The Mexican cinema was introduced to Europe in 1946 at Cannes with Maria Candelaria, which has since come to be considered “the classic and most memorable of all Mexican films” (B. Rayes Nevares, The Mexican Cinema). Director Emilio Fernandez (“El Indio”) contributed much to the creative period Mexico saw in the forties with films like Flor Sylvestre, Perla and Enamorada--“a series of major national portraits,” writes historian Georges Sadoul, “like the murals of Diego Rivera and Siqueiros, reflecting both the Spanish and Indian traditions and a certain popular taste for melodrama.”
Dolores del Rio began a renewed career with Maria Candelaria, the poignant story of a young girl who is mercilessly persecuted by her townspeople, first for the misconduct of her mother, and then for that which the villagers attribute to her. Pedro Armendariz stars as the peasant boy who tries to save her. The film is set against the backdrop of Xochimilco, near Mexico City, with its floating gardens and indiginous music.
Fernandez, in addition to directing over 30 films, acted in several American films of the sixties, including Night of the Iguana and The Wild Bunch, and is set to play a key role in John Huston's Under the Volcano, currently being shot in Mexico.