Allá en el Rancho Grande (Out on the Great Ranch) was directed by Fernando de Fuentes and released in 1936. Felipe inherits his father’s hacienda and names José Francisco, his friend since childhood, as caporal, the foreman of the ranch. The two grew up together on the hacienda, the son of the patrón and the godson of a peon.
The film started the comedia ranchera, the Mexican ranch musical. It also won Mexican cinema its first international prize, for Gabriel Figueroa’s photography at the Venice festival of 1938.