''That's the Woman I Want'' (Spanish:''Yo quiero una mujer así'') is a 1950 Venezuelan-Argentine

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Juan Carlos Thorry Juan Carlos Thorry (June 28, 1908, in Coronel Pringles – February 12, 2000 in San Antonio de Padua), born José Antonio Torrontegui, was an Argentine film actor, tango musician and director, notable for his work during the Golden Age of Argen ...

and starring

Olga Zubarry Olga Zubarry (30 October 1929 – 15 December 2012) was an Argentine actress who appeared in film between 1943 and 1997. She made over 60 appearances in film, spanning six decades of Argentine cinema, but is best known for her work during the Go ...

, Francisco Álvarez, Héctor Monteverde and

Amador Bendayán Amador Jacobo Bendayán Bendayán en-dah-IAN(November 11, 1920 – August 4, 1989)Venezuelan film history, in particular by

Central University of Venezuela Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

academic María Gabriela Colmenares.

Plot

Lindolfo Chaves is the president of a

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. However, Ruperto is not prepared for Lindolfo's arrival: as well as having serious economic problems, his recently released wife Ana María has decided to leave him after a heated argument concerning Lindolfo's apparent moralistic and demure character. Ruperto looks for her, promptly finding Silvia, their dressmaker. Desperate, Ruperto proposes that she temporarily pretend to be his wife. Silvia accepts the offer and, with the help of Ruperto's butler Sócrates, the three characters play out the farce in front of Uncle Lindolfo. He believes the ruse and ends up naming his nephew president of a new branch of his tobacco company that is being set up in Venezuela. Ana María then returns home to apologize, but then threatens her husband to reveal everything to Lindolfo when they tell her of the act. At the same time, Vuitremundo, an aspirational singer and Silvia's fiancé, has been looking for her for several hours, coming to fight Ruperto because he thinks he has kidnapped her.

Cast

as Ana María * Francisco Álvarez as Lindolfo Chaves * Héctor Monteverde as Vuitremundo *

Amador Bendayán Amador Jacobo Bendayán Bendayán en-dah-IAN(November 11, 1920 – August 4, 1989)Luis Salazar Luis Ernesto Salazar Garcia (born May 19, 1956) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1992 as a third baseman and outfielder for the San Diego Padres (1980–84 ...

as Ruperto Chaves * Elena Fernán as Silvia *

Leon Bravo Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

* Esther Monasterio *

Pura Vargas Pura may refer to: Places * Pura, Kushtagi, a village in Koppal district, Karnataka, India * Pura, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province, Iran * Pura, Tarlac, a municipality in the Philippines * Pura, Switzerland, a municipality in Ticino, Swi ...

* Amparo Riera * Luis Zamora * Carmen Porras * Martha Olivo

Production

The director of ''That's the Woman I Want'',

, was one of a group of filmmakers brought to Venezuela from Argentina and Mexico by film company

Bolívar Films Bolívar Films is a Venezuelan film production company headquartered in Caracas, which works on films, advertisements, post-production, and television. The Cine Archivo Bolívar Films is also one of the most important film archives in Venezuela. ...

, which had seen some success producing shorts and newsreels. Bolívar Films intended to invigorate the national film production with features in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The Argentine Thorry had starred in his compatriot

Carlos Hugo Christensen Carlos Hugo Christensen (15 December 1914 in Santiago del Estero – 30 November 1999 in Rio de Janeiro) was an Argentina, Argentine film director, screenwriter and film producer, an iconic figure of the Golden Age of Argentine cinema, classical ...

's Venezuela-produced film ''

El demonio es un ángel ''The Demon is an Angel'' (Spanish:''Un ángel sin pudor'') is a 1949 Venezuelan comedy film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen and starring Susana Freyre, Juana Sujo and Juan Carlos Thorry.Sadlier p.48 Cast * Susana Freyre * Juana Sujo * Juan C ...

'', which was released the same year (1950) as ''That's the Woman I Want'', which also stars an Argentine actor in the main role. The film was the first to be directed by Thorry. In about 1995, Thorry recalled how the film came to be. Having been in the group summoned to Venezuela, he had only intended to act, however, after ''El demonio es un ángel'' and while director Christensen began filming ''

The Yacht Isabel Arrived This Afternoon ''The Yacht Isabel Arrived This Afternoon'' () is a 1949 Venezuelan-Argentine film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen during the classical era of Argentine cinema. It was shown at the 1951 Cannes Film Festival, where it also won for Best Cinemat ...

'', Thorry found himself with three months to spare. Having been an assistant director on some productions in Argentina, he was encouraged by producers to use the time as an opportunity to create his own feature film in Venezuela. He received the approval of the production company, and had

Juan Corona Juan Corona Vallejo (February 7, 1934 – March 4, 2019) was a Mexican serial killer who was convicted of the murders of 25 transient laborers found buried in peach orchards along the Feather River in Sutter County, California, in 1971. At ...

