Fernando Méndez

He was a director, scriptwriter, screenwriter, makeup artist, sound engineer, and producer. He began his film career in Hollywood as a makeup artist, adapter, and sound engineer for the American producer and director Dwain Esper in the films Maniac (1934) and Marihuana, the Weed with Roots in Hell! (1936). He also worked as a producer, scriptwriter, and sound engineer on Contrabando (1931-932), directed by his cousin Alberto Méndez Bernal. He returned to Mexico in 1936 and became involved in film as Gabriel Soria’s screenwriter for ¡Ora Ponciano! and for El superloco, directed by Juan José Segura. In 1939, he made his directorial debut with the medium-length feature Allá en el Bajío. Of his work as a writer, noteworthy films include Los tres García (Ismael Rodríguez, 1947) and Los hijos de María Morales (Fernando de Fuentes, 1952), both starring Pedro Infante. Recognized as one of the best Mexican film directors, Fernando Méndez’s work shows, from the very beginning of his career, a clear vocation for genre film, especially horror. Among his most successful films are El suavecito (1950), La locura del rock’n roll (1956), El cofre del pirata (1958), Señoritas (1958), and El vampiro (1957); this last film is considered one of his masterpieces.

Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia