Fever Mounts at El Pao (1959) La fièvre monte à El Pao (original title)

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writers:

Henri Castillou (novel)
Luis Buñuel (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

5 December 1959 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Aroused citizens assassinate an unpopular Caribbean despot, then two men vie for his gorgeous widow Ines...

Plot Keywords:

Revolution | Based On Novel

Cast

Gérard Philipe	...	Ramón Vázquez
María Félix	...	Inés Rojas (as Maria Felix)
Jean Servais	...	Alejandro Gual
Miguel Ángel Ferriz	...	Le gouverneur Mariano Vargas (as M.A. Soler)
Raúl Dantés	...	Le lieutenant García (as Raoul Dantes)
Domingo Soler	...	Le professeur Juan Cárdenas
Víctor Junco	...	Indarte
Roberto Cañedo	...	Le colonel Olivares
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Luis Aceves Castañeda	...	López - le secrétaire de Gual (uncredited)
Armando Acosta	...	Manuel (uncredited)
Miguel Arenas	...	(uncredited)
Edmundo Barbero	...	Le procureur (uncredited)
Augusto Benedico	...	Le ministre Sáenz (uncredited)
Antonio Bravo	...	Le juge (uncredited)
José Chávez	...	(uncredited)
Emilio Garibay	...	(uncredited)
Francisco Jambrina	...	(uncredited)
Carlos León	...	(uncredited)
Enrique Lucero	...	Vila (uncredited)
José Muñoz	...	(uncredited)
Alberto Pedret	...	Valle (uncredited)
Pilar Pellicer	...	Pilar Cárdenas (uncredited)
Ignacio Peón	...	(uncredited)
David Reynoso	...	Le capitaine Real (uncredited)
Andrés Soler	...	Le président Carlos Barreiro (uncredited)

Directed by
Luis Buñuel

Writing credits
Henri Castillou		(novel)
Luis Buñuel		(adaptation) (as Luis Bunuel) &
Luis Alcoriza		(adaptation) &
Charles Dorat		(adaptation) &
Louis Sapin		(adaptation)
Louis Sapin		(dialogue)

Produced by
Jacques Bar	....	producer
Raymond Borderie	....	executive producer
Óscar Dancigers	....	producer
Gregorio Walerstein	....	producer

Original Music by
Paul Misraki

Cinematography by
Gabriel Figueroa

Film Editing by
Rafael Ceballos		(as Rafael Ceballos López)
James Cuenet

Production Design by
Jorge Fernández		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Ana Maria Jones		(uncredited)
Armando Valdés Peza		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Bertha Chiu	....	hair stylist (uncredited)

Production Management
Charles Borderie	....	production manager
Roger Morand	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Juan Luis Buñuel	....	assistant director (as Jean-Louis Bunuel)

Sound Department
William Robert Sivel	....	sound (as W. Robert Sivel)

Special Effects by
Armando Stahl	....	special effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Ignacio Romero	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
Jacques Métehen	....	conductor (as Jacques Metehen)

Other crew
Suzanne Durrenberger	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Le Groupe des Quatre (as Groupe des Quatre)
• Cinematográfica Filmex S.A.
• Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale Cinématographique (CICC) (as C.I.C.C.)

Distributors

• Les Films Corona (1960) (France) (theatrical)
• Prisma (1960) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Azteca Films Inc. (1988) (USA) (subtitled)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2009) (Germany) (DVD) (Luis Bunuel Edition)

Other Companies

• Auditorium S.I.M.O.  dubbing
• Éditions Albin Michel  novel published by

Also Known As:

"La fièvre monte à El Pao" - France (original title)

Runtime:

France:97 min | Mexico:109 min | Argentina:109 min | USA:97 min

Country:

France | Mexico

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Argentina:16 | West Germany:16 (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Tetecala, Morelos, Mexico

Company:

Le Groupe des Quatre

Movie Connections:

Remade as La fièvre monte à El Pao (1993) (TV)

Gerard Philippe and Maria Felix outwit Jean Servais only to succumb to even higher level political corruption

This is a melodrama or political film noir in which nobody wins. The story exposes the overlap of human and political corruption in a penal colony on the island of El Pao.

I rate this as very entertaining due to the complex story mainly and the performances, but the story unfolds in rather a rough fashion with some jumps in the action. It looks like the budget may have necessitated some hastiness in the production and less care to creating a smooth outcome than the story merited. But overall, it's one heck of a ride following the ping-pong plotting of Jean Servais and his opposition, Maria Felix.

Felix is definitely a magnetic presence on screen and successfully can convey sincere love one second and deviousness the next, leaving one to wonder where she is truly coming from. She turns in a marvelous performance with her alternating personae. Servais, who had played a very rough and tough character 4 years earlier in Rififi, has no trouble conveying his menace, only softening at times in the presence of Felix or his pet birds.

The men in this story awaken to the calculations and depths of Ms. Felix.

Philippe is the man with scruples who has charge of the penal colony, having taken the place of the husband of Felix who was assassinated by an escaped convict. Servais is a new administrator determined to oust Philippe and to have his lover, the widowed Felix. She has other ideas, being very ruthless herself and persuasive with Philippe. However, she really does love him, and his idealism, which slowly but surely gets ripped apart, is one reason.

Their plots play out against a prison mutiny. Philippe's moral bearings are tested, before, during and especially after the mutiny has ended, when his superiors start using him for their own purposes.