This is the first book-length English language account of Emilio Fernandez (1904-1986), the most successful director of classical Mexican Cinema. It interrogates the construction of Fernandez as both a national and nationalist auteur, focusing on how transnational borrowings (mostly from Hollywood) play a key part in his films, and challenges existing auteurist readings of his films. Earlier versions of chapters four and five have been previously published in Quarterly Review of Film and Video (2003) and Screen (1997) respectively, (neither submitted here), although chapter five has been substantially revised and rewritten.