87% (2) French Cancan 102 min, Not Rated, [Comedy, Drama, Musical, Romance] [Jean Renoir] [16 Apr 1956]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 74%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews
Actors: Anna Amendola, Françoise Arnoul, Jean Gabin, María Félix
Writer: Jean Renoir (adaptation), André-Paul Antoine (idea)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: French Country: France, Italy
Plot: Henri Danglard, proprietor of the fashionable (but bankrupt) cafe 'Le Paravent Chinois' featuring his mistress, belly dancer Lola, goes slumming in Montmarte (circa 1890) where the then-old-fashioned cancan is still danced. There, he conceives the idea of reviving the cancan as the feature of a new, more popular establishment...and meets Nini, a laundress and natural dancer, whom he hopes to star in his new show. But a tangled maze of jealousies intervenes...
Rotten Tomatoes: Beautifully photographed, this comedy drama from Jean Renoir chronicles the revival of Paris' most notorious dance as it tells the story of a theater producer who turns a humble washerwoman into a star at the Moulin Rouge. The film is also title Only the French Can.
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79% (1) Enamorada 99 min, [Drama, Romance, War] [Emilio Fernández] [02 Dec 1949]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 79%, External Reviews
Awards: 8 wins & 5 nominations.
Actors: Fernando Fernández, José Morcillo, María Félix, Pedro Armendáriz
Writer: Emilio Fernández (story and screenplay), Íñigo de Martino (story and screenplay)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Spanish Country: Mexico
Plot: In Mexican Revolution times, a guerrilla general (Armendáriz) and his troops take the conservative town of Cholula, near by Mexico City. As the revolutionaries mistreat the town's riches, Armendáriz falls for beautiful and wild Beatriz Peñafiel (María Félix), the daughter of one of the town's richest men.
Rotten Tomatoes: Enamorada, Mexican filmmaker Emilio Fernandez' only 1946 effort, was released in the US early the following year. The film's English-language title is A Girl in Love, the girl in question being the ravishing Maria Felix. Set during the Mexican revolution, the story concerns the rocky relationship between the hoydenish, high-born Beatriz (Felix) and revolutionary General Reyes (Pedro Armendariz). Forsworn to kill and/or humiliate any artistocrats in his path, Reyes cannot bring himself to harm Beatriz, whose hatred for the general slowly but surely turns to love. Throughout, Maria Felix is stunningly photographed by Gabriel Figueroa, one of director Fernandez' favorite collaborators. A huge success upon its first release, Enamorada has since become a fixture of the various Spanish-language cable TV services. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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78% (1) Doña Bárbara 125 min, [Drama, Western] [Fernando de Fuentes, Miguel M. Delgado] [16 Sep 1943]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 78%, External Reviews
Actors: Andrés Soler, Julián Soler, María Elena Marqués, María Félix
Writer: Rómulo Gallegos (novel), Rómulo Gallegos (screenplay), Fernando de Fuentes
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: Spanish Country: Mexico
Plot: A young lawyer and owner of a great property in the interior of Venezuela tríes to recover its control in the name of the law, fighting against his neighbour, a powerful, seductive and ...
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76% (1) Tizoc 109 min, [Drama, Romance] [Ismael Rodríguez] [01 Jan 1957]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 76%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations.
Actors: Andrés Soler, Carlos Orellana, María Félix, Pedro Infante
Writer: Manuel R. Ojeda (story), Carlos Orellana, Ricardo Parada de León (story), Ismael Rodríguez (screenplay), Ismael Rodríguez (story)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Spanish Country: Mexico
Plot: A white woman enters into a romance with a Mexican Indian. The racial barriers between the lovers prove to be insurmountable, resulting in tragedy.
Rotten Tomatoes: Mexico's contribution to the 1957 Berlin Film Festival was the Color-Cinemascope star vehicle Tizos. The ever-popular Maria Felix stars as a white woman who enters into a romance with a Mexican Indian, played by singing star Pedro Infante (who died shortly after the film's completion). The racial barriers between the lovers prove to be insurmountable, resulting in tragedy. Director Ismael Rodriguez spends a great deal of time establishing the folklore and traditions of Infante's people, much to the fascination of his audience. Likewise enraptured by Tizoc were the participants at the Berlin Festival, where the film scored a significant success.
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72% (1) The Devil Is a Woman 95 min, [Drama] [Tito Davison] [28 Jan 1950]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 win & 6 nominations.
Actors: Crox Alvarado, José María Linares-Rivas, María Félix, Víctor Junco
Writer: Edmundo Báez (story and adaptation), Tito Davison (story and adaptation), Luis Fernández Ardavín (play), Ricardo López Méndez (additional dialogue)
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: Spanish Country: Mexico
Plot: Angela "Doña Diabla" is a beautiful and rude woman who after her divorce swore to hate men. He also forbids the romance of his daughter Angelica with a ruffian named Adrian.
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69% (1) Ash Wednesday 106 min, [Drama, War] [Roberto Gavaldón] [01 Jan 1958]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 69%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Arturo de Córdova, María Félix, María Teresa Rivas, Víctor Junco
Writer: Julio Alejandro, Luis G. Basurto, Roberto Gavaldón
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Spanish Country: Mexico
Plot: N/A
Rotten Tomatoes: 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.
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