Angelitos negros (1948)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Joselito Rodríguez

Writers:

Félix B. Caignet (play)
Rogelio A. González (adaptation) (dialogue)

Release Date:

19 November 1948 (Mexico)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Racial | Secret | Daughter | Melodrama | Based On Novel

Cast

Pedro Infante	...	José Carlos Ruiz
Emilia Guiú	...	Ana Luisa de la Fuente
Rita Montaner	...	Mercé
Titina Romay	...	Belén
Chela Castro	...	Isabel
Nicolás Rodríguez	...	Father Francisco
María Douglas	...	Malú del Rey
Antonio R. Frausto	...	Laureano, theatre mogul
Juan Pulido	...	Ildefonso Sánchez
Ramiro Gamboa	...	Announcer
Óscar Pulido	...	Barud, arab man
Chimi Monterrey	...	Fernando Valdés
Sidney Flyers	...	Skaters
María Victoria Llamas	...	Girl
Pita Martínez	...	Singer

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Producciones Rodríguez Hermanos

Movie Connections:

Version of "El alma no tiene color" (1997)

Great, if compromising film.

This film is one of the gems of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. It was shown in Puerto Rican television repeatedly throughout the 80's, and it was one of the films which inspired me to be a filmmaker. The acting, in particular the performance by Pedro Infante, was powerful, and the story is quite engaging. Looking at it now, as an adult, I find it still packs a punch, but in the way Sirk's "Immitation of Life" does. It is an engaging piece of melodrama which periodically succumbs to prejudiced (maybe even condescending) attitudes towards its Black characters. The end, however, becomes a testament to the human spirit. Douglas Sirk would have been proud.