Mexican Film Scenarios

Author(s): Robert M. Hammond

Source: Hispania, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Sep., 1960), pp. 359-363
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/335486
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 MEXICAN FILM SCENARIOS

ROBERT M. HAMMOND

University of Arizona

In the history of the sound film there signifies "screenplay" or "cine-drama."

have been several good Mexican writers. Technically it is merely a r6sume of the
Frequently we find them teamed with the film, a resume known in Mexico as the
two outstanding directors of Mexico: Luis "argumento." the Enciclopedia lists both
Bufiuel and Emilio Fernandez. Sometimes the writer of the "argumento" and that of
they have written for less known or even the "gui6n" should there be a difference.
unknown directors. Who are the writers Moreover, the list of authors is preceded
that have given all of these directors their by an essay by Jos6 Revueltas on the writer
screenplays, cinedramas, or scenarios? How and the film.
can we find access to their work? What do The principal function of the writers'
they represent? These are questions whose union is to protect the film writer. It is the
answers should interest students of litera- Secci6n de Autores y Adaptadores of the
ture. The answers lie hidden in strange Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Produc-
places, since critics generally classify films ci6n Cinematograifica de la Repuiblica
by director and producers remember them Mexicana (S.T.P.C. de la R.M.). As a
as titles. means of protecting writers, the STPC re-
If we turn first to the writers' union, we quires that first the scenario and then the
find that is has provided the scholar with an full screenplay be submitted to its scrutiny
invaluable tool. Known to some writers as a By comparing the subject and its develop-
writers' "mill" which serves principally to ment to those of former films in its files, the
exclude good writers, it is actually much Sindicato ascertains that no subjects are
more than a closed club. Under the editor- being stolen. This verification also serves
ship of Rafael Portas, it has published the public by preventing the same theme
an Enciclopedia cinematografica mexicana: from appearing too often.
1897-1955. It will soon publish a supple- The Secci6n de Autores of the STPC is
ment. Containing miscellaneous informa- not all bad. It performs the above services
tion concerning prizes, technical matters, and it does something more. While it may
and lists of actors and directors with films provide a safe haven for writers of little
they have made, its real heart is the com- imagination, it also helps better writers to
plete list of all films made in Mexico as make a living or even to begin their career.
well as a list of most of the authors who Some good writers work in the union for
have written the screenplay. Unfortunately, added income. Some, moved by altruism,
not all the works of a given author are hope to raise the general level of film
listed under his name. The scholar can also writing, So in the "mill" we find many
find the name of the producer, should he writers who are names in the short story,
wish to consult the script. novel, or theater of Mexico. The best of
The word "script" is used in Mexico, these are the novelist Jose Revueltas, the
although the more precise term is "guion" playwright and novelist Mauricio Magda-
or "gui6n tecnico." The latter expressions leno, and the playwrights Emilio Car-
are the same as the American "shooting ballido, Rodolfo Usigli, Sergio Magafia and
script." The term "scenario" as used in the Rafael Mufioz.
United States among the non-professionals, To find who the authors of the best
359

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 360 HISPANIA

screen-plays are, is however,

produced, returning a second copy to the a
One must not be
producer withcontent wit
notes indicating audience
film. Too often we
classification (adult, are
adolescent, swa
children).
acting and seduced
It also serves as an office by exce
of censorship. It
raphy. Sitting down
is more difficult to gain access to with
these files,
reading it is which
a necessity. But
are much more complete than those
these scripts?of the Banco Nacional. Under no circum-
Producers in
those in France,
stances may they leaveare willin
the building on the
scholar, butAvenida
generally
Chapultepec. the o
are "old." A Equally
film over
inacessible are four
the copies held by
"una pelicula the STPC. Its files result from its functionA f
viejisima."
like Rodriguez,
as a verfier ofTepeyac,
originality and protector of Cl
Brooks, keep a This
writers. file or
office requires perm
the permission
of the producer
but only of one copy before it will
of allow any-
each
one to examine
sultation, these archivesa given script. Material
arein o
than nothing the filesat all.
is sacrosanct, officersFor
of the STPC sch
they are far feeling
from ideal.
they must protect Som
the writers against
any possibility of
accident destroys theft of ideas.of
part Unfor- the
a few years tunately
ago for researchers,
consumed producers who
scripts in the Tepeyac
might give permission have frequently libra
dis-
ducers simply appeared from the scene.
throw out old
companies promptly In the United States the disappea
only collection
one or two films. Producciones Isla and of Mexican film scripts is that listed at the
Ultramar Films, which produced respec- end of this article. These twenty-three
tively El and Los Olvidados under Oscar scripts have been selected as much as
Dancigers' name and Bufiuel's direction possible
no on the basis of outstanding qual-
longer exist. Nor do Reforma Film, pro- ities contributed by the writer. Unavoid-
ducers of La red, and Pan-American Films, ably, several scripts with a minimal literary
producers of Emilio Fernaindez' Enamorada. value have fallen into the collection. They
at least represent the ordinary commercial
It is difficult, if not impossible, to find per-
sons who might have the records of such producton of Mexico.
evanescent concerns.
The study of all these screen-plays en-
Fortunately three agencies keep ablesper-
us to draw some preliminary con-
manent files of "scripts": the Banco Nacio-
clusions concerning the film writers and
nal Cinematogrifica, the Direcci6n Gen- in Mexico. Outside of the
film writing
eral de Cinematograffa and the above-men-
commercial films, there is a light cinema,
tioned STPC de la RM. The most limited a cinema which may be sophisticated
collection is that maintained by the Banco
comedy, like the cine-comedies of the
Nacional Cinematografica since this office
writer-director-producer Juan Ortega. The
has on file only these films which it has
"Mexican Western" can also be considered
financed and since it has been financinga part of the light cinema. These "ranchero"
films for only six years. Those it does have
films are represented by another successful
are available for study or copying. director-producer who does his own writ-
The Direcci6n General de Cinematogra- ing: Ismael Rodriguez. Even his latest,
fia is a governmental agency under theTizoc, a Western with the emphasis on the
Secretaria de Gobernaci6n and headed byIndian, falls into this group, though it is
slightly better than the common run of
the writer Jorge Ferretis. It is the duty of
"rancher-indio" adventure films. Finally, in
this office to retain one copy of every script0

