Prewar Mexican Cinema (1931 – 1940)

The Mexican Revolution
  • Pres. Porfirio Díaz (1877 – 11)
    • Prior to rev. and leading up to is the long dictatorship of Díaz, difference between rich and poor classes developed. Main interest – making Mexico attractive to foreign investment. Tax free foreign investment. Kept wages low. Made unions illegal.
  • Pres. Francisco Madero (1911 – 13)
    • After rev. Madero got unions and strike to be allowed. Not enough progress was made in the short period of time.
  • Victoriano Huerta (1913 – 14)
    • Huerto nicknamed the jackal and the usurper. Worked with US military to overthrow Madero. Assumed Pres. as military dictatorship.
Plan of Gudalupe (1913)
  • Delegitimized Huerta’s presidency
  • Constitutional Army to restore constitutional government
Inconsistent production until presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934 – 1940)
  • provided subsidies for studies
  • CLASA studios
Santa (Antonio Moreno, 1931)
  • First sound film
  • Melodrama of young rural woman forced into prostitution in the big city after taking a solider as a lover and being abandoned by him.
  • Sound film but long sections without.
Production by year
  • 32: 6
  • 33 – 36: 20+ each year
  • 37: 38
  • 38: 57 – anomaly
  • 39: 37
Cárdenas support labour and formation of unions.
  • UTECM
  • CTM
Redes (The Wave, 1934)
  • Dir. Fred Zinnermann, Emilio Gómez Muriel
  • Strike to improve wages. Fishermen.
  • Low budget, funded by government
  • Wears its politics on its sleeve
  • Only 1 hour long
  • Pro-union
Production dominated by commercially oriented films
  • One-off productions for quick profit.
  • E.g. Comedias Rancheras genre
Comedias Rancheras Genre
  • Rural settings
  • Plot and style based on early 1900s musical theatre
  • Folkloric themes, popular music
  • Romance and happy endings
  • Conservative genre that challenged Cárdenas’ more liberal agenda
  • Recalled a pro-Revolutionary time of peace
  • Ignores the Revolution, 1930s land reform
  • 38 films in1937: more than half are folkloric or nationalistic in theme
  • Signals growing “detachment from reality” in Mexican cinema. Golden Age.
  • Nationalism rooted in a rural, indigenous “mexicanidad”
Allá en el ranche grande (Out on the big ranch) 1936
  • dir. Fernando de Fuentes
  • charro – singing cowboy stock character
  • José, the charro, protects his fiancee, Eulalia, from attention of Felipe, the ranch owner
  • All returns to normal by end – status quo maintained
  • Internation success (esp. in Latin America)
  • Tito Guízar became an international star
  • 28 imitations followed over the next couple of years.
Gabriel Figueroa
Cinematographer
  • Dual artistic/ technical role
  • Responsible for look of the film
  • Collaborates closely with the director throughout filming
  • Head of the camera and lighting departments
Biography
  • 1907, Mexico City
  • Teen: studied painting and worked in a portrait studio
  • 1930s: left MC and went to Hollywood to train in cinematography. Government-funded.
Strongly influenced by Mexican Muralism
  • Government -supported artistic movement
  • Founded on belief that art has a social and idealogical function
  • Sought to create ‘authentic’ Mexican art.
Big Three: Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros.
  • Figueroa is the fourth
  • All committed to portraying indigenous and Spanish heritage and celebrating the Mexican people
Style
  • Dramatic contrasts of light and dark
  • Deep focus photography
  • Low horizons
  • Billowing clouds (infrared filters)
  • Facial photography emphasising the heroism of peasant and the beauty of Mexican stars.
Let’s Go with Pancho Villa! (1936)
  • Dr. Fernando de Fuentes
  • Not “detached from reality”; openly critical of Revolution
  • Produced during an “experimental” period in Mexican cineman prior to heightened commercialism
  • Political “message” film
  • First film made at CLASA studios
  • Support from Cárdenas govt. (money and material)
  • 1mil pasos, went bankrupt, govt. saved it by giving them the pass.

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