René Cardona

Born: 1905-10-09

René Cardona (October 8, 1905 – April 25, 1988) was a Mexican director, actor, producer, screenwriter, and film editor, who was prominent during part of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. René Cardona was born in Havana, Cuba, on October 8, 1905, and began medical school in Cuba, but due to the political problems of the island, he and his family moved to New York City in 1926, where he continued his studies. Economic circumstances experienced by his family caused him to leave his studies. He befriended famous actor Rodolfo Valentino and obtained work as an extra in several films, until 1929 when he produced, wrote, directed and starred in the first Spanish-language film made in Hollywood, Sombras habaneras (Havana Shadows). He also had the opportunity to work in various positions in the film industry such as second assistant, technical advisor and first assistant director, and learned film and lighting technique. In 1932, he moved to Mexico, where he debuted as an actor and met Julieta Zacarías, sister of the director Miguel Zacarías, and soon after married her. His wife's support would be central to his career in Mexican cinema, in films Mano a mano (1932) directed by Ramón Peón and Sobre las olas (1932) directed by Zacarías. At this early stage as an actor, Cardona participated in three key Mexican films Marihuana (1936), El baúl macabro (1936) and Allá en el Rancho Grande (1936), which officially inaugurate the golden age of Mexican cinema and made stars of its protagonists: Esther Fernández, Tito Guízar, and Cardona.


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Cyclone

as uncredited
Released: 1978-07-21

An airplane goes down in the ocean during a storm and a few survivors find refuge on a small...

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The Children of Sanchez

as uncredited
Released: 1978-06-16

Hall Bartlett directs the rural drama The Children of Sanchez, based on the tome The Children of...

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The Brainiac

as Baltasar de Meneses / Luis Meneses
Released: 1962-11-09

In 1661 Mexico, the Baron Vitelius of Astara is sentenced to be burned alive by the Holy...

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Jesús, el niño Dios

as Baltazar (as René Cardona Sr.)
Released: 1971-12-16

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El conde de Montecristo

as Fernando Mondego / Conde de Morcef
Released: 1942-04-29

Adaptation of Dumas' swashbuckler classic.

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Santo vs. the Head Hunters

as uncredited
Released: 1971-12-02

Santo battles a mad scientist reviving the dead

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The Spirit's Canyon

as Manuel
Released: 1943-02-25

The love between María Ángela and Fernando is impossible because there's an ancient history of...

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The Vengeance of the Crying Woman

as Severo Segovia
Released: 1974-08-29

Santo and Mantequilla Nápoles team up to end the curse of La Llorona by getting ahold of a...

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A los cuatro vientos

as uncredited
Released: 1955-06-04

Career-biography of a fictional ranchera singer, played by Rosita Quintana.

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La vida de Pedro Infante

as Director
Released: 1966-04-20

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Un par de robachicos

as uncredited
Released: 1967-11-09

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Un novio para dos hermanas

as Sr. Mateos
Released: 1967-07-06

Pili and uncle Angel travel to Mexico to see Mili dancing at her debut in a theater in the...

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The Three Perfect Married

as Jorge
Released: 1953-06-08

Three married couples gather to celebrate the eighteenth anniversary of their marriage mourning...

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La Casa Que Arde de Noche

as American
Released: 1985-06-28

A prostitute enters a brothel and establishes a rivalry faking love with the old owner.

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La vorágine: abismos de amor

as uncredited
Released: 1949-04-20

It narrates the adventures of the poet Arturo Cova and his lover Alicia, a story of passion and...

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La faraona

as (uncredited)
Released: 1956-12-10

Pastora Heredia is a beautiful gypsy with great character who always tries to help the needy....

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When Love Laughs

as uncredited
Released: 1930-12-26

José Mojica plays a singing vacquero who stops off in la cantina to have muchas cervezas with...

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Mulata

as Guevara
Released: 1954-07-16

In the port of Havana, two biracial children, Mateo (Ricardo Román) and Caridad (Ninón Sevilla)...

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Operación carambola

as Scorpio Leader
Released: 1968-08-29

Two clumsy and absent-minded spies (Capulina and Chespirito) are hired to save the world from a...

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Savage Summer

as Papá
Released: 1980-08-07

The legend of their beach days, plus nights of sex.

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Con su amable permiso

as uncredited
Released: 1940-11-13

Unassuming elderly gent is installed as Mayor, by a cabal of financiers that expect to use him...

