Film at Lincoln Center Presents Mexican Films
A Spectacle Every Day
By: Susan Hall - Jul 21, 2024
Film at Lincoln Center and the Locarno Film Festival present “Spectacle Every Day: Mexican Popular Cinema,” a retrospective of Mexican cinema from the 1940s through the 1960s, to be from July 26 through August 8. With new restorations of many works rarely screened or some never before seen theatrically in the United States, and standout performances from the biggest stars.
The US was often a big market for these films when they were first produced. For the Mexican people in the Us, they were a trip back home. Macho pride and requited love prevailed.
Audiences have a rare opportunity to watch on the big screen films made during this unique period of Mexican film history. Major filmmakers (among them, Roberto Gavaldón, Emilio Fernández, Julio Bracho, Alejandro Galindo, and Chano Urueta) and screen titans (María Félix, Fernando Soler, Cantinflas, Tin Tan, Ninón Sevilla, El Santo, Pedro Infante, Rebeca Iturbide, and David Silva overflow the screen.
From pitch-black noir, delightful comedy, and lurid melodrama—sometimes all in one film—to a 3-D swashbuckler, luchador-vampire horror, and a superhero film, these tales interpreted and radically influenced popular culture. Wrestling rings, cabarets and nightclubs, exquisite haciendas, and densely populated cities are portrayed. Highlights include works from the era’s most esteemed directors such as Julio Bracho’s Take Me in Your Arms (1954), newly restored in 4K, and Emilio Fernández’s magisterial Pueblerina (1949)—both exquisitely lensed by Gabriel Figueroa—as well as multiple features by Alejandro Galindo (Corner Stop! [1948], Wetbacks [1955], The Mind and the Crime [1961]) and Roberto Gavaldón (The Night Falls [1952], Autumn Days [1963]); the sex work melodrama Streetwalker (1951) from Matilde Landeta, one of the country's first female directors; and the first 3-D film produced in Mexico, The Sword of Granada (1953).
The series also spotlights the many genres and unforgettable screen stars popular across these three decades: beloved comedies starring cultural icons Cantinflas and Tin Tan (The Unknown Policeman [1941]), The King of the Neighborhood [1949]) as well as the comedia ranchera The Three Garcías (1947), the first major work from director Ismael Rodríguez and star Pedro Infante; espionage melodrama (May God Forgive Me [1948], starring Maria Félix) and musical-inflected noir (El Suavecito [1951]); the bloody pueblo-western The River and Death (1954) from Luis Buñuel; atmospheric gothic horror (The Witch’s Mirror [1962]) and macabre comedies (The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales [1960]), luche libre superhero films (Santo vs. the Vampire Women [1962] and The Batwoman [1968], screening in a new 4K restoration), and so much more.
The series is organized by Tyler Wilson and Cecilia Barrionuevo in partnership with the Locarno Film Festival and with support from Cinema Tropical. This program was selected from the retrospective curated by Olaf Möller and Roberto Turigliatto at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival.
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