The Mexican Film Bulletin Volume 23 Number 4 December 2017
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THE MEXICAN FILM BULLETIN VOL. 23 No. 4 DECEMBER 2017 She is survived by 3 daughters and numerous grandchildren. OoooooooBOBTIThe Mexican Film Bulletin Volume 23 Number 4 December 2017 Another Year Complete! [Personal note: I have Another year of MFB is done. We'll be back in 2018 fond memories of with Volume 24, on the same quarterly schedule as before. meeting Evangelina Best Holiday wishes to all of our readers! Elizondo in 2003 while in Mexico for the "Futuro + Acá" conference. She Obituaries was quite stylish, gracious Evangelina Elizondo and friendly.] Actress Evangelina Elizondo passed away on 2 October 2017; she was 88 years old. Gloria Evangelina Elizondo Claudio Báez López-Llera was born in Mexico City in April 1929. She Actor Claudio Báez died on 19 November 2017; he was won a contest to dub the leading character in the Spanish- 69 years old. The cause of death was announced as language release of Disney's Cinderella and shortly pneumonia; his friend, actress Patricia Reyes Spíndola, afterwards began a stage career as a dancer/singer. She said Báez had been suffering from emphysema for some became a popular film star in 1950s Mexican cinema, time. appearing in various genres, Báez was born in Guadalajara in March 1948 and began although she was primarily a his acting career in the early 1980s. [Reyes Spíndola stated musical and comedy performer in Báez had been a veterinarian this decade. Elizondo's films prior to becoming an actor.] He included El castillo de los had a long career in telenovelas-- monstruos (with Clavillazo), Los often as a villain--from "Cuando platillos voladores, Te vi en t.v., los hijos se van" in 1983 until Manos arriba, Viva la juventud "Despertar contigo" (2016). (all with Resortes), and Las Báez also appeared in a number locuras de Tin Tan (with Tin of theatrical films and Tan). videohomes, including Lobo In the 1960s, she made fewer film appearances (and salvaje, Narco terror, Playa more of them dramas), then was off-screen for most of the prohibida, Contrato con la 1970s. Elizondo made various telenovela and TV program muerte, Hotel Colonial (an Italian-USA coproduction set appearances in the 1980s-2000s, as well as a handful of in Colombia but filmed in Mexico!), Más allá del deseo, theatrical films like Nos traicionará el presidente? (for Bulldog, and La víbora. which she received a Best Supporting Actress Ariel Claudio Báez was married to actress Isaura Espinoza nomination), Don't Panic, and En el paraíso no existe el (they appeared together in Playa prohibida and La víbora) dolor. Her last film work was 2016's Princesa, una but they later divorced. verdadera historia (also the last film of the recently deceased Héctor Lechuga). Elizondo was involved in a notorious scandal in 1960, Marú Dueñas-Claudio Reyes Rubio when her ex-husband José Luis Paganoni shot and killed Actress, director and producer actor Ramón Gay, who was co-starring with Elizondo in a Maru Dueñas died in an stage play. Gay and Elizondo had dined together and he automobile accident on 11 drove her back to her parked car when Paganoni appeared, November 2017; she was struck Elizondo and then shot Gay when the actor returning to Mexico City after intervened. Paganoni was later arrested and sentenced to shooting scenes for a telenovela. prison. Also killed in the accident was Evangelina Elizondo had a substantial musical career Claudio Reyes Rubio, the in addition to her acting work. In later years she became a program's director. writer, painter, and worked for the actors' union ANDA. 1 THE MEXICAN FILM BULLETIN VOL. 23 No. 4 DECEMBER 2017 María Eugenia Dueñas was born in October 1967; she in films and television in Argentina, Spain (where he lived attended the Andrés Soler acting school and Televisa's in the early 2000s, becoming a Spanish citizen in 2003) CEA (Centro de Educación Artística). She made her and elsewhere. He also directed the feature film Pasos professional acting debut in 1986. Her career was largely (2005). centered on the stage and on television, although she did Luppi's notable Argentina films included La Patagonia appear in a handful of films like rebelde, and No habrá más penas ni olvido (both directed Hasta morir and Las delicias by Héctor Olvera), and Tiempo de revancha, Últimos días del poder. del víctima, La ley de la frontera and Martín (Hache)(all Claudio Reyes Rubio was directed by Adolfo Aristarain). He worked three times the son of writer Luis Reyes de with Guillermo del Toro: Cronos, El laberinto del fauno, la Maza and actress María and El espinazo del Diablo (the latter two shot in Spain). Rubio. Born in August 1964, Other Mexican films or co-productions featuring Luppi Reyes studied at UNAM and in were Luna caliente, Mi querido Tom Mix and Nadie the mid-1980s began working hablará de nosotras cuando hayamos muerto. He also in television as a writer and appeared in Men With Guns, directed by John Sayles and later director. shot in Mexico. Federico Luppi is survived by his wife. Félix González Félix González, who appeared in numerous Mexican films from the 1950s through the 1980s, died in October 2017. His death was announced on 26 October 2017 by the Asociación Nacional de Intérpretes (ANDI) but no details were provided. González was 87 years old. Félix Jesús González Medina was born in Mexico City in October 1930. He studied law at UNAM, then entered the Andrés Soler acting school and also studied with famous stage director Seki Sano. González made his screen debut in Sitting Bull (1954), a U.S.