Forever Yours (Spanish: Siempre Tuya) is a 1952 Mexican drama film directed by Emilio Fernández and starring Jorge Negrete, Gloria Marín and Tito Junco.[1] [2] It is filmed in black and white, in Spanish, and features Negrete singing some popular ranchera-music standards. It was shot at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City. The film's sets were designed by the art director Manuel Fontanals.
| Forever Yours | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Emilio Fernández |
| Written by | Emilio Fernández Mauricio Magdaleno |
| Produced by | David Negrete |
| Starring | Jorge Negrete Gloria Marín Tito Junco |
| Cinematography | Gabriel Figueroa |
| Edited by | Gloria Schoemann |
| Music by | Antonio Díaz Conde |
Production company | Cinematographica Industrial Productora de Peliculas |
| Distributed by | Clasa-Mohme |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | Mexico |
| Language | Spanish |
Plot
editThe film follows the trials of tenant farmer Ramón García (Negrete) and his wife Soledad (Gloria Marín) when drought forces them off their land in the Mexican state of Zacatecas. They make their way to Mexico City, where they find city life difficult. Ramón cannot find steady work. They build a home in a squatters' settlement, but then their house is bulldozed by a developer. Soledad finds work as a live-in maid, and her husband can see her for only a few moments each evening.
Ramón, destitute and despondent, wanders into a theater during a live radio broadcast of an audience-participation talent show. Ramón volunteers for the show, and although the host makes fun of him as a hayseed, he wows the audience with a stirring version of the classic México Lindo y Querido (Lovely, beloved Mexico). The audience reaction causes the station manager to hire García as a featured performer, as a change of pace from more trendy musical genres. García gains a wide radio following by singing traditional songs praising the virtues of Mexico. Now highly paid and famous, García rents a luxurious apartment, but his wife Soledad fears that they do not belong in their new and rich surroundings.
Soledad's fears turn out to be prescient, as her husband soon falls into the clutches of Mirta (Joan Page) a blonde with a heavy American accent. In the end, however, Ramón realizes that he belongs with his loyal wife.[3]
Critical view
editSiempre Tuya presents the experience of Mexicans fleeing rural poverty and the difficult adaptation to city life. On one level it is standard fare, with stock characters and a plot designed to showcase Negrete's singing. It is in many ways typical of popular films of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Ramón and Soledad's perseverance and loyalty are rewarded by a happy ending.
The plot also has a recurring subtext of Mexican pride and patriotism vis-a-vis the United States. At the start of the film, García decides against going to the United States to look for work, saying that he belongs in his native land. One of his short-lived jobs ends during a drinking session when he punches out his American boss for the American's racist mistreatment of a black employee. He strikes a patriotic cord with the radio audience by singing traditional songs extolling Mexico. In the end, as a final affirmation of his Mexican identity, he rejects the seduction of the beautiful and heartless American woman Mirta, to rejoin his wife.
Cast
edit- Jorge Negrete
- Gloria Marín
- Tito Junco
- Arturo Soto Rangel
- Juan M. Núñez
- Abel López
- Emilio Lara
- Ismael Pérez
- Ángel Infante
- Lupe del Castillo
- Fernando Galiana
- Joaquín Grajales
- Raúl Guerrero
- Juan Muñoz
- Joan Page
References
edit- ^ Barham p.631
- ^ Holmstrom p.225
- ^ Mora, C.J. (2015). Mexican Cinema: Reflections of a Society, 1896-2004, 3d ed. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 89-90. ISBN 978-0-7864-9187-2. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
Bibliography
edit- Barham, Jeremy (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Global Film Music in the Early Sound Era. Taylor & Francis, 2024.
- Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 340.
- Irwin, Robert & Ricalde, Maricruz. Global Mexican Cinema: Its Golden Age. British Film Institute, 2013.