's story in mind when he briefly returned to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

to hire

and Francisco Álvarez. He then passed the story to the Venezuelan poet and comic

Aquiles Nazoa Aquiles Nazoa (Caracas, 17 May 1920 - 26 April 1976) was a Venezuelan writer, journalist, poet and humorist. His work expressed the values of popular Venezuelan culture. Career He worked in the newspaper '' El Universal'' as a packer, later b ...

to adapt as a screenplay, and hired Venezuelan actors for the other roles and used the same crew from ''El demonio es un ángel''. This movement of Argentine stars for the film was reported on by ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' in early 1950, in regards to the national Argentine film production unit expanding to the United States – ''Variety'' contrasted the news with the fact that "from time to time more Argentine talent clippers off to Venezuela for work tBolívar Films" with the "latest departures fOlga Zubarry and comedian Francisco Álvarez"; it refers to the film with the direct English translation ''I Want a Wife Like That''. Some of the film was shot in

La Guaira La Guaira () is the capital city of the Venezuelan Vargas (state), state of the same name (formerly named Vargas) and the country's main port, founded in 1577 as an outlet for nearby Caracas. The city hosts its own professional baseball team i ...

, specifically scenes of Lindolfo arriving at the airport and Ruperto driving him up the mountains to enter the city of Caracas. It features music by Billo's Caracas Boys and composer Eduardo Serrano.

Marketing and release

María Gabriela Colmenares of

looks at the marketing and release of the film as part of its

paratext In literary interpretation, paratext is material that surrounds a published main text (e.g., the story, non-fiction description, poems, etc.) supplied by the authors, editors, printers, and publishers. These added elements form a frame for the ma ...

and of Bolívar Films' commercial strategy. She writes that the published materials prior to the film's release follow a pattern similar to the

studio system A studio system is a method of filmmaking wherein the production and distribution of films is dominated by a small number of large movie studios. It is most often used in reference to Hollywood motion picture studios during the early years of th ...

and

star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravity, gravitational attraction. It may sometimes be used to refer to a single star. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally calle ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

. In terms of the film, the marketing had "explicit genre labels, ..elements such as the production company and the participation of national artists and international stars" as well as slogans. Some of these slogans explicitly promoted the Venezuelan composer Eduardo Serrano, while others took on the style of a notice to advertise the leisure opportunity of cinema, one reading: "Forget the war and the earthquakes and foot-and-mouth disease watching the comic hit of the year! ..99 minutes of unbroken laughter!" Some of the promotions of the film before its release also include newspaper interviews, which lean more into the 'star' aspect by introducing Argentine actor Francisco Álvarez as "the popular comedian". This form of marketing also highlighted the "accentuated local flavor" of the film's Venezuelan setting as an attraction of it. In terms of

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

, she writes that Bolívar Films had a good handle on the commercialization of its films, but was weaker in the market as it did not have a distribution-exhibition branch of its own. Unlike other Venezuelan attempts at production houses, Bolívar Films was not afraid to market to outside of its country as well as the local market. Regarding the press release issued by Bolívar Films on the day of the premiere, Colmenares explains that it " ighlightedits industrial creation, production values and the seal of the production company, eferredto musical attractions, ..the comic situations of the plot and the comic feats of some of its actors", writing both of the fame of its international stars and the successful debuts of the Venezuelans. The film was successful, staying in Caracas cinemas for two weeks. This would have been very lucrative, but the typical arrangement of the time was for the production to only receive a quarter of the profits.

Analysis

Colmenares writes that "the analysis of ''That's the Woman I Want'' ..shows great pitfalls derived from the unavailability of studies on comedy as a genre", but that comedy was important within production at the time nevertheless. Colmenares then examines the genre of the film, writing that the plot is driven by a hypocrisy and moral double standard in some of its characters and by the humorous use of a more-stable facade by others, explaining that "ambiguity, deception and impersonation articulate the whole story" until the plots are resolved and truth uncovered. She concludes that the film, therefore, demonstrates the "beliefs and values of the petty bourgeoisie". In terms of storytelling, Colmenares notes the use of

dramatic irony Irony, in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what, on the surface, appears to be the case with what is actually or expected to be the case. Originally a rhetorical device and literary technique, in modern times irony has also come t ...

and

juxtaposition Juxtaposition is an act or instance of placing two opposing elements close together or side by side. This is often done in order to Comparison, compare/contrast the two, to show similarities or differences, etc. Speech Juxtaposition in literary ...

, saying that: Colmenares compliments the use of this system, but notes that the film feels "disharmonious" because of a disparity between the styles of the Venezuelan and Argentine actors in it. In his thesis, Jesús Ricardo Azuaga García adds to Colmenares' analysis by writing that "the truth is that this comedy tries to respond ..to a mode of representation institutionalized by Hollywood and followed by the Argentine industry", aligning the format whereby viewers know even the characters' most hidden secrets and those between the lines to a United States ideal. Azuaga García also notes that ''That's the Woman I Want'', along with ''The Yacht Isabel Arrived This Afternoon'', are "the most representative, due to the reception they received from public and critics," of Venezuelan popular film in the early development period, but it is harder to tell how it relates to the typical Argentine films of the time. However, he still says that in certain canons it is classed in the generic style of Argentine comedy. In 2009, Colmenares observed the credits of the film, writing that the style of them "authorized the reading of

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

in comic terms" by the use of "drawings and animated cartoons that represent the characters of the plot" and "music that ..is cheerful and goes from tropical to playful" among other light sounds.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0201348 *
That's the Woman I Want
' on

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1951 films 1950 comedy films 1950 films Films shot in Venezuela Venezuelan comedy films 1950s Spanish-language films Venezuelan black-and-white films 1951 directorial debut films 1951 comedy films