Florián Rey

Antonio Martínez del Castillo known professionally as Florián Rey was a Spanish director, actor, and screenwriter. 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. 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. As with many of his early films, The Troublemaker was an adaptation of a zarzuela, 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, 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. 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. 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),

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, directed by Fernando Trueba in 1998.

Upon his return to Spain, Rey continued working for CIFESA studios. He received success with several films, including a remake of , but was never able to match the success of his films with Argentina.

Filmography Year Actor 1924 The Troublemaker 1925 1925 1925 Carnival Figures 1925 1926 1926 1927 The Mysteries of Tangier 1927 Sister San Sulpicio The debut of Imperio Argentina 1928 Agustina of Aragon 1928 1929 Soccer, Love, and Bullfighting Rey's first talkie 1934 Sister San Sulpicio Remake in sound of an earlier Rey film 1934 1934 1934 1935 Aragonese Virtue or Rustic Chivalry or Dark and Bright 1942 The Cursed Village Remake of an earlier Rey film 1942 1943 1943 1943 1945 1946 1947 1948 1948 1950 1953 1954 1954 1954 / Witchcraft/Three Dates with Destiny 1956