Rumberas film

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File:Aventurera poster.JPG
French promotional poster of the film Aventurera (1949), considered the materpiece of the Rumberas film

The Rumberas film (in Spanish Cine de rumberas) was a film genre that flourished in Mexico, in the so-called Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Their main stars were the called Rumberas dancers of Afro-Caribbean rhythms. The film gender is one of the most fascinating hybrids of Cinema of the world[1] and finds their roots in various film genres. Today, thanks to their unique characteristics, is considered part of the Cult film. The Rumberas film and the Luchador films, were one of the contributions of the Mexican cinema to international cinematography. The Rumberas film represented a social view of the world of the women of the night in Mexico during the 1940s and 1950s which confronted the moral and social conventions of their time, and exhibit a more realistic look of the Mexican society of their age. This were melodramas about the lives of these women, which is redeemed through the exotic dances.[2]

Etymology

The "Rumberas" were the dancers and actresses that danced Afro-Caribbean rhythms in the Mexican Cinema in their Golden Age in the 1940s and 1950s. The term "Rumbera" comes from the so-called Cuban rumba that became fashionable in Mexico and Latin America between the late XIX century and the 1940s in the XX century. The first rumberas danced this music genre. Eventually arose new tropical rhythms such as the mambo and the Cha-cha-chá which quickly displaced the Cuban rumba as the most successful Latin music genre. Eventually, the rumberas adopted these new rhythms, and later used in their films.

Roots

The Rumberas film finds their roots in various film genres: The Film noir, very popular in Hollywood and other film industries in the 1930s and 1940s, can be considered as their cornerstone, given the urban environment of the genre. The Film noir was characterized by having among their protagonists the Femme fatales, the cabaret women that aroused the passions of the men and often were the central conflict of the plot. A clear example were the Marlene Dietrich films with Josef von Sternberg. In Blonde Venus (1932), the heroine suffers, but with a great dignity, keeping always radiant. Later Gloria Grahame or Rita Hayworth performed in the Film noir images of women that enjoyed singing in cabaret and simultaneously make men suffer. Their other base was the Hollywood musicals of the 1930s, stylized by Busby Berkeley and his famous colorful and extravagant musical numbers endowed with a deep aesthetic expression, classic of the B-film series of the RKO Pictures and Columbia Pictures. Although not in such a stylized form (due to a limited budget), the Rumberas film tried to imitate in their musical numbers the guidelines of the genre. Finally, the film gender was also enriched by the Urban social cinema or melodramatic films, whose principal artisan in Mexico was the director Alejandro Galindo. In the Hollywood melodramas Marlene Dietrich could suffer without harming her cinematographic myth, while Gloria Grahame or Lauren Bacall openly enjoyed her femme fatale condition. In the Rumberas film however the heroines suffered during great part of the film, and only allowed to enjoy in a few moments of the movie. Invariably the "sinner woman" had to find her punishment. The Rumbera stars became part of worship, but also of criticism and contempt of the double standards of the Mexican audience in the style of the melodramas of Galindo or the "night woman" shown by Emilio Fernández in the film Salón Mexico (1949). All this mix of elements and genres can be considered the basis of Rumberas film.

Overall, the Mexican cinema show a clear evolution in representing the fallen or sinful woman: Since the good-hearted prostitute shown in Santa (1932), to the tragic prostitute shown in Woman of the Port (1934), until the dancing prostitutes that smile, move, enjoy, mocks men and radiates sensuality shown in the Rumberas film.[3]

Origins

The rumberas first came to the theater in the 19th century when they came to accompany many comedians and buffs of Cuban origin who settled in Mexico City, at the time of the vaudeville and the burlesque. From the early 20th century until the 1920s, in the age of the great Mexican Vedettes of the frivolous theater (as María Conesa or Lupe Vélez) Rumba dancers began to emerge. Lolita Téllez Wood is popularly considered the first dancer to popularize West Indian rhythms. During the course of the next decade, many rumberas and vedettes from Cuba came to Mexico.[4]

In the Cinema

The concept of the "rumbera" has been embodied in the Mexican cinema since the first talkies in the early 1930s. The actress Maruja Griffel was the first to dance the rumba in the film Que viva Mexico! (Sergei Eisenstein, 1931). She was followed by others such as Consuelo Moreno in Mujeres sin alma, ¿Venganza suprema?, Rita Montaner in La noche del pecado (1933) and Margarita Mora in Águila o Sol (1937). In addition, the Puerto Rican actress Mapy Cortés (called "The Rumbera Blanca"), was famous for dancing the conga in numerous films. Lolita Téllez Wood participated in three Mexican films: El rosal bendito (Juan Bustillo Oro, 1936), Mujeres de hoy (Ramón Peon, 1936) and Honrarás a tus padres (1936), the latter directed by Juan Orol, considered the "spiritual father" of the rumberas film, and whose image probably inspired him to shape his future muse, Maria Antonieta Pons.