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 MEXICAN FILM SCENARIOS 361

a more serious vein, there

two are the
other films social
directed by Bufiuel, has the
films which examine the distinction
Indian ofproblem
not being a writer outside
in Mexico. These again are light
the domain of the in
film. the
He is Luis Alcoriza.
His distinction
sense that the story is simple. The demand is shared with another
writerof
on the intellect is small. Most who is more
them go an adaptor than a
back to 1910 and turn aboutwriterthe purity,
of originals: Julio Alejandro. Alejan-
dro,religious
supersitition, and elementary a recent arrival
feel-on the cinema scene,
ing of the simple Indian seems
and to his fate at
be endowed with originality in his
adaptations
the hands of cruel or ignorant white (Nazarin
menand Miercoles de
who represent a more sophisticated culture.
ceniza) greater than that of many of the
Two written by Magdaleno writers
are the best of
of so-called originals.
this social cinema. Although Magdaleno
Adaptations constitute the principal
is a novelist and playwright and
source for although
films in Mexico as well as in
he is something of an Indian historian,
France, the Unitedthe
States, England and
reputation of Maria Candelaria and
other countries. its
Magdaleno adapted Pepita
sister, Maclovia, can be credited to the
Jimenez from Juan Valera's Spanish novel.
director.
Dona Bdrbara was adapted from the Ven-
These comic, ranchero, and Indian films ezuelan R6mulo Gallegos' novel. Most re-
are too simple in the telling. Good simple cently, Bufiuel has just finished the shoot-
literature requires something beneath the ing of Julio Alejandro's transposition of
simplicity. In the foregoing there is noth- Perez Galdos' Nazarin. Spanish language
ing. La red is a different matter. This film sources are not the only ones that interest
was written by Neftali Beltrin, a poet who adaptors, directors and public alike in
is currently serving in the consular service Mexico. A new film is Rebelidn de los
of Mexico at Rio de Janiero. This, too, is colgados, adapted from a story by Bruno
a simple story, a menage a trois, a triangle. Traven, author of The treasure of the
It is the work of two poets: one the writer; Sierra Madre. La perla comes from a Stein-
the other, the director, Emilio Fernandez. beck story. Buiiuel has done a Wuthering
It is neither social comedy, ranchero story Heights (Cumbres borrascosas) and his
nor Indian document. It is psychological, more well-known Robinson Crusoe.
poetic drama. Adaptations, originals, psychological and
Jose Revueltas is another writer of repu- picturesque drama, comedies and ranchero
tation who does not write in set genres. It films, social problems, hackneyed or new-
is curious that Revueltas, whose novels, all these are present in the Mexican film.
like El luto humano, bear a social stamp,. We can see, as outstanding writers of the
and whose politics-he is a communist-in- post-war period, the novelist Jos6 Revueltas,
dicate the duty for the writer to be socially the poet-diplomat Neftall Beltran, the
"engaged," does not restrict himself to social dramatist Mauricio Magdaleno and two
problems. Indeed, although he was im- cinema writers: Luis Alcoriza, who writes
prisoned in the Islas Marfas penitentiary, it original stories; and Julio Alejandro, the
is not he, but Magdaleno, who wrote a adaptor. These are the most important
cinedrama entitled Las Islas Marfas and it names. The overall view is necessarily gen-
is Beltra's La Red which deals with an es- eral, principally serving to tell us that we
capee from the fearful place. Perhaps the want more details. By means of the col-
most original of Revueltas' cinedramas is lection of scenarios listed below, students
his La ilusidn viaja en tranvia, written for will be able in the future to study the
Bufiuel.
vision of reality of any given author. It
The author of El and of Los olvidados, cannot be emphasized too strongly that the

