This movie was deemed too controversial by official censors, since it portrays the massacre that gave birth to Mexico's ruling party. It was commercially released until the year of 1990, thirty years after original final version that was never shown to the public.
The 1929 novel "La sombra del caudillo" won the prize for national literature, and the film won a special prize from the jury of the International Film Festival of Karlovy Vary in July 1960.
At the time of it's original premiere, La Sombra del Caudillo was being promoted as the best Mexican film ever made.
The print copy of this film that was shown in Czechoslovakia, stayed there and was then shown across other European countries.