Juan Orol was born in Spain but grew up in Cuba, where he grew up in the "solares", as they are known in Cuba to the Low neighborhoods. There he had much contact with people of African origin, who him taught all their dancing techniques.[5] After establishing himself as a film director in Mexico, Orol became famous for the importation of numerous Cuban figures to the Mexican Cinema. María Antonieta Pons was one of his discoveries. It is common to recognize Maria Antonieta Pons as the first cinematographic rumbera following her debut on the film Siboney (1938), a film inspired by the music of Ernesto Lecuona, and directed by Orol, who quickly realized he had in his hand a gold mine after Siboney became a blockbuster. Thus, the rumberas film gradually took shape. The dancer Estela invented the maracas at the waist, to do more flashy musical numbers. Another leading figure was the Cuban dancer Celina, who choreographed numerous films. In Cuba, the Mexican Luz Gil was considered the master of all the rumberas.[6] Although the Rumba was the initial musical genre that was danced in these productions, soon other tropical rhythms were added to the repertoire, such as mambo, conga, Calypso music, samba, cha-cha-cha and bolero. Artists such as Pérez Prado, Benny Moré, Agustín Lara, Kiko Mendive, Toña la Negra, Rita Montaner, Maria Luisa Landín, Olga Guillot, Pedro Vargas, Amparo Montes and others deserve a special mention since their voices accompanied the rumberas in their musical numbers and contributed to their film shine. Many popular boleros of the time (mainly the songs of Agustin Lara, dedicated to prostitutes), served as inspiration for arguments or titles of the Rumberas films (The well paid, Perverted Woman, Adventurous, Traicionera...)

Rise of the genre

During the administration of the Mexican President Miguel Alemán Valdés (1946-1952), the growth of Mexico City as a great metropolis was reflected in the huge boom in cabarets and nightlife around the town. The Mexican Cinema was influenced by this phenomenon. The rural settings that set the tone in the first half of the 1940s began to lose ground against the new melodramas with urban and suburban settings. The famous film Salon Mexico (Emilio Fernández, 1950), marked the transition of the role of the heroine, from the campirano and naive women to the low class young sinners, "night women" dragged by urban revolution to the suburbs and perdition. In this sense, even with all its fancy and tropical extravagance, the Rumberas film was a genre that showed a more authentic form of social life of Mexico at the time, without false stylized images that were shown in films from Emilio Fernández and other directors.

Promotional poster of the film Sandra the Woman of Fire (1954), directed by Juan Orol, considered the spiritual father of the Rumberas film.

Although it is common to recognize María Antonieta Pons as the first film "rumbera", the film Humo en los ojos (1946), directed by the filmmaker Alberto Gout and starring by Meche Barba, was the film that began the mass production of rumberas films because the big Mexican film studios found large sales from them at the box office. The film Aventurera (1950), also directed by Alberto Gout and starring by Ninón Sevilla, is considered the masterpiece of the genre. What is remarkable is that the most obvious characteristics of rumberas film (songs, dances, actors, scenery) are easily identifiable in Aventurera and do not differ much from any other films.

The rumberas film, unique to Mexico, reached the attention of many specialized critics. François Truffaut, still writing for Cahiers du cinéma, write a dossier on this exotic subgenre. The critics of Cahiers du Cinéma wrote some of the most ardent pages dedicated to Mexican actresses.[7] It is also important to emphasize that some rumberas (as Rosa Carmina or Ninon Sevilla), managed to combine around them to real filming teams that framed as few actresses they succeeded in Mexican cinema (perhaps a privilege only limited to Maria Felix and Dolores del Río).

It is also important to note that due to the success of rumberas film, many other films were created, which together, allowed the Mexican film industry to consolidate itself. Today, the industry is struggling, despite very specific successes.

