The Coward (Spanish: El cobarde) is a 1939 Mexican war film directed by René Cardona and starring Julián Soler, Adria Delhort and Josefina Escobedo.
[1][2] Alberto (Soler) is born in the imaginary republic of Sucravia (a country much like Mexico[3]) in time of war, where his father dies a hero's death.
[4] The New York Times, reviewing the film in 1939, describes El Cobarde as "likely to keep the spectators guessing until the last reel".
In their reviewer's opinion, Cardonas combines some psychology with "considerable talk about the now generally discredited theory of prenatal influence", a mother's genuine pride in her son, and a gentle romance.
Soler, says the reviewer, plays the "vacillating" son of a hero well, and Delhort is "excellent as the Spartan mother" intent on preserving the family tradition of patriotic bravery.