History of Mexican Cinema

Véase en Carteles Español .

Due to recent times, our attention has focused toward the south of our border but not for the attention toward their movies. Though we are next door neighbors to Mexico, Mexican cinema has yet to break into the United States box office. But it's only a matter of time before our attention is turned toward their classic films.

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Ever turn to the Spanish soap opera channels with fluent speaking Spanish? It wasn't always like that. Silent films were predominant in Mexico and directors during the silent film era made many movies. However, many of these silent films made in the 1920's were lost.

Based on the word of Jim Mora, we must say that the first film was shown by the kinetoscope, a creation by Thomas Edison. Like the Bioskop and cinematographe, it was made in 1895. Many of the Mexican films were one minute short, but classics like The Card Players and The Magic Hat.

One of the first famous directors was Salvador Toscano Barragan (again, please excuse the accents.) Toscano made many films like the first fictional Mexican film, Don Juan Tenorio. But amazingly enough, Toscano also filmed many battles during the Mexican Revolution despite the danger. His film clips would soon become a documentary in 1950, comprised by his daughter.

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People soon began to have an interest in filmmaking. In 1906, movie salons began to appear in Mexico City to show the films. There were also appearances of acting camps. Although mostly for the lower class, the carpas would provide a place for those trying to aspire toward acting. They began springing around Mexico during 1911. Politics also began to appear in Mexican cinema history during 1908. The 1920's were also an awkward time for films because politics still waged on and the American film industry resurfaced once again.

Like most countries, Mexican cinema also had a golden age. As the 1930's came around, peace and stability did too. This allowed more focus on the Mexican cinema. Although Hollywood tried to create Spanish films for South America, it failed miserably in Mexico because many Spanish speaking countries have different accents and ways of pronouncing words. As I was taught in my Spanish class each year, these different countries have different slang words that would sound absolutely foolish in another country. But mainly, the accents of actors and actresses were very different for other countries to understand.

It was during the 1940's that Mexican movies began to flourish. The actors, actresses, directors, and even a producer were so popular that the whole country would recognize them at first glance. They became Mexican icons and political figures. The Mexican cinema had this boost not only because it was a stable country but also because most other countries that dominated the movie industry focused on propaganda for the war in the 1940's. Spots were left open for other small film industries. Mexico became the leading industry for Latin America since the United States was not concerned with that market since the war came around.

Some of the most popular films during the Golden Age was Ahi esta el detalle. The actor, Mario Moreno, became known as the Charlie Chaplin of Mexico to both Mexicans and Americans. His numerous films were everywhere from Spain to Latin America. Sara Garcia was also a well known actress in Mexican cinema. Her appearance in No basta ser madre catapulted her to fame although she did many silent films and theater productions.

When the 1960's and 1970's rolled around, many action films and horror films appeared with the wrestler El Santo and Hugo Stiglitz appearing in most of them. But these were soon taken over by Nuevo Cine Mexicano era (New Mexican Movie) where movies like Como agua para chocolate appeared. (It was based on a novel.) Mexican cinema is rising with famous directors directing films like The Motorcycle Diaries and even Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It is from these movies that we can see that the history of Mexican cinema has grown and matured.

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