The Queens of the Tropic

According to experts and film critics, of all the rumberas who raided in the rumberas film in the Mexican cinema, only five of them have managed to go down in history as the maximum exponents of the genre. They were María Antonieta Pons (1922-2000), Meche Barba (1922-2000), Ninón Sevilla (1929-2015), Amalia Aguilar (1924) and Rosa Carmina (1929). In 1993, the journalist Fernando Muñoz Castillo, named them The Queens of the Tropic. None resembles the other. All were different, not only in their styles of dance, but also in their films, which enjoyed a particular and unique style and label.

María Antonieta Pons (1922-2004)

María Antonieta Pons (1948)

She was the first Mexican Cinema rumbera and that sets the tone and features that distinguish the gender. Maritoña (as she is also called at the time) came to Mexico in 1938 at the hands of her then husband, the Spanish filmmaker Juan Orol. María Antonieta Pons journeyed with variable success of suburban melodrama to child or family comedy. Despite her voluptuous dance style, the actress has always maintained in a particular way in her films (especially those who ran her second husband, filmmaker Ramón Pereda). Her most important films include Siboney (1938), Konga Roja (1943), Embrujo antillano (1945), La reina del trópico (1945), El ciclón del Caribe (1950), La reina del mambo (1950) and María Cristina (1951). After the decline of the genre, she tried to enter, with little success, other film genres, like comedy. After her last film, realized in 1965, she remained isolated from public life until her death[8]

Meche Barba (1922-2000)

Meche Barba (1949)

She was the only Mexican among the five greatest exponents of the genre, which is also known as "The Mexican Rumbera". Barba began her career as a child in popular theaters. She debuted in film in 1944. Her foray to Rumberas film occurs with the film Rosalinda (1945). She starred in Smoke in the Eyes (1946), a film that starts mass production of Rumberas films. By her Mexican origin, Barba lacked the characteristic flavor and sensuality of the dances of the Cuban rumeberas. She enjoyed a more measured style and made up for by an excellent melodramatic technique. Her films include Cortesana (1947) Venus de fuego (1948), Amor de la calle (1950), Si fuera una cualquiera (1950), Cuando los hijos pecan (1952), La mujer desnuda (1953) and Ambiciosa (1953), among others. She formed a famous film couple with the singer and actor Fernando Fernández. She retired from films early, but reappeared on television in the 1980s, where she remained active until her death.[9]

Amalia Aguilar (born 1924)

Amalia Aguilar (1950)

Also known as the "Atomic Bomb". Agular arrives in Mexico in 1945 by the hand of the Cuban dancer Julio Richard. Her enormous charisma and extraordinary technique of dance, opened the doors of cinema and gave her the opportunity to break into Hollywood. Unlike her colleagues in her film career she broke with the stereotype of the femme fatale. Rarely she was a suffering or evil woman, preferring lean toward the light comedies. Aguilar appears as dumbbell of popular Mexican comedians as Germán Valdés "Tin Tan" or Adalberto Martínez "Resortes". Her films include Pervertida (1946), Calabacitas tiernas (1948), Ritmos del Caribe (1950), Al son del mambo (1950), Amor perdido (1951), Las tres alegres comadres (1952) Las interesadas(1952), Mis tres viudas alegres (1953) and Las cariñosas (1953 ), among others. Although she withdrew from acting for several decades, she makes frequent appearances at public events[10]

Ninón Sevilla (1921-2015)

Ninón Sevilla (1950)

She began her training in nightclubs in Cuba and nightclubs and arrives in Mexico in 1946 by the hand of the filmmaker and producer Fernando Cortés. She was exclusive star of Calderon Film star and managed to consolidate a solid film team around her that contributed to her brilliance (Alberto Gout, Alex Phillips, Alvaro Custodio). She was the favorite of markets such as France and Brazil. Sevilla was endowed with an exotic beauty and harmonious anatomy. She was a complete vedette, because not only danced and acted, but also sang and riding her own musical numbers, which were always colorful, exotic and extravagant. Her films include Perdida (1949), Aventurera (1949), Victimas del Pecado (1950), Sensualidad (1950), Aventura en Río (1953), Mulata (1954) and Yambaó (1956), among others. Of all the rumberas, Sevilla features interpreted in a bold and daring way the archetype of the femme fatale, the sinful and cabaret woman. After retiring from films for over a decade, she returned in the eighties, and remained active in television until her death[11]

Rosa Carmina (born 1929)

Rosa Carmina (1951)

