In 1906, several rooms opened in the country and soon a studio was created in Mexico City, which produced numerous documentaries and the first comic feature films, El San Lunes del valedor (1907), by Manuel Noriega, and Aventuras by Tip Top. in Chapultepec (1907) by Felipe de Jesús Haro. Historical evocations are also very popular and Le cri de Dolores (el Grito de Dolores, 1907) by Jesús Haro, evoking the struggle for independence in 1810, is even the subject of compulsory screenings on the feast of ‘Independence under the Diáz regime. In primewire you can find the best choices.
Social Melodrama
A type of social melodrama influenced by French naturalism, which describes the enslavement of the peasants to an almost feudal power, blossomed very early with La vengeance de la gèbe (la Venganza de la gleba, 1906) by Federico Gamboa.
- The revolutionary struggles following the fall of the Diáz dictatorship in 1911 are accompanied by cinema with films such as Revolución orozquista (1912), by the Alva brothers, or Revolución en Veracuz (1912), by Enrique Rosas. But the establishment of censorship in 1913, then the triumph of “constitutionalism” after 1917 put an end to the revolutionary cinematographic current.
- Production companies are created, such as Mexico Luz or Azteca Films, which aim to show the dignity of the Mexican people. In this perspective, the Light (la Luz, 1917) by Ezequiel Carrasco, integral plagiarism of Fire (il Fuoco, 1915) by Giovanni Pastrone, was a great success.
The first film in which the actress Mimi Derba appears, For her own defense (En defensa propria, 1917) by Joaquím Coss, sets up the fruitful foundations of a type of family melodrama in which the mother is the central figure. El Automóvil Gris (1919), a 30-episode soap opera by Enrique Rosas, Joaquín Coss and Juan Manuel Cabrera, inspired by the American serial and authentic news, was a great success. But in the 1920s, American competition doubled and Mexican production, already random, quickly collapsed. Only notable success, La Luz (1927), plagiarism of Italian cinema which inspired Mexicans, because of its European origin and of its Latin character.
Talking cinema
With the arrival of the speaker, Hollywood cinema has control of the market. In response, but with limited success, conventional national cinema (history, traditions, landscapes) was able to outline in broad outline what we will call cinematographic “Mexicanism”.
From 1929, against the backdrop of violence and civil wars, talking cinema made its entrance from the north onto the Mexican scene. It is the “Hispano” cinema of American studios.
Mexicans make several attempts to create a national talking cinema. A small group of exhibitors and journalists decides to exploit a patent for its direct optics, filed by Mexican engineers, to produce a national work adapted from a novel by Federico Ganboe, already brought to the screen in 1918 by Luis G Peredo. Released in the countryside for the consumption of national products, Santa (Sainte, 1931), by Antonio Moreno, mixing melodramatic conventions and romantic music, is a success.
Conclusion
In 1933, Mexican cinema, with twenty-one films, dominated the Spanish-speaking market. El Compadre Mendoza, by Fernando de Fuentes, is the most important film with its revolutionary theme and personal style. With the help of the State, the cinema gradually imposed itself on the Latin American public, especially with Alla en el Rancho Grande (1936) by Fernando de Fuentes.