The Classical Mexican Cinema BBeerrgg__55114466__BBKK..iinndddd ii 66//44//1155 99::4488 AAMM TEXAS FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES SERIES Thomas Schatz, Editor BBeerrgg__55114466__BBKK..iinndddd iiii 66//44//1155 99::4488 AAMM The Classical Mexican The Poetics of the Exceptional Golden Age Films CHARLES RAMIREZ BER G UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS Austin BBeerrgg__55114466__BBKK..iinndddd iiiiii 66//44//1155 99::4488 AAMM Copyright © 2015 by the University of Texas Press The University of Texas Press and the author All rights reserved gratefully acknowledge fi nancial assistance Printed in the United States of America provided for the publication of this book First edition, 2015 from the President’s Offi ce at the University of Texas at Austin. Requests for permission to reproduce material An earlier version of chapter 2 was from this work should be sent to: Permissions published in Toby Miller and Robert Stam, University of Texas Press eds., A Companion to Film Theory (London: P.O. Box 7819 Blackwell, 1999), 363–386. Reprinted Austin, TX 78713-7819 courtesy of Blackwell Publishers, Ltd. http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/rp-form An earlier version of chapter 3 was published in Chon A. Noriega, ed., Visible The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) Nations: Latin American Cinema and Video (Permanence of Paper). (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000), 3–32. Copyright 2000 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota. Reprinted Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data courtesy of the University of Minnesota Press. Berg, Charles Ramírez, 1947–, author. The classical Mexican cinema : the poetics of the exceptional Golden Age fi lms / Charles Ramírez Berg. — First edition. pages cm — (Texas fi lm and media studies series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4773-0251-4 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4773-0805-9 (pbk : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4773-0806-6 (lib. e-book) ISBN 978-1-4773-0807-3 (non-lib. e-book) 1. Motion pictures—Mexico—History. 2. Motion pictures, Mexican—History and criticism. 3. Motion picture industry—Mexico—History. I. Title. II. Series: Texas fi lm and media studies series. PN1993.5.M6B47 2015 791.430972—dc23 2014048464 Frontispiece: Detail of fi gure 6.39. doi:10.7560/302514 BBeerrgg__55114466__BBKK..iinndddd iivv 66//44//1155 99::4488 AAMM To Cecilia— with love and gratitude for everything: your grace, beauty, charm, poise, patience, wisdom, advice, strength, encouragement, understanding, and good humor. Everything is easier, better, simpler, and happier with you around. Thank you for being there. BBeerrgg__55114466__BBKK..iinndddd vv 66//44//1155 99::4488 AAMM BBeerrgg__55114466__BBKK..iinndddd vvii 66//44//1155 99::4488 AAMM Contents ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 63 CHAPTER 5 Mexican Cinema Comes of Age: 1 CHAPTER 1 Fernando de Fuentes in the 1930s Introduction: Retheorizing Mexican Film History 91 CHAPTER 6 The Cinematic Invention of Mexico: 13 CHAPTER 2 The Poetics and Politics of the Every Picture Tells a Story: José Fernández Unit Style Guadalupe Posada’s Protocinematic Graphic Art 133 CHAPTER 7 Luis Buñuel in Mexico 33 CHAPTER 3 Enrique Rosas’s El automóvil gris 173 CHAPTER 8 (1919) and the Dawning of Modern Three Classical Mexican Cinema Mexican Cinema Genre Films 53 CHAPTER 4 201 CHAPTER 9 The Adoption of the Hollywood Conclusion: What Happened to Style and the Transition to Sound the Classical Mexican Cinema? 207 NOTES 225 INDEX FACING: Detail of fi gure 3.24. BBeerrgg__55114466__BBKK..iinndddd vviiii 66//44//1155 99::4488 AAMM BBeerrgg__55114466__BBKK..iinndddd vviiiiii 66//44//1155 99::4488 AAMM Acknowledgments T HIS BOOK would not I fi rst saw El automóvil gris at a working have seen the light of day conference on Latin American cinema that without the help of many Chon Noriega organized and hosted at the people. I would like to UCLA Film and Television Archive in 1995. thank them now. Chon asked me to lead an impromptu pre- Several experts in the fi eld gave their time sentation aft er a screening of the fi lm. Thank and expertise. Back in the days when the So- you, Chon, for forcing me to begin analyzing ciety for Cinema and Media Studies was the the fi lm on the spot—that was the beginning Society for Cinema Studies, Ana López and of chapter 3. More thanks to Chon and the I were on a conference workshop panel on UCLA Film and Television Archive for allow- Latin American cinema. Her presentation was ing me the opportunity to view and study El on La mancha de sangre, which had just been automóvil gris at the time, before it became discovered aft er being believed lost for de- available on DVD. cades. Ana’s perceptive talk, which included This book would not have happened at all handouts and clips from the fi lm, piqued my had it not been for Fernando Fabio Sánchez. interest and eventually led, all these years He kindly invited me to give the keynote later, to the analysis of La mancha de sangre address at Cine-Lit VII, the international His- that I include in chapter 8. panic fi lm and literature conference held in FACING: Detail of fi gure 5.30. BBeerrgg__55114466__BBKK..iinndddd iixx 66//44//1155 99::4488 AAMM