Owner of a unique stature (unusual among the actresses of the time) and a stunning physical beauty, the stunning Rosa Carmina comes to Mexico in 1946 after being discovered by Juan Orol in Cuba. In the same year she debuted in the Mexican cinema in the film A woman from the East. Rosa Carmina was not only exponent of the Rumberas film, but also the Mexican Film noir. For this reason, she was called "The Queen of the Gangsters". Among her most important films are Tania, la bella salvaje(1947), Gangsters contra charros (1947, Amor salvaje (1949), En carne viva (1951), Viajera (1952), La diosa de Tahití (1953) and Sandra, la mujer de fuego (1954), among others. In her film career, Rosa Carmina enjoyed a versatility rarely seen in an actress, because she transit through numerous film genres ranging from melodrama to horror, action, drama and fantasy. After sporadic appearances on television, she retired in 1992. She currently resides in Spain.[12]

Other rumberas

There are other dancers who performed in the rumberas film but, for various reasons, had only a fleeting step on the screen:

  • Marquita Rivera (1922-2002): Puertorican dancer. She arrives to Mexico by the hand of the Mexican actor and filmmaker Fernando Soler. She only starred two films in Mexico, and was most popular in nightclubs and some Hollywood musical films.
  • Blanquita Amaro (1923-200): Popular Cuban vedette. She filmed some Mexican movies in the 1940s, but she won the stardom in the Cinema of Argentina in the 1950s.
  • Olga Chaviano (1925-2003): A successful star of the cabarets of her time. She was called "The Queen of the Mambo". She filmed some Mexican films in the 1950s, but she is removed from the show to be involved with the gangster Norman Rothman.
  • Yadira Jiménez (1928-?): Costarican actress and singer. She filmed some films in Cuba and arrives to Mexico in 1946. Juan Orol directed her in the film The Love of my Bohio (1946). In the late 1940s and the early 1950s she realized numerous villain roles in the Mexican films.
  • Lina Salomé (¿-?): Another popular Cuban dancer. She worked in the Mexican cinema between 1952 and 1957.
  • The Dolly Sisters (Caridad and Mercedes Vazquez): Popular dance cuple (inspired in the original Dolly Sisters of the early XX century). They were part of the Pérez Prado musical numbers in several movies.
  • Mary Esquivel (¿-?-2007): She was the third cinematographic muse of Juan Orol (after María Antonieta Pons and Rosa Carmina). She was discovered by Orol in Cuba in 1956. She formed a film team with Orol between 1956 and 1963. She was the star of Zonga, The Diabolic Angel (1957), a popular cult film directed by Orol. After her divorce from Orol, the actress leaves the show business.
  • Dinorah Judith (1948-2005): Fourth muse and star of the Juan Orol films. She worked with the filmmaker between 1964 and 1972. She was a clasic dancer. Among her most popular films with Orol are the contracultural film The Fantastic World of the Hippies (1972).

Many actresses also danced tropical rhythms in some films. Among them are: Rosita Quintana, Elsa Aguirre, Lilia Prado, Leticia Palma, Lilia del Valle, Silvia Pinal, Ana Bertha Lepe, Evangelina Elizondo and Ana Luisa Peluffo.

The Exóticas

It is a common mistake to confuse the rumberas with the exóticas. Even though they also danced in the Mexican Cinema, they danced different rhythms (Polynesian, Eastern, African, Tahitian, Hawaiian, etc.). Due to censorship on films, the exóticas lived their moment of glory at nightclubs, and only later came to film. Some used exotic names. Among the most famous are Su Muy Key, Kalantan, Trudi Bora, Bongala, Eda Lorna, Joyce Camerón, Friné, Francia, Turanda, Josefina del Mar, Brenda Conde, Joyce Cameron and Gemma. The most striking of all was Tongolele, probably the only exotic that managed to have relatively distinguished career in film.

Principal filmmakers

Between 1946 and 1959 there were more than a hundred rumberas films. The principal directors are:

Films

The principal films were:

Decline of the genre

In the mid-fifties, the Rumberas film had lost originality. All actresses acted in similar roles and the genre gradually ceased to be attractive to the public. The end of the Rumberas film also marks the end of the administration of the President Alemán, and the new administration was much less tolerant to the nightlife that triumphed in Mexico City, which lost the splendor it had enjoyed years back. The Mexican cinema in general was about to begin its precipitous decline. The genre was further attacked by radical groups such as the "Legion of Decency" which had the support of the authorities, and considered the genre as a breach of morality and decency because it depicted the image of the prostitute, the "sinful woman". The prevailing double standards in Mexican society made the rumberas marginalized in the film industry. Even the Mexican Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for many years prevented rumberas actresses from receiving the Silver Ariel Award. Some rumberas began to move towards other film genres, took refuge in their personal shows in theaters and nightclubs, or opted for a decent retirement. The film Caña Brava (1965), starring María Antonieta Pons, is considered the film that closed the Rumberas film production, and even can be considered a kind of memorial to the genre.

