Antonio Martínez del Castillo known professionally as Florián Rey was a Spanish
director,
actor
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
, and
screenwriter
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
. He directed ''
The Cursed Village'', widely recognized as a seminal work in silent Spanish cinema, and helped launch the career of famed Argentinian–Spanish actress
Imperio Argentina.
Early career
While in his teens, Rey began work as a journalist for multiple newspapers in his home province of
Zaragoza
Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
and nearby
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. It was during this time that he assumed the name Florián Rey.
He took work as an actor, first in the theater in Madrid and then film. His first film role was in ''La inaccessible'' in 1920.
Rey's directorial debut was with the film ''
The Troublemaker'' in 1924.
As with many of his early films, ''The Troublemaker'' was an adaptation of a
zarzuela
() is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name o ...
, a Spanish musical theater that was highly popular with the middle and lower classes of the late nineteenth century.
In 1926, Rey, with Spanish director
Juan de Orduña
Juan de Orduña y Fernández-Shaw (27 December 1900 – 3 February 1974) was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and actor. Subservient to the ideological tenets and preferences of Francoism, he was one of the regime's standout directors during ...
, created the production company Goya Films. Rey continued directing zarzuela adaptations and other forms of
melodramas through the 1920s for Goya Films as well as other production companies.
In 1927, Rey cast Argentinian–Spanish actress
Imperio Argentina in ''
Sister San Sulpicio''. This marked her debut as an actress in Spain.
The two would later collaborate on other films and eventually marry.
'
Rey directed ''
The Cursed Village'' in 1929. This would be his most successful film and is regarded by many critics as a masterpiece of silent Spanish cinema.
Rey intended for ' to be a silent film, but, after completing production, decided to include sound. This necessitated additional shooting and synchronization in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.
The decision to move sound production to France stemmed from Rey's dissatisfaction with the quality of the sound in his first talkie, ''
Football, Love, and Bullfighting'', in 1929.
[
No copy of the sound version of ' exists today.]
Many film historians claim Rey was inspired by Russian Expressionist films during the making of ', particularly ''The Village of Sin'' by Olga Prebajenskaia, although the influence of this specific film on Rey is not universally agreed.
Rey incorporated such aspects of Russian Expressionism into his film as attention to shadow, camera "walk-throughs" (actors walk towards a camera followed by a shot of them moving away, as if they moved through it), and closeups on peasant faces.
Later work
After the success of ', Rey was retained as a director for CIFESA, though he traveled and filmed in other countries during the 1930s.
While touring Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
to promote and show ', Rey and his wife Imperio Argentina were courted by German officials intending to hire him to direct movies for Hispano-Film Produktion.
Upon their visit to Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, Rey and Argentina were met by both Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
and Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...
to discuss film projects. Goebbels requested that Rey remake one of his earlier films based on a rewritten script that would be provided to him. Instead, Rey decided on an adaptation of Carmen
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...
. The resulting film, ', starred Argentina as the titular Carmen.
Rey remained in Germany and made additional films for Hispano-Film Produktion. His last film with Argentina was ' (''Aixa's Song'') in 1939. Amidst rumors that Argentina had an affair with Hitler, the couple divorced and Rey returned to Spain.
Rey and Argentina's relationship in Germany was the inspiration for the film ''The Girl of Your Dreams
''The Girl of Your Dreams'' () is a 1998 Spanish drama film produced and directed by Fernando Trueba. Set during the Spanish Civil War, it centers on a fictional Andalusian actress ( Penélope Cruz) making a film in Nazi Germany who becomes the ob ...
'', directed by Fernando Trueba
Fernando Rodríguez Trueba (born 18 January 1955), known as Fernando Trueba, is a Spanish filmmaker, writer, producer and book editor.
Career
Between 1974 and 1979, Trueba worked as a film critic for Spain's leading daily newspaper '' El Paí ...
in 1998.
Upon his return to Spain, Rey continued working for CIFESA studios. He received success with several films, including a remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...
of ', but was never able to match the success of his films with Argentina.
Filmography
Notes
References
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Bibliography
*Sánchez Vidal, Agustín. ''El cine de Florián Rey'', Zaragoza, Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada de Aragón, 1991;
External links
Florián Rey profilea
, enciclopedia-aragonesa.com; accessed 30 October 2016.
* Antón Castro
''Recuerdo de Florián Rey''
antoncastro.blogia.com; accessed 30 October 2016.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rey, Florian
1894 births
1962 deaths
People from Valdejalón
Spanish film directors
Spanish male film actors
Spanish male silent film actors
20th-century Spanish male actors
Film directors from Aragon