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Santo vs. the King of Crime

as Sr. Roberto de la Llata
Released: 1962-11-30

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Allá en el Rancho Grande

as Felipe
Released: 1936-10-07

Two good friends — the owner and general manager of a ranch — fall in love with the same girl at...

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Guns and Guts

as Monk
Released: 1974-05-23

An outlaw and a scorned husband both team up to track down and kill the man that wronged them....

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Los hijos de Rancho Grande

as Don Felipe
Released: 1956-06-25

Sequel to Alla en el Rancho Grande, twenty years later -- sons and daughters of the original...

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Crónica roja

as uncredited
Released: 1979-12-13

After one is arrested - possibly unjustly - for murder, the lives of two brothers spiral out of...

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Juana Gallo

as Capitán Esquivel
Released: 1961-05-21

Peasant woman leads a regiment during the final days of the Mexican Revolution. Also, romantic...

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La casta divina

as Consul Cubano
Released: 1977-11-17

Chronicle Caste War in Yucatan held in the nineteenth century, where the land and the people...

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Carne de Cabaret

as Eddie Miller
Released: 1931-05-08

This is the Spanish-language version of Ten Cents a Dance (1931), shot concurrently with a...

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Yo el ejecutor

as uncredited
Released: 1987-02-19

A retired mercenary known as 'The Executioner', is forced to take one more case especially when...

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Ave sin nido

as uncredited
Released: 1943-08-12

Husband, sterile wife, fertile mistress, daughter.

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Fantastic Voyage in a Baloon

as uncredited
Released: 1975-12-04

1862. Commodore Sir Francis and inventor Douglas initiated on behalf of the Royal Society of...

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Zindy, the Swamp Boy

as Abuelo
Released: 1973-05-03

The story is about a fugitive who lives apart from society in a jungle area with the company of...

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El día de la boda

as Ramón
Released: 1968-10-31

The love affairs of two couples, modern parents a couple of troubled teens.

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Soledad

as Roberto Covarrubias
Released: 1947-11-28

Soledad, a maid born in Argentina, works at a Mexican farm. The son of her employer will deceive...

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El valle de los miserables

as Don Luis Aguirre
Released: 1975-04-16

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Marihuana El Monstruo Verde

as uncredited
Released: 1936-06-04

Policeman goes undercover to bust drug-smuggling ring.

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El secreto del sacerdote

as uncredited
Released: 1941-01-22

Three boys grow up to be a priest, a military commander and the town mayor.

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Don Juan Tenorio

as Don Juan Tenorio
Released: 1937-03-12

Classic legend of a playboy meeting supernatural comeuppance.

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El misterioso señor Marquina

as uncredited
Released: 1942-03-18

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Chanoc en las garras de las fieras

as Gang Member (as René Cardona Sr.)
Released: 1970-11-05

Comic-book adaptation: Tarzan-type in the Mexican outback.

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La barca de oro

as uncredited
Released: 1947-08-13

Ranch-heiress chooses a husband.

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El pequeño Robin Hood

as uncredited
Released: 1975-08-07

Directed by René Cardona, and written by René Cardona Jr., «El Pequeño Robin Hood» is a 1975...

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La desconocida

as uncredited
Released: 1954-01-01

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El abanico de Lady Windermere

as uncredited
Released: 1944-08-25

A woman with a dubious reputation causes problems in an aristocratic marriage.

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The Fury of the Karate Experts

as Professor Williams
Released: 1982-12-17

An evil priestess and her twin sister battle for control of a powerful crystal.

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Milagros de San Martín de Porres

as uncredited
Released: 1959-01-01

Mexican feature film

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Nuevo amanecer

as uncredited
Released: 1954-01-01

Mexican feature film

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Dos caballeros de espada

as uncredited
Released: 1964-08-13

Sixteenth century swordsmen adventure.

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La mula de Cullen Baker

as Capitán
Released: 1971-10-09

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La Bandida

as General Robles
Released: 1963-01-01

During a lull in the Mexican Revolution when Francisco Madero became president and attempted to...

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Hand to Hand

as Manuel Chávez
Released: 1932-12-10

A 1932 film.

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El revólver sangriento

as Comisario
Released: 1964-04-02

Follows an "unlucky" gun across the paths of five owners.

