1947 film

1946 film by Juan Bustillo Oro

Dr. Forti carries out strange experiments, assisted by his son Pablo. They embark on an expedition to the jungle. Eight years later Forti returns without his son but strange things start to happen in the old house where they live.

Unjustly accused of theft, the noble Raimundo is forced to leave his paternal home. A new incident, caused by the ambition of his brother José, causes Raimundo to be disowned by his girlfriend María and by his father, the just and strict Don Pepe. The only one who believes in Raimundo is his mother, Dona Lupita, a woman who suffers deeply because of the wrong decisions of her children.

Julio Cesar (Enrique Herrera), writer of soap operas, is very upset nerves. Dr. Jimenez (Alberto Galán) recommends an institution that will give he a therapy to cure these scares. To avoid exposure to bad publicity, is camouflaged by the pseudonym Justiniano Conquian . By chance, a taxidermist (Joaquin Pardavé) also named. His case is different: it is a millionaire heir heritage potential, but will only be legally recognized if it meets a peculiar condition in the will, having to spend a whole month in the gloomy castle Conquian, competing with other heirs of fortune. Dr. Jimenez is bribed by a cousin of Justinian to send the false Conquian scares Castle into thinking that is the sanatorium.

1952 film by Juan Bustillo Oro

After a long absence, a man returns to his village and recounts all his adventures with a touch of nostalgia.

1951 film by Juan Bustillo Oro

Cantinflas, the boyfriend of the servant of a rich industrial man, gets into the house in order to kill a mad dog. Suddenly this man appears so the servant tells him that Cantinflas is his wife's brother (Leonardo), who had been lost for years. The rich man then remembers that his father in law's testament could only be paid when all brothers get together, so treats Cantinflas, a real bum, as a king.

A faceless killer who hunts women can only be stopped by a detective with a disturbing past.

1952 Mexican mystery crime thriller film directed by Juan Bustillo Oro

Masterpiece precedes 'Rashomon'. One of the greatest films of all time is Kurosawa's 'Rashomon', which features an unusual narrative structure: the same events are shown in flashback four times, each time from the viewpoint of a different character. The subtle differences in each flashback compel the viewers to decide for themselves the truth of what actually happened. 'Rashomon' (1950) proved to be so innovative that several later films have used the same idea. I can think of at least three different sitcoms, each of which has done an episode ripping off the 'Rashomon' premise. The 1934 Mexican film 'Two Monks' uses precisely this same narrative gimmick, 16 years before it was used in 'Rashomon'. Unfortunately, because 'Two Monks' uses only two conflicting flashbacks (rather than four, as in 'Rashomon'), the audience are put in an "either/or" situation rather than a pick'n'mix. Still, it's intriguing to see that one of the most famous narrative innovations in the entire history of film was used in an obscure Mexican movie more than a decade before it was employed in the film that brought it to greatness and prominence. Juan and Javier are two young men, rivals for the charms of pretty Anita. She dies, in circumstances which are intentionally kept obscure, and the rivals go their separate ways. Javier becomes a monk, and puts his painful memories behind him ... until, one day in the priory, he encounters a monk who turns out to be Juan. Straight away, Javier is so angered that he attacks Juan, giving him a near-fatal blow. The kindly old prior confesses each of the two men separately. Each confession is shown in flashback, with first one man and then the other telling the story of the tragic triangle from his own self-serving viewpoint. Now we learn -- from two conflicting viewpoints -- what happened to Anita. The art direction throughout this film is astonishing, and there is the clever touch of having each of the rivals dressed in white in his own flashback, but garbed in black in the other man's flashback: a splendid way of helping the audience to remember that this narrative is subjective. 'Two Monks' deserves to be much, much better known, and I eagerly rate this film 10 out of 10.