly its full original length of 168 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To those under the age of 60, it should be noted that the title of this lively Universal filler was inspired by a popular song of 1941. Carrying over their antics from RKO Radio's "Mexican Spitfire" series, Lupe Velez and Leon Errol star respectively as Havana nightclub entertainer Madame La Zonga and South American aristocrat Senor Alvarez. What the audience knows but La Zonga doesn't is that Alvarez is a phony, who's no more Latin than a Coney Island hot dog. While the stars carry the comedy burden of the film, a romantic subplot develops between ambitious bandleader Steve (Charles Lang) and his Cuban sweetie Rosita (Helen Parrish). Astonishingly, this 62-minute film manages to crowd in an abundance of musical numbers, including the title tune. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

South-of-the-border singing sensation Tito Guizar stars in Cuando Canta la Ley. Guizar is cast as Mexican secret-service agent Alberto Gallindo, dedicated to tracking down the murderer of a fellow agent. With the aid of his erstwhile sidekick Adobe (Martin Garralaga), Alberto follows the trail of evidence to the hacienda owned by pretty Maria Luisa Pineda (Tana). In the tradition of Hollywood's Gene Autry, our hero gets to sing a lot and romance his lady fair before hunkering down to the detection business at hand. Cuando Canta La Ley was distributed in Mexico and in North American Spanish-speaking communities by Paramount Pictures, for whom Tito Guizar had appeared in The Big Broadcast of 1938. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The real "message to Garcia" was delivered by an American lieutenant to Cuban rebel General Garcia, asking for the General's help in the Spanish-American war. The fact that the lieutenant made his way to Garcia in absolute safety was ignored in 20th Century-Fox's Message to Garcia--which is just as well, since otherwise the movie would have been eight minutes long. In the film version, lieutenant John Boles is guided through the treacherous Cuban jungle by Barbara Stanwyck, doing her best to convince us that she's an Hispanic senorita. Also along for the trip is renegade marine Wallace Beery, who may not be as friendly as he seems. Fighting off Spaniards and spies at every turn, Boles successfully completes his mission. As history, Message to Garcia is about as reliable as the Hearst newspaper dispatches which triggered the Spanish-American war in the first place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Killed in a plane crash in June of 1935, Argentine musical star Carlos Gardel was well on his way to becoming a legend when his final starring feature, Tango Bar, was released in the U.S. Though well past middle age, Gardel convincingly plays an amorous young cabaret vocalist named Ricardo, who falls in love with gorgeous dancer Laura (Rosita Moreno). To rescue the heroine from a gang of crooks, Ricardo puts his own life on the line, nearly losing same in the process. The villain, played by Enrique de Rosas, is a government official, reflecting the "outlaw" status of the tango in much of South America. Though filmed in Spanish and set in Argentina, Tango Bar was lensed in its entirety in Paramount's East Coast studios at Astoria, Long Island. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide