Roberto Gavaldon Movies
Mexican filmmaker Roberto Gavaldon was one of his country's leading directors from the early '40s through the late '70s. Gavaldon started out in 1933 as a movie actor. He then spent much of the decade assisting other directors before making his own directorial debut. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
A drama with plenty of symbolism, this film centers around a black boy found in the jungle near a waterfall by an elderly Mexican plantation owner, who raises the child as his own. His youngest daughter falls in love with the boy as they grow older, and they also grow affectionate with a black panther chained in their courtyard, which mysteriously gets loose and runs off. The mother, who hates the panther, tries to get romantic with the young man, but he refuses her. She runs away and is killed by the panther. The owner, who is not comfortable with the interracial romance, forces the young man into the job of mushroom taster: if he eats a poisoned mushroom and dies, the pickers will know which areas to stay away from. He escapes and has a liaison with the daughter, who then goes off by herself to the waterfall and meets the panther, which kills her in spite of her affection for it. The young man then returns to the jungle. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isela Vega, Ofelia Medin, (more)
- 1975
When the elderly, wealthy customer of an aging prostitute invites her to marry him, she accepts. Soon she finds herself the object of attention from the old man's son and his business partner. The business partner is not only attempting to woo her, but is also attracted to the son. After the old man dies, she marries the partner but winds up bedding the son. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amparo Rivelles, John Moulder-Brown, (more)
Cockfights are an important aspect of Mexican tradition as illustrated in this story of two competitors who gamble everything on a big cockfight. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1960
This drama is adapted from a novel by B. Traven and contains a potent anti-capitalist message as it tells the story of a peasant who truly loves the land he lives upon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1960
B. Traven, the reclusive author of Treasure of the Sierra Madre, used an old Mexican folk tale as the basis for his novel The Third Guest. The book was in turn adapted for film as Macario. Ignacio Tarso plays a poverty-stricken peasant who goes on a hunger strike, hoping that someone will take pity on him and give him a turkey dinner. Torres' wife Pina Pellecier steals a turkey, and just as Torres is about to wolf down his food, he is visited by Death (Enrique Lucerio). The grim reaper offers to bestow magical powers upon Torres in exchange for part of the meal. Torres is gifted with the ability to restore health to sick people, but he is permitted to utilize this gift only upon persons of Death's choosing. At first, Torres is lauded as a hero, but before long he is being shunned as an instrument of Satan. Torres' last-ditch effort to redeem himself causes him to renege on his bargain with Death--and you know what that means. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ignacio Tarso, Pina Pellicer, (more)
Though Miercoles de Ceniza was released in English-speaking countries as Ash Wednesday, it bears no relation to the much-later Elizabeth Taylor vehicle of the same name. Virtually plotless, the film is a paean to the pomp, ceremony and splendor of the Catholic Church, as seen through the eyes of individual parishioners. The cinematography of Agustin Martinez Solares is superb, even when very little is going on. And the presence of Maria Felix and Arturo de Cordova in the cast assured the film a respective box-office take, despite its overall lack of a storyline. American distribution of Miercoles de Ceniza was hampered by the talkiness of the script, which required more than the usual alottment of subtitles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Felix, Arturo de Cordova, (more)
This typical Mexican melodrama is set in a coastal fishing village where a wealthy fisherman (Pedro Armendariz) lives with his wife (Maria Felix) and young son (Juanito Musquiz). Their lives are turned upside down when an American of dubious morality (Jack Palance) comes into town. The American and the fisherman's wife had been lovers years and years ago -- and now the fisherman begins to suspect that the son he always thought was his, is really the offspring of this foreign intruder. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Palance, Maria Felix, (more)
- 1956
This jungle adventure is set deep within the thick selva of Vera Cruz where a handsome explorer leads an expedition to search for the plants needed to make cortisone, the newly discovered cure for gout and rheumatoid arthritis. During the hunt, they run across an eccentric man and his lovely jungle daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Judging by the number of times it has shown up on Spanish-language cable TV, La Escandida is one of the most popular and best beloved of the Maria Felix vehicles. The star runs the emotional gamut as Gabriela, who rises from the depths of poverty to the heights of Mexican society as a much-sought-after courtesan. Eventually, however, Gabriela proves that she is still true to her peasant heritage by casting her lot with the rebels in the 1916 Mexican civil war. Pedro Armendariz co-stars as Felipe, the charismatic rebel leader who wins Gabriela's heart -- and inadvertently causes her downfall. La Escandida is stunningly photographed by the late, great Gabriel Figueroa. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Felix, Carlos Agosti, (more)
- 1955
This Mexican melodrama was released above the border as After the Storm. The principal characters are a pair of twin lighthouse keepers. They try their best to live together with their wives under the same roof, but the delicate balance is shattered when one of the brothers falls in love with his sister-in-law. When one twin is lost during a storm, the other assumes his identity, with the expected romantic complications. If Despues de la Termenta sounds familiar, it is because the screenplay was inspired by the 1946 Bette Davis vehicle A Stolen Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ramon Gay, Marga Lopez, (more)
Taking a brief respite from his Hollywood career, Ricardo Montalban essays a role in his native language in the Mexican Sombra Verde (Green Shadow). Montalban plays an adventurous young chemist who goes on a scientific expedition in the tropical regions of Vera Cruz. After battling all sorts of natural enemies, Montalban comes face to face with a human foe, fugitive-from-justice Victor Parra. The two men come to blows when our hero falls in love with Parra's provocatively garbed daughter Ariadna Welter. Incidentally, the film's leading lady was the sister of actress Linda Christian, then the wife of Tyrone Power. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricardo Montalban, Ariadne Welter, (more)
- 1954
Filmed in Mexico, The Littlest Outlaw was produced for Walt Disney Studios by Larry Lansburgh, who'd previous turned out several of the best Disney live-action short subjects. The hero is ten-year-old Pablito (Andres Velasquez), the stepson of a mean-spirited horse trainer. Unable to abide the cruelties inflicted by his stepfather on a prize jumping horse, Pablito "liberates" the animal and runs away from home. Along the way, the boy and horse make the acquaintance of a kindly priest (Joseph Calleia). Worried that the padre will turn him over to the authorities, Pablito runs off again, and this time is separated from the horse. A band of gypsies capture the animal and sell him to a bullfight arena, where the horse is used to lure the bulls out of the pen. Pablito and the priest manage to rescue the horse and return it to its rightful owner, a powerful Mexican general (Pedro Armendariz). Fortunately, the general is a good-hearted soul, and it is he who paves the way for the film's happy ending. Moderately successful at the box-office, The Littlest Outlaw soon became a mainstay of Disney's many TV anthology series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pedro Armendáriz, Joseph Calleia, (more)
Camelia is a woman who has been hurt by love but who is willing to give it another chance with her new, young and caring lover. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
The Spanish language romantic drama Las Tres Perfectas Casadas features Mexican film star Mauricio Garces as one of the points in a love triangle. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miroslava Stern
- 1949
La Casa Chica is a sad little tale about two sad little people. Dolores Del Rio, still dazzlingly beautiful at 45, stars as Amalia Estrado, an intern at the National University medical school in Mexico City. Amalia becomes the assistant to a research scientist (Roberto Canedo), who is engaged to marry wealthy social lioness Lucila del Castillo (Miroslava Stern). Be that as it may, Amalia and the scientist fall in love, but fate, that cruel jester, is against them from the start. In the honored Hollywood tradition, La Casa Chica shows the audience that adultery is bad but fun while it lasts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio
