
Acting
Alfredo del Diestro
Born 1885-10-07 · Valparaíso, Chile
Actor and film director, born in Valparaíso Chile, October 7, 1885, died in Mexico City in 1951. Son of Spanish merchant Juan del Diestro and Italian pianist Matilde Cavaletti, Alfredo del Diestro spent his adolescence in Havana with his parents. In 1900 he returned to Colombia with the theatrical company Juan del Diestro, formed by him and his younger brother Juan. The company remained in the country until 1903, when it resumed its transhumance through Central America and the Caribbean. In Havana he met the Mexican actress Emma Roldán, and married her. In 1920, when he was doing a season at the Municipal Theater of Cali, he met Francisco Antonio Posada, who proposed him to co-direct with the Spaniard Máximo Calvo the silent feature film María. Del Diestro did the art direction, directed the dialogues and the staging. He returned to Mexico in 1924, where he continued working in film. His most outstanding performance was in the feature film Allá en el rancho grande, made in 1936.
Acting credits
6.0A 1933 film.
Shadow of Pancho Villa
1933
6.0Based on the novel "La parcela" by López Portillo and Rojas. The story explores conflicts over land, power, and honor between two rival landowners (the compadres Miguel and Pedro), whose sons struggle to overcome this dispute so they can pursue their love.
Nobleza ranchera
1938
6.3A 1940 film directed by Fernando de Fuentes.
El jefe máximo
1940
6.0María tells the tragic love story of María, a beautiful young woman, and her half brother Efraín, a handsome young man from Valle del Cauca. They both fall in love and live their romance on the farm "El Paraíso", in Valle del Cauca, but not everything is rosy, since Efraín must go to Bogotá because of study reasons leaving María with pain in her soul. Some time later, María becomes ill and Emma tells her brother about the situation.
María
1922
10.0A blackmailer falls in love with his female victim. Alternate-language version of The Lady Who Dared (1930).
La dama atrevida
1931
6.7Colonel Carrasco's wife Marta leaves him taking his young son. The child, Juan, grows into an admirable and well-mannered young man. Having been promoted to a higher rank of power amidst the Mexican Revolution, the indulgent and corrupt Colonel accepts a bribe to free a revolutionary, Felipe Martinez, from his prison. Martinez has been sentenced to execution at the hands of a firing squad. Carrasco asks to have the revolutionary replaced by absolutely anyone. In a twist of fate, that anyone turns out to be his own long lost son Juan. Upon receiving this news, Marta races to the prison and explains the predicament to Carrasco. He subsequently desperately attempts to prevent the gunning down of his son by his very own government officials.
Prisoner 13
1933
9.0Undercover police officer Dan Hogan infiltrates a ruthless gangster mob. Hogan’s main objective is to identify the real criminals responsible for the murder of his younger brother. Along the way, he teams up with a woman named Nora Brady, whose own brother was falsely convicted of the same murder. Spanish version of Those Who Dance (1930).
Those Who Dance
1930
7.5Cantinflas enjoys the bullfight show, and wants to crash in every of these spectacles. Also, there's a professional bullfighter, Manolete, who is identical to Cantinflas. Manolete has to give a bullfight show in a village, but Cantinflas arrives first as a stowaway in a train, and he'll be mistake by the real bullfighter. Cantinflas will give us a demonstration of courage.
Neither Blood Nor Sand
1941
No synopsis available yet.
Adios mi chaparrita
1941
6.3During the Mexican Revolution, the people tired of living in poverty and enduring the atrocities committed by the federals, decide to follow one of their own, General Demetrio Macias, a thief with tricks he learned in jail and who along with "La Pintada" decides to take his people to victory. Led by Captain Anastacio Montañez, the newly formed army fight and honor their code at the same time as they loot houses to spread the wealth.
The Underdogs
1940
6.7In the midst of the Mexican Revolution, the landowner Mendoza manages to get along with both the government and the revolutionary group. For the former, he is a supporter of Huerta. For the latter, he is a Zapata supporter. Depending on the political preference of whoever visits him at his hacienda, he has portraits of Huerta or Zapata put up, and organizes a party in honor of his visitors. However, time goes by and the situation becomes untenable. For whom will he take sides?
El compadre Mendoza
1934
5.7A 1942 film directed by Miguel M. Delgado.
Mi viuda alegre
1942
6.7No synopsis available yet.
Hombres del aire
1939
5.7In modern Mexico, a malevolent spirit targets a family, linking tragic past events of abandoned, infanticidal mothers to a possessed intruder's attempt to sacrifice their son.
The Crying Woman
1933
7.0The story of Mexican President Benito Juárez and the emperor Maximilian of Habsburg and the empress Carlota.
Juarez and Maximilian
1934
6.0No synopsis available yet.
Noches de gloria
1938
5.3Dazzled by the Empress Carlotta's graciousness, magnanimity and charm, a young officer in the Mexican army switches his allegiance to the Imperial government with Maximilian as figurehead. Bad move, space cadet.
La paloma
1937
6.0Two military goons slaughter a young man's parents and siblings. A few years later, the same guys rape and murder his wife, then use their young son for target practice. Enough is enough.
Ahí viene Vidal Tenorio
1949
5.8It tells the stories of the passengers aboard a nonstop train. Each character is portrayed one by one, and the only thing they have in common is the journey they will take that night.
El rápido de las 9.15
1941
9.0When Renée Duval, a Frenchwoman who had been on her way to Venice, is discovered by Al-Hadi, an Arabian prince in the wreckage of an ambushed caravan it is just the beginning of a breathless adventure that will put both their lives at risk!
Law of the Harem
1931
5.1Lives of the tenants in a shabby-genteel apartment house. Miserly landlord learns valuable life lessons.
La casa del ogro
1939
No synopsis available yet.
Adam, Eve and the Devil
1945
4.0Tired of being mistreated by his wife and children, Isidro (Del Diestro) leaves his family and follows young variety dancer Chayito (Tamayo) to Mexico City. After becoming lovers, Chayito asks Isidro to steal money from the bank he used to work in the small town of San Jacinto. After commiting the robbery, Isidro is accused of murder and things get more complicated.
Las mujeres mandan
1937
5.7A biopic that narrates the life of the novohispanic poetess.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
1935
Behind the camera
6.0María tells the tragic love story of María, a beautiful young woman, and her half brother Efraín, a handsome young man from Valle del Cauca. They both fall in love and live their romance on the farm "El Paraíso", in Valle del Cauca, but not everything is rosy, since Efraín must go to Bogotá because of study reasons leaving María with pain in her soul. Some time later, María becomes ill and Emma tells her brother about the situation.
María
1922
6.0María tells the tragic love story of María, a beautiful young woman, and her half brother Efraín, a handsome young man from Valle del Cauca. They both fall in love and live their romance on the farm "El Paraíso", in Valle del Cauca, but not everything is rosy, since Efraín must go to Bogotá because of study reasons leaving María with pain in her soul. Some time later, María becomes ill and Emma tells her brother about the situation.
María
1922
9.0Undercover police officer Dan Hogan infiltrates a ruthless gangster mob. Hogan’s main objective is to identify the real criminals responsible for the murder of his younger brother. Along the way, he teams up with a woman named Nora Brady, whose own brother was falsely convicted of the same murder. Spanish version of Those Who Dance (1930).
Those Who Dance
1930
5.4A murderer turns himself to the police, but claims amnesia and insists he's unable to tell them anything about his crime.
X Murderer
1955