-Mexican coproduction. His ability to speak English earned him roles in a number of other co- productions and Hollywood films shot in Mexico, including Villa!, Ten Days to Tulara, the "Daniel Boone" TV series, The Candy Man, and Missing. Among the Mexican films in which González had major roles were La furia del ring, Secuestro en Acapulco, Las zapatillas verdes [The Little Green Shoes] La Sombra Blanca, La otra mujer, and Soy chicano y (Productora Mier y Brooks, 1954) Exec Prod: Ernesto mexicano. He also worked on the stage and on television. Enríquez; Prod: Felipe Mier, Oscar Brooks; Dir/Scr: René In the mid-1980s González retired from acting and Cardona; Adapt/Story: Carlos León; Photo: Agustín moved to Tijuana. He was married twice and had five Martínez Solares; Music: Manuel Esperón; Prod Mgr: children and numerous grandchildren. Eduardo Vega Lavín; Prod Chief: Enrique Morfín; Sub- Chief of Prod: Alfredo Chavira; Asst Dir: Winfield Federico Luppi Sánchez; Film Ed: Carlos Savage; Art Dir: Javier Torres Torija; Lighting: Juan Durán; Camera Op: Andrés Torres; Argentine actor Federico Luppi Choreog: José Silva; Sound Ed: Abraham Cruz; Music/Re- died on 20 October 2017; he was 81 rec: Enrique Rodríguez; Dialog Rec: Rodolfo Solís; Script years old. Luppi, born in the Clerk: Ícaro Cisneros; Makeup: Concepción Zamora; province of Buenos Aires in Union: STPC February 1936, suffered a serious Cast: Evangelina Elizondo (Rosalinda), Manuel fall in April and never fully Capetillo (Juan José), Delia Magaña (doña Cándida), recovered. Carlos Riquelme (don Sandalio Botas), Nono Arsú (López, Federico Luppi made his acting impresario), Julián de Meriche (Vladimiro), Nicolás debut on Argentine television in Rodríguez (don Salvador “Chava” Cano), “Lobo Negro” 1964, and went on to a long career [Guillermo Hernández] (Kid Gorila), Silvia Carrillo 2 THE MEXICAN FILM BULLETIN VOL. 23 No. 4 DECEMBER 2017 (secretary), Rodolfo Gaona, Rogelio Jiménez Pons only when Rosalinda is absent (which means she pulled “Frijolito” (poor boy), Rosa María Montes (customer of the same shoe gag on all the other boxers as well?!). He don Sandalio), Antonio Padilla “Picoro” (ring announcer), then retires and becomes a successful torero. At the Ignacio Peón (man at fiesta), Zoila Quiñones, Jorge conclusion, Juan José becomes engaged to Rosalinda and Rachini, Manuel Sánchez Navarro, José Luis Aguirre his father proposes to Cándida. “Trosky” (dancer), Mario Chávez [Cid] (dancer), Manuel Up until the point where Rosalinda becomes a star, Las “Loco” Valdés (pachuco customer of doña Cándida) zapatillas verdes is generally entertaining. The idea that Notes: after a decent first half, Las zapatillas verdes both protagonists are not inherently talented and falls apart in the second half, winding up as a sporadically immediately successful in their dream careers is a bit of a entertaining musical/comedy/fantasy. The title is a novelty (more traditionally, the protagonist is supremely reference to The Red Shoes (1948) and there is a very talented but there are other obstacles on the way to peripheral similarity in the premise (magic dancing shoes). achieving fame and fortune). When asked to “dance,” Rosalinda works in a shoe factory in Guanajuato, but Rosalinda goes through a series of arm-flailing, high- dreams of becoming a star. Her mother Cándida convinces kicking gestures which resemble the comedic dancing of factory owner Resortes, only not as accomplished. Juan José is initially don Chava to timid when practicing bullfighting, although in his first finance real appearance in the ring--during a local fiesta--he Rosalinda’s acquits himself well. artistic There are some odd and illogical aspects even in this education in section of the film, however. Although we see Cándida Mexico City. convince don Chava to underwrite Rosalinda’s move to Rosalinda’s Mexico City, without much explanation we are suddenly boyfriend shown Cándida and Sandalio’s two rather modern and Juan José, substantial shops in the city. How did they afford that? who works in [There is exactly one scene in which Cándida and Sandalio his father compete for a single customer, otherwise no business Sandalio’s cobbler shop, wants to become a torero.