Cine Las Americas Presents Victimas del Pecado
Tomorrow night, Cine Las Americas presents Víctimas del Pecado (Victims of Sin), an over-the-top slice of Mexican melodrama from 1951 and the second installment in Cine's Sin, Scandal and Song series.
There's sin aplenty here (and also really great outfits and hairstyles), courtesy of its setting in postwar Mexico City's red-light district (romanticized in lush black and white cinematography by the legendary Gabriel Figueroa). Amidst all the picturesque seaminess, beautiful cabaret dancer Violeta (Ninón Sevilla) adopts an abandoned baby she finds in a trash can. Meanwhile, she's being stalked by a creepy pimp, but when she falls in love with cabaret owner Santiago (Tito Junco) he promises to protect her and the bebé. Tragedy ensues multiple times over, of course, as befitting a melodrama, as do numerous musical numbers featuring mambo king Pérez Prado and venerable crooner Pedro Vargas (whose casket-sharp slicked-back hair shines almost as brightly as his voice) and Ninón Sevilla dancing in some truly impressive breakaway outfits.
Director Emilio "El Indio" Fernandez was one of the great masters of Mexican cinema; what better place to screen one of his (rarely shown) films than the ginormous, freshly opened Mexican-American Culture Center? Did we mention admission is free? ¡Dése prisa!
Victimas del Pecado | Victims of Sin
Thursday, September 20th
Mexican-American Cultural Center
7:30 pm, Free Admission
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