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 362 HISPANIA

simple viewing of asthe

of the scenario film
a literary genre. 2) Petit
for a study de Murat,
of the Ulyses. La entrega, version
screenplay
errors have cinematografica
been de "Nada menos que tod
committed b
un hombre" de Miguel de
base their conclusions onUnamuno.
th
M6xico, Editorial
much superficial Alameda, S.A., 1954.
attention
for instance, to the sociolo
1. Alcoriza, Luis and Raquel. Si Ud. no
which are vulgarized on fil
consumption. puedeIn. . the
yo si. Julian Soler, 1950.
scenari
forms of literature, we can po
2. . La visita que no toc6
el timbre. Julian Soler, 1953.
qualities far beyond mere soc
3. Alejandro, Julio. Miercoles de ceniz
tails, nuances and subtleti
Roberto Gavald6n, 1958.
hasty viewer. 4. Many questions
. Nazarin. Luis Bu-
characterization or theme can find their
fiuel, 1958.
answers only after critics or scholars have
5. Baez, Edmundo. Cuent
long reflected over the printed page of the
jer. Juan J. Ortega, 1957.
screen-play. We are living in an age when
6. and Eis, Egon. Otra
literature, because of the film, is reaching
primavera. Alfredo S. Crevenn
a far greater number of people than ever
7. Bufiuel, Luis. Cumbres bor
before, in an age when this literature is
Luis Bufiuel, 1953.
used to convey at once the most anodyne
and the most meretricious of ideas and
8. and Alcoriza, Luis
ideals, in an age when meditation is Los olvidados. Luis Bufi
Microfilm.
sacrificed to superficiality. Saving of scena-9. . Robinson Crusoe.
rios and their serious study can condemn
the poor literature, perpetuate the good, and
Luis Bufiuel, 1952, Span
10. and Roll, Philip An-
provide substance for the reflection of
sell. Robinson Crusoe. Luis Buf
thoughtful men.
1952. English version.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE 11. Demichelli, Tulio. No me olvide
HAMMOND COLLECTION OF ca. Juan J. Ortega, 1955.
MEXICAN FILM SCENARIOS 12. Landeros, Humberto Gomez and
nes, Alfonso. Hotel tropical. Ju
Screenplays are listed by the writer, after
Ortega, 1954.
whose name appears the title, the 13. dateLandeta,
of Matilda and Eduard
appearance of the film, and finally the
camino de hI vida. Alfredo Co
director. Explanations follow. Aside from
Blake, 1956.
Los olvidados, by Alcoriza and Bufiuel,
14. Magdaleno, Mauricio. Maria C
which is in microfilm, all the screenplays
aria. Emilio Fernindez, 1943.
are original mimeographed copies of the
15. . Pepita Jimeinez. Emilio
"gui6n t&nico," or shooting script. None of
Fernandez, n.d.
the material has been published, since no
16. Martino, Iiigo de and Portillo, Adolfo
Mexican screenplays have been published.
Mention must be made of two volumes Torres.
of Chilam Balam. Ifiigo de Mar-
tino, 1955.
published Argentinian screenplays, how-
ever. 1) Larreta, Enrique. Tres17. . Vainilla, bronce y
films
morir.
(Fuerte como la pampa-La huerta-En la Rogelio A. Gonzalez, Jr.
18. Ob6n, Ramon. Los salvajes.
tela del sueiio). Buenos Aires, Editorial
Baled6n, 1957.
Sudamericana, 1951. This volume contains
an interesting prefatory note on the19. Ortega, Juan J. Corazdn salva
value

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 MEXICAN FILM SCENARIOS 363

J. Ortega, 1955. la, and Cabada, Juan de la. La ilu

20. Revueltas, Jos6 and Magdaleno, viaja en tranvia. Luis Bufiuel, 1953
Mau-
rico. La casa chica. Roberto Gaval- 23. Rodriguez, Ismael and Orellana,
don, 1949. los.Tizoc. Ismael Rodriguez, 1956.
21. . En la palma de tu 24. Sarmiento, Ail Moya. La hija del
mano. Roberto Gavald6n, 1950. n.d.
22. , Serna, Mauricio de

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