Mexican Moods

Year Published: 1942

Creator: U.S. Office of Inter-American Affairs

Format: 16mm

Color: B&W

Sound: sound

Description: Describes various aspects of Mexico, including the celebration of Mexico's admittance to the United Nations, silver making in Taxco, airports throughout the country, Aztec ruins and rituals, and Mexican comedian Cantinflas.

Complete Record: This WWII era travelogue film sponsored by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs presents a handful of Mexican cultural activities. It dates to 1942. Director Aldo Ermini prominently features popular entertainers Mapy Cortés and Cantinflas as the film travels from a Taxco silversmith workshop to a re-enactment of an Aztec human sacrifice, among other destinations. (0:06) title card and opening credits over desert background - produced & directed by Aldo Ermini - starring Mapy and Fernando "Papi" Cortés (singing "Nada" by Rafael Hernandez), Trio Mixteco (dancers), Pancho Sanchez (orchestra), and Cantinflas (0:34) marching drummers in the streets of Mexico City (0:49) Mexican President Manuel Ávila Camacho watches from the balcony (1:00) United States military officers salute the Mexican flag (1:25) American and Mexican police officers traveling and policing a Mexican road system (1:57) the Hotel Melendez and Taller Borda silver workshop in Taxco, Mexico (3:05) Puerto Rican movie star and singer Mapy Cortés exits a Pan American airplane (3:36) Mapy Cortés, introduced by Fernando "Papi" Cortés, sings "Nada" by Rafael Hernandez at the Hotel Reforma in Mexico City (5:05) film star Cantinflas signs autographs (6:12) the Trio Mixteco performs a dance (7:33) General Maximino Ávila Camacho dressed as a "charro," or Mexican horse rider (8:01) a charro dresses his horse before performing in a Mexican rodeo competition called "el coleadero" (8:41) a re-enactment of an Aztec human sacrifice at the Temple of the Sun staged for the delegates of the Interamerican Travel Congress (10:09) the "voladores" and maypole dancers perform in front of the Temple of the Sun (10:52) title card: "Presented by The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs" Manuel Ávila Camacho, was a soldier and moderate statesman whose presidency (1940–46) saw a consolidation of the social reforms of the Mexican Revolution and the beginning of an unprecedented period of friendship with the United States. Maria del Pilar Cordero, better known as Mapy Cortés was a Puerto Rican stage, film and television actress and dancer who participated in many films during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, where she became one of the industry's most beloved and bankable stars of the 1940s. Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes, known by the stage name Cantinflas, was a Mexican comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He is considered to have been the most widely-accomplished Mexican comedian and is celebrated throughout Latin America and in Spain as a popular icon.

Metadata Source:Educational Film Guide 1946