Figures like Ninón Sevilla, Meche Barba and Rosa Carmina chose to migrate to television. However, the prevailing censorship on Mexican television marginalized the rumberas once again, limiting them to guest appearances on Mexican telenovelas, usually on characters from popular cut, away from their cinematic myths and in most cases, with characters little according to their trajectories.[clarification needed]

Genre reevaluation

In the 1970s, Mexico City experienced a new golden age of nightlife and cabarets. This was made possible, in large part, to the demise of the "League of Decency". The Mexican cinema, which had success with government films early in the decade, again fell into decline with the rise of low-quality films that were full of sexual exploitation. The clearest example is the rise of so-called Cine de ficheras in the late seventies and early eighties. Like the Rumberas film, the Cine de ficheras is based on the nightlife of women of the cabaret, but from a very different context, since that time, film censorship was relaxed and international cinema found itself in the middle of the sexual revolution. The Cine de ficheras shows explicit nudity to attract audiences to the box office, in contrast to the work of the rumberas, who never needed to display their bodies in explicit way to achieve success. However, the rise of cabaret frames in the Mexican Cinema began to provoke nostalgia for the spectators, who slowly began demanding the presence of the authentic "Queens of the Night" in the screens. Some rumberas began to reappear, first in films and later in television. The Mexican Academy of Film first recognized the careers of Ninon Sevilla in 1984 and Meche Barba in 1992.

The telenovelas writer Carlos Romero became another vital figure for the revaluation of the genre by rescuing several rumberas from oblivion and honoring them in telenovelas like La pasión de Isabela in 1984, and Salomé in 2001. The telenovelas of the Mexican pop singer Thalía were point vital meeting of the great rumberas.[clarification needed] The rumberas found a new way to stay current in the public memory and to approach new generations as new popular myths. To the public taste, a soap opera network is not complete without the presence of Barba, Sevilla and Rosa Carmina.

Many film festivals around the world began to pay homage to the rumberas film. Its unique condition as a curiosity of Mexico, together with its other unique features, has made it a cult film niche.

Between 1997 and 2011, Mexican actress Carmen Salinas revived the classic Aventurera through a musical stage play (the longest in history in Mexico) where she pays homage to the heyday of the rumberas film. The stage play made it to Broadway and has been led by various actresses like Edith González, Itatí Cantoral, Niurka Marcos and Maribel Guardia, among others. In the same vein, other musical plays (as Perfume de Gardenia), are inspired by the old Rumberas film.

In 2012, the biographical film El fantástico mundo de Juan Orol, directed by Sebastian del Amo, and inspired by the life and work of filmmaker Juan Orol, was released. The film shows a summary of the origins and rise of the rumberas film from the 1940s and 1950s.[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Final de partida: Ninón Sevilla and the Rumberas film
  2. ↑ Final de partida: Ninón Sevilla and the Rumberas film
  3. ↑ Noticieros Televisa Final de Partida: Ninón Sevilla & The Rumberas film
  4. ↑ SOMOS (1999), p. 6-8
  5. ↑ Muñóz Castillo, Fernando. Las Reinas del Trópico, México, 1993, ed.Grupo Azabache, p.211
  6. ↑ SOMOS (1999), p. 6-8
  7. ↑ Fantoscopía mexicana: Sensualidad
  8. ↑ Cuban rumberas in México: María Antonieta Pons
  9. ↑ LA RUMBERA MEXICANA... MECHE BARBA
  10. ↑ LA BOMBA ATOMICA... AMALIA AGUILAR.
  11. ↑ Ninón Sevilla-Biography
  12. ↑ Cuban stars in México: Rosa Carmina
  13. ↑ Apantallan con historia de Orol

Bibliography

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  • Las Rumberas del Cine Mexicano (The Rumberas of the Mexican Cinema) (1999). In SOMOS. México: Editorial Televisa, S. A. de C. V.
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External links

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