The rumberas could be kitsch but they were far from comedies. The films, like their heroines on screen, were socially condemned by the middle class (becoming forbidden pleasures for their cult following). Aventurera is considered the epitome of the genre and features a dynamic performance by the Cuban rumba dancer Ninón Sevilla, the "queen" of the cabareteras. Sevilla was famous for her angry outbursts which are well used in a film that presents a devastating indictment of bourgeois hypocrisy. She is cast against Andrea Palma, whose inspiration in Marlene Dietrich can be detected in her hidden moods and the long, deep sadness of her face. The plot follows the fall and rise of a talented girl from a "good" family, Elena (Sevilla), who becomes disenchanted when her upstanding mama reveals a down-and-dirty side. Becoming a cabaretera, Elena is spiralled into a net of vice and oppression, but slowly she becomes the spider and others, the flies. Nor is she punished for her ruthlessness: as the plot unfolds, it seems to be her karma to unveil the secret, vice-laden lives of bourgeoise like her mother. The film features noted Mexican singers Pedro Vargas and Los Panchos, among others.