Gustavo Sáenz de Sicilia

Gustavo Sáenz de Sicilia Olivares (November 25, 1885 – January 15, 1950) was a Mexican silent film director, producer, journalist, civil engineer, and founder of Compañía Nacional Productora de Películas. Sáenz de Sicilia is regarded as an important figure during the silent era of Mexican cinema as well as a key influence for the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Throughout his life, he wrote for Excélsior under the pen name Ingeniero Gallo.

Early life Gustavo Sáenz de Sicilia was born to Jesús Sáenz de Sicilia Aguilar and Maria Luisa Olivares Garces. His family were very wealthy aristocratics with close ties to the Porfiriato government. According to Valentín Campa, he took part in the assassination of Gustavo A. Madero while under the command of Victoriano Huerta. In reality, the party never had a significant number of members and dissolved sometime in mid 1923.

The primary objective of the group, according to Sáenz de Sicilia, was to constitute a social defense and unity among the middle class as he considered the middle class in Mexico to have lacked rights and social protection in Mexico. An objective of the CCM was to unite with the Nationalist Mexican Youth, the Nationalist Association of Small Agricultural Owners, the National Civic Action and the National Pro-Race Committee groups.

The group was heavily opposed to the government structure set forth by Lázaro Cárdenas as well as the nationwide labor strikes which were occurring during this period. The group worked closely with other right-wing organizations including the Revolutionary Mexicanist Action paramilitary.

The party was estimated to have between 30 and 40 members, a considerate number of them had been members of the Revolutionary Mexicanist Action. Most members resided in very upscale neighborhoods including Colonia Santa María la Ribera.

In August 1936, Sáenz de Sicilia was arrested along with eight others for displaying Revolutionary Mexicanist Action propaganda in Mexico City.

In 1937, the organization tried unsuccessfully to organize an Ibero-American anti-communist conference in Havana. This drew interest and support from representatives of the fascist governments of Germany, Italy and Spain.

The CCM became much more inactive sometime in 1939. This followed the government's crackdown on right-wing organizations after Saturnino Cedillo's rebellion in 1938. Members of the CCM helped establish the Revolutionary Party of National Unification, supporting Juan Andreu Almazán's presidential bid in 1940. The CCM supported Almazán's campaign in exchange for financial support, however, the money was never delivered.

The organization dissolved with little money and with insignificant political power at the beginning of the Camacho presidency.

Personal life Gustavo Sáenz de Sicilia was a descendant of a powerful Spanish 17th-century priest and farmer who was given plots of land by the Spanish crown near both Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl.

Sáenz de Sicilia died in Mexico City on January 15, 1950, of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Selected filmography + Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes 1923Atavismo 1926 Un drama en la aristocracia 1929 La boda de Rosario 1932 Santa Also credited as Production Management 1932 Una vida por otra Co-written along with John H. Auer and Carlos Noriega Hope 1933 El prisionero trece 1938 La cuna vacía Co-written along with Miguel Zacarías 1949 Rondalla Based on Sáenz de Sicilia's Están Llorando los Trigales