''Humo en los ojos'' (''Smoke in the Eyes'') is a Mexican

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Alberto Gout. It was released in 1946 and starring

Meche Barba Meche Barba (born Mercedes Barba Feito; September 24, 1922 – January 14, 2000) was an American-born Mexican film actress and dancer of the Golden age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. She was considered one of the icons of the "Rumbera ...

and David Silva. The film is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

in both Mexico and the United States.

Plot

Maria Esther (

) is a young girl that works as a dancer in a cabaret. María Esther falls in love with Carlos (David Silva), a sailor who had a previous relationship with a cabaret woman named Sofia (

María Luisa Zea María Luisa Zea (5 February 1913 – 27 December 2002) was a Mexican actress and singer of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. In her career spanning 24 years, she appeared in over 50 motion pictures. Selected filmography *'' La Llorona'' (193 ...

). A rivalry erupts between the two women. Neither of the two realizes that, in reality, they are mother and daughter.

Cast

... ''María Esther'' *

David Silva David Josué Jiménez Silva (born 8 January 1986) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for La Liga club Real Sociedad. Silva plays mainly as a central or an attacking midfielder but can also play as a winger or second striker. He is ...

... ''Carlos'' *

... ''Sofía'' *

Rubén Rojo Rubén Rojo Pinto (1922–1993) was a Spanish-Mexican actor.Durgnat p.171 Selected filmography * ''Ahora seremos felices'' (1938) - Radio Station boy #2 (uncredited) * '' My Children'' (1944) - Eduardo * ''Imprudencia'' (1944) * ''Adán, Eva y ...

... ''Juan Manuel'' * Fernando Soto "Mantequilla" ... ''Chon'' *

Toña la Negra Antonia del Carmen Peregrino Álvarez (2 November 1912 – 19 November 1982), known by her stage name Toña la Negra (Toña the Black Woman), was a Mexican singer and actress of partial Haitian ancestry, known for her interpretation of boleros and ...

... ''Toña''

Reviews

The plot was inspired by the same named song of

Agustín Lara Ángel Agustín María Carlos Fausto Mariano Alfonso del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Lara y Aguirre del Pino (; October 30, 1897 – November 6, 1970), known as Agustín Lara, was a Mexican composer and performer of songs and boleros. He is recogn ...

, who brought other tropical themes along with Juan Bruno Tarraza and

Rafael Hernández Marín Rafael Hernández Marín (October 24, 1892 – December 11, 1965) was a Puerto Rican songwriter, author of hundreds of popular songs in the Latin American repertoire. He specialized in Puerto Rican styles such as the canción, bolero and guaracha ...

. One of the classic films of the

Rumberas film The Rumberas film (in Spanish, Cine de rumberas) was a film genre that flourished in Mexico, in the so-called Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Its main stars were the so-called '' rumberas'', dancers of Afro-Caribbean musical rh ...

is ''Humo en los ojos''. In his essential and delicious ''Documentary History of Mexican cinema'', the researcher

Emilio García Riera Emilio García Riera (born 17 November 1931 in Ibiza, Spain – died on 11 October 2002 in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico) was a Spanish-born Mexican actor, writer and cinema critic. He has written exhaustively on Mexican cinema of 1929 and 1976, leav ...

writes the following comment: ''It's funny the outcome of this tropical melodrama. David Silva feels incestuous by simple solidarity with her former lover Maria Luisa Zea and that makes him give up of a Meche Barba more "femme fatal" than ever. In the microcosm of the tropical cabaret, the director Alberto Gout discovered how the passions tragically collide with the revelations of kinship. At the same time, Gout was finding, for him and for the genre of Rumberas, the style that would give prosperity in the coming years''.''Películas Pepito: Humo en los ojos (1946)''
/ref> The film was originally offered to the Cuban-Mexican rumbera

María Antonieta Pons Maria Antonieta Pons (November 6, 1922 in Havana, Cuba – August 20, 2004 in Mexico City) was a Cuban-born Mexican film actress and dancer. She was the first actress in the ''Rumberas films'' in the 1940s and 1950s, in the Golden Age of Mexican ...

. As the producer(s) and Pons did not reach a salary agreement, the producer Alfonso Rosas Priego and the director Alberto Gout began to test several other candidates. Among them were Lupita Torrentera, Yadira Jimenez and Ethel Maklen, but eventually Meche Barba was chosen. Thanks to this film, Barba makes her foray into Rumbera films.

References

External links

* 1946 films Mexican black-and-white films Rumberas films 1940s Spanish-language films Mexican drama films 1946 drama films Films directed by Alberto Gout 1940s Mexican films {{1940s-Mexico-film-stub