The Torch (film)

Plot summary

The Mexican revolutionary General Jose Juan Reyes (Pedro Armendáriz) and his men descend upon and take over the small town of Cholula, Puebla, and take the money of the rich men of the zone for the Mexican Revolution. The revolutionary is a Robin-Hood type vigilante that forces the local businessmen to bend to his will, while the townspeople admire him for his cause. Jose Juan falls in love with the Señorita Peñafiel, the explosive daughter of the richest man of the zone. Despite her disdain for Jose, he pursues her romantically. She is eventually won over. The original script is based on William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.

Criticism

In The Torch, Felix as Beatriz was replaced with producer and star Paulette Goddard as Maria Dolores. New scenes were added to The Torch which depicted an influenza plague killing several townspeople and Goddard's Maria Dolores drops everything to help before leaving her life of luxury to follow the man she comes to love.

Despite retaining several actors, the same director (Emilio Fernández), same cinematographer (Gabriel Figueroa), and same leading man, relationships depicted in the English version of film are not as well established or convincing as in the original due to miscasting, translation into English, and cultural differences. For example, "camp followers" are just not the same as "soldaderas" or female soldiers - even if there may be some overlap.

The soundtrack featured the Mexican folk song La Cucaracha with heinous results whereas Enamorada featured the Revolutionary folk song La Adelita. The shining moment was when the original trio from Enamorada was inserted singing "Malagueña Salerosa".

Enamorada was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival. Felix won an Ariel Award (Mexican equivalent of an Oscar) for her performance. Goddard hoped to emulate this success.

Cast

Comic book adaption