INVESTIGADORES
SZURMUK Monica
capítulos de libros
Título:
Latin American Rivalry: Libertad Lamarque in Mexican Golden Age Cinema
Autor/es:
MÓNICA SZURMUK; MARICRUZ CASTRO RICALDE
Libro:
Global Mexican Cinema: Its Golden Age
Editorial:
British Film Institute /Palgrave McMillan
Referencias:
Lugar: Londres ; Año: 2013; p. 107 - 133
Resumen:
The departure of Libertad Lamarque for Mexico has become one of the great myths of Latin American cinema. Steeped in so many elements of melodrama, a story that has circulated for decades asserts that during the filming of La cabalgata del circo (Mario Soffici, 1944), Lamarque, one of Argentine cinema´s biggest stars, squabbled with the young actress Eva Duarte, and in a moment of fury gave her a slap, the culmination of a situation of deep tensions between the two of them. Of course, as frequently is the case with media anecdotes, this one has served the purpose of framing within the argument of a melodrama a much more complex story, indeed one whose broader context is that of the competition between the two most successful Spanish language film industries, the role of the United States in the consolidation of Latin America?s cultural industries, and a series of prevailing tensions in international movie markets in the final years of the second world war. This chapter will explore the industry battle between Mexican and Argentine cinema, which had been particularly intense since the latter half of the 1930s, but which would resolve itself in Mexico?s favor by the mid 1940s, a time when Mexico's industry succeeded in imposing itself throughout the Americas, and thereby establishing its cinema as the most successful cultural export product of all Latin America. The particularities of the Peronist project, more concerned with internal development than expansion, contributed to the international debacle of Argentine cinema, punished during the war by boycotts in other countries and by Argentina?s exclusion from access to celluloid markets. The successful presence of Libertad Lamarque in Mexico, for thirty years, points to the Mexican industry`s flexibility in incorporating talent from other areas of the hemisphere. Although, as this chapter will show, Lamarque was excluded from Argentina during the Peron presidency (1945-1955), there were clearly other reasons for her exile. Mexico´s was the most powerful industry in the Spanish speaking world and therefore Lamarque?s decision to develop her career there is not surprising. In addition, at the moment of her departure, the actress was having a series of professional and personal problems in Argentina, which she resolved by moving to Mexico. The endless number of starring roles that she was offered are testament to her popularity in Mexican cinema, the relevance of the tango in Mexican popular culture (an antecedent that both the artist and film producers knew to capitalize on), her definitive and long term establishment as a superstar throughout Latin America, and the versatility of melodrama as the most appropriate genre for her starring roles as a mature actress.