René Cardona
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.
The Brainiac
as Baltasar de Meneses / Luis MenesesIn 1661 Mexico, the Baron Vitelius of Astara is sentenced to be burned alive by the Holy...
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El conde de Montecristo
as Fernando Mondego / Conde de MorcefAdaptation of Dumas' swashbuckler classic.
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Guns and Guts
as MonkAn outlaw and a scorned husband both team up to track down and kill the man that wronged them....
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The Children of Sanchez
as uncreditedHall Bartlett directs the rural drama The Children of Sanchez, based on the tome The Children of...
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The Spirit's Canyon
as ManuelThe love between María Ángela and Fernando is impossible because there's an ancient history of...
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La Casa Que Arde de Noche
as AmericanA prostitute enters a brothel and establishes a rivalry faking love with the old owner.
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The Vengeance of the Crying Woman
as Severo SegoviaSanto and Mantequilla Nápoles team up to end the curse of La Llorona by getting ahold of a...
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Juana Gallo
as Capitán EsquivelPeasant woman leads a regiment during the final days of the Mexican Revolution. Also, romantic...
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Yo el ejecutor
as uncreditedA retired mercenary known as 'The Executioner', is forced to take one more case especially when...
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Operación carambola
as Scorpio LeaderTwo clumsy and absent-minded spies (Capulina and Chespirito) are hired to save the world from a...
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Cyclone
as uncreditedAn airplane goes down in the ocean during a storm and a few survivors find refuge on a small...
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Un novio para dos hermanas
as Sr. MateosPili and uncle Angel travel to Mexico to see Mili dancing at her debut in a theater in the...
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El secreto del sacerdote
as uncreditedThree boys grow up to be a priest, a military commander and the town mayor.
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La vorágine: abismos de amor
as uncreditedIt narrates the adventures of the poet Arturo Cova and his lover Alicia, a story of passion and...
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El revólver sangriento
as ComisarioFollows an "unlucky" gun across the paths of five owners.
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La Bandida
as General RoblesDuring a lull in the Mexican Revolution when Francisco Madero became president and attempted to...
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Con su amable permiso
as uncreditedUnassuming elderly gent is installed as Mayor, by a cabal of financiers that expect to use him...
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El abanico de Lady Windermere
as uncreditedA woman with a dubious reputation causes problems in an aristocratic marriage.
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Los hijos de Rancho Grande
as Don FelipeSequel to Alla en el Rancho Grande, twenty years later -- sons and daughters of the original...
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Santo vs. the Head Hunters
as uncreditedSanto battles a mad scientist reviving the dead
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Zindy, the Swamp Boy
as AbueloThe story is about a fugitive who lives apart from society in a jungle area with the company of...
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The Three Perfect Married
as JorgeThree married couples gather to celebrate the eighteenth anniversary of their marriage mourning...
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La casa del rencor
as HugoA 1941 film directed by Gilberto Martínez Solares.
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Stranger in the House
as TomasAn American serial killer, known for his handiwork with a straight razor, manages to escape...
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Allá en el Rancho Grande
as FelipeTwo good friends — the owner and general manager of a ranch — fall in love with the same girl at...
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Chanoc en las garras de las fieras
as Gang Member (as René Cardona Sr.)Comic-book adaptation: Tarzan-type in the Mexican outback.
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Prisión de mujeres
as Mr. Williams'Prisión de Mujeres' is a film by Fernando A. Rivero that narrates a harsh reality: the strength...
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When Love Laughs
as uncreditedJosé Mojica plays a singing vacquero who stops off in la cantina to have muchas cervezas with...
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The Fury of the Karate Experts
as Professor WilliamsAn evil priestess and her twin sister battle for control of a powerful crystal.
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El matrimonio es como el demonio
as RamónThe story of a Playboy bachelor who does not know the good that is, until he is married. Slowly,...
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Carne de Cabaret
as Eddie MillerThis is the Spanish-language version of Ten Cents a Dance (1931), shot concurrently with a...
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Mala yerba
as Don Julián AndradePlantation owner is way too much into his peasant girls. It causes problems.