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La banda de la sotana negra

as uncredited
Released: 1983-07-02

Three punk cholos in Tijuana steal cassocks from a church so they can do crimes better.

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El matrimonio es como el demonio

as Ramón
Released: 1967-03-22

The story of a Playboy bachelor who does not know the good that is, until he is married. Slowly,...

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Girl Merchants

as uncredited
Released: 1957-10-04

A young French woman travels to South America for a job offer and ends up a prisoner in a slave...

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Soy charro de Rancho Grande

as Felipe
Released: 1947-11-06

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Manuel Saldivar, el texano

as uncredited
Released: 1972-08-31

Cowboy-justice dude has to figure out who the masterminds are behind a string of murders.

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Jesusita en Chihuahua

as uncredited
Released: 1942-10-08

Ranchera comedy.

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¡Ay qué rechula es Puebla!

as Mauricio Gómez
Released: 1946-01-31

Two charros from Hacienda A come a-courtin' to hacienda B, owned by a friend of their father's....

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Tempestad

as uncredited
Released: 1978-01-01

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Si me han de matar mañana

as uncredited
Released: 1947-05-26

Romantic triangle during the Mexican Revolution.

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El Llanto de los Pobres

as uncredited
Released: 1978-09-07

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Prisión de mujeres

as Mr. Williams
Released: 1977-09-15

'Prisión de Mujeres' is a film by Fernando A. Rivero that narrates a harsh reality: the strength...

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Peluquero de señoras

as uncredited
Released: 1973-03-28

Beauty-products czar can't attend an important industry function, so he hires a look-alike as a...

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The Diabolical Duchess

as uncredited
Released: 1964-12-11

A rare and impossible to find Mexican adventure / fantasy / horror.

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El genial Detective Peter Pérez

as uncredited
Released: 1952-09-03

Bumbling detective solves a murder on board a train.

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La folle de Chaillot

as Le rentier
Released: 1976-06-30

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The Macabre Trunk

as Dr. Armando del Valle
Released: 1936-09-04

A crazed scientist tries to keep his terminally ill wife alive by transfusing into her the blood...

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As negro

as uncredited
Released: 1954-11-11

Two poor children swear an oath: one will study, the other will work and support them both. The...

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La casa del rencor

as Hugo
Released: 1941-11-06

A 1941 film directed by Gilberto Martínez Solares.

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Viva la risa II

as uncredited
Released: 1989-01-01

Mexican feature film

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Las Limpias

as Don Ignacio
Released: 1987-03-12

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Night Dance Hall

as uncredited
Released: 1959-07-24

Martine is a young woman plagued both by poverty and by uncaring, problem parents who in no way...

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Cartas Marcadas

as uncredited
Released: 1948-03-14

A tale of intrigue and deceit concerning two young lovers who, despite the fact that their...

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Mala yerba

as Don Julián Andrade
Released: 1940-09-11

Plantation owner is way too much into his peasant girls. It causes problems.

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Stranger in the House

as Tomas
Released: 1968-10-10

An American serial killer, known for his handiwork with a straight razor, manages to escape...

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La disputa

as uncredited
Released: 1974-09-18

The wife of a philandering husband tries to engineer a situation in which she can photograph him...

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Malditas sean las mujeres

as Conde Osvaldo de Valdemar
Released: 1936-07-08

A tragicomic piece based on a novella by Manuel Ibo Alfaro.

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Common Clay

as uncredited
Released: 1930-09-19

A maid with a checkered past falls in love with the son in the posh household where she works,...

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Divorciadas

as uncredited
Released: 1943-12-09

Three newly unmarried women room together, start a business, share the ups and downs of their...

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¡Maten al fugitivo!

as uncredited
Released: 1986-01-01

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¡Que seas feliz!

as Duarte
Released: 1956-05-27

Career criminal hooks up with famous singer because she looks like a long-term meal ticket.

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El puma

as uncredited
Released: 1959-09-09

Son of a ranching family returns home after studying in the city for a law degree. He sides with...

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Masajista de señoras

as uncredited
Released: 1973-05-03

This fun comedy presents two masseurs who, by getting a job, dress up as women and thus live...

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La cuna vacía

as uncredited
Released: 1938-02-02

Male half of a young couple gets distracted from his family duties and considers abandoning his...

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Raza de viboras

as uncredited
Released: 1978-04-27

Mentally-ill eldest son creates havoc within an old-money farming family.

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