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The Macabre Trunk
as Dr. Armando del ValleA crazed scientist tries to keep his terminally ill wife alive by transfusing into her the blood...
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La casta divina
as Consul CubanoChronicle Caste War in Yucatan held in the nineteenth century, where the land and the people...
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La cuna vacía
as uncreditedMale half of a young couple gets distracted from his family duties and considers abandoning his...
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Fantastic Voyage in a Baloon
as uncredited1862. Commodore Sir Francis and inventor Douglas initiated on behalf of the Royal Society of...
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Night Dance Hall
as uncreditedMartine is a young woman plagued both by poverty and by uncaring, problem parents who in no way...
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¡Ay qué rechula es Puebla!
as Mauricio GómezTwo charros from Hacienda A come a-courtin' to hacienda B, owned by a friend of their father's....
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Cartas Marcadas
as uncreditedA tale of intrigue and deceit concerning two young lovers who, despite the fact that their...
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La faraona
as (uncredited)Pastora Heredia is a beautiful gypsy with great character who always tries to help the needy....
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Si me han de matar mañana
as uncreditedRomantic triangle during the Mexican Revolution.
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Manuel Saldivar, el texano
as uncreditedCowboy-justice dude has to figure out who the masterminds are behind a string of murders.
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La banda de la sotana negra
as uncreditedThree punk cholos in Tijuana steal cassocks from a church so they can do crimes better.
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¡Que seas feliz!
as DuarteCareer criminal hooks up with famous singer because she looks like a long-term meal ticket.
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El día de la boda
as RamónThe love affairs of two couples, modern parents a couple of troubled teens.
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Mulata
as GuevaraIn the port of Havana, two biracial children, Mateo (Ricardo Román) and Caridad (Ninón Sevilla)...
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Dos caballeros de espada
as uncreditedSixteenth century swordsmen adventure.
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Malditas sean las mujeres
as Conde Osvaldo de ValdemarA tragicomic piece based on a novella by Manuel Ibo Alfaro.
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Ave sin nido
as uncreditedHusband, sterile wife, fertile mistress, daughter.
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Soledad
as Roberto CovarrubiasSoledad, a maid born in Argentina, works at a Mexican farm. The son of her employer will deceive...
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El genial Detective Peter Pérez
as uncreditedBumbling detective solves a murder on board a train.
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El puma
as uncreditedSon of a ranching family returns home after studying in the city for a law degree. He sides with...
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Divorciadas
as uncreditedThree newly unmarried women room together, start a business, share the ups and downs of their...
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As negro
as uncreditedTwo poor children swear an oath: one will study, the other will work and support them both. The...
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Don Juan Tenorio
as Don Juan TenorioClassic legend of a playboy meeting supernatural comeuppance.
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El pequeño Robin Hood
as uncreditedDirected by René Cardona, and written by René Cardona Jr., «El Pequeño Robin Hood» is a 1975...
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Marihuana El Monstruo Verde
as uncreditedPoliceman goes undercover to bust drug-smuggling ring.
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La disputa
as uncreditedThe wife of a philandering husband tries to engineer a situation in which she can photograph him...
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Crónica roja
as uncreditedAfter one is arrested - possibly unjustly - for murder, the lives of two brothers spiral out of...
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Savage Summer
as PapáThe legend of their beach days, plus nights of sex.
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Raza de viboras
as uncreditedMentally-ill eldest son creates havoc within an old-money farming family.
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A los cuatro vientos
as uncreditedCareer-biography of a fictional ranchera singer, played by Rosita Quintana.
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Peluquero de señoras
as uncreditedBeauty-products czar can't attend an important industry function, so he hires a look-alike as a...
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Girl Merchants
as uncreditedA young French woman travels to South America for a job offer and ends up a prisoner in a slave...
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The Diabolical Duchess
as uncreditedA rare and impossible to find Mexican adventure / fantasy / horror.
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Common Clay
as uncreditedA maid with a checkered past falls in love with the son in the posh household where she works,...
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Masajista de señoras
as uncreditedThis fun comedy presents two masseurs who, by getting a job, dress up as women and thus live...
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