Mexico City 2 : Pedro Infante and Mexican soccer

One of the seemingly inescapable, if dubious, pleasures of traveling and staying in a decent hotel is the sampling of cable TV offerings in the hotel room during breaks in the  sightseeing routine. In our case it was the same country (Mexico) but different channels, a welcome change as our cable package at home is very basic, in fact it’s called Basic Cable.

Anyway three of our favorites were the Tour de France on ESPN (though not particularly germane to our discussion here); Mexico playing in the U17 world soccer championships; and catching a Pedro Infante movie, on Galavision, I think it was. In many ways the Mexican soccer team winning the world U-17 title was the best story. My knowledge of soccer (or fútbol as they call it here and just about everywhere except in the USA) is about a step lower than my knowledge of rugby, which is almost zero, but that didn’t prevent me from rooting for the home team and thrilling to their success, whether it was the film Invictus or in this case the Mexican team playing on the world stage, albeit with the advantage of home field. In particular Mexico’s improbable come from behind victory in the semifinals against Germany, scoring two seemingly impossible goals in the closing minutes, made the finals win over Uruguay mostly anti-climactic as it was more or less inevitable. Anyway the city and country in general went nuts over the wins and there were parades and celebrations.

Way to go, Mexico!

Another very different type of [guilty] pleasure is watching Mexican golden age movies, and I was fortunate to catch a Pedro Infante movie, one of his last, the immensely enjoyable if eminently lightweight Palbo y Carolina. Who cares if the film was quintessential 1950s fluff about mistaken identity and other goings on? There were the usual Infante songs along with a fetching co-star that I’d never heard of named Irasema Dilián to more than make up for plot and sensibility shortcomings.

Mazatlan's favorite son

Before moving to Mexico I’d heard of Pedro Infante but never seen any of his films. So it only seems fitting that the first movie I saw of Mazatlán’s most famous resident * took place only a few weeks after I’d moved here. The film in question, Sobre las Olas ** (Over the Waves), is a biography, loosely based on the life of Mexican composer Juventino Rosas, best known today for writing the famous song Sobre las Olas. Infante portrays Rosas in the film, which gives us generous samplings of musical numbers and especially the title theme, which subsequently has come to be associated with fairs, magic acts, and circuses, especially trapeze performers. It's often mistakenly attributed to Johann Strauss, Jr. Fair enough. Myself, I always got it mixed up with Waldteuful’s The Skater’s Waltz. BTW Mexico Bob has a brilliant post on the history of the composition here.

Sculpture of Pedro Infante at Olas Altas Beach, Mazatlan

In any case the film, which is also cited as the first color feature in Mexico, is an admirable attempt to portray the composer’s all too brief life story. It certainly uses color to good advantage with the lush ballroom scenes and period costumes, all providing a pleasing if romanticized touch of cultural history, and in particular the extent of the French influence in Mexico in the nineteenth century. Another cool Mazatlán connection is a scene which depicts a performance by the legendary Mexican soprano Angela Peralta, who died here in 1883 and for whom the famous local concert hall is named. Rosas was reputedly her accompanist for a time and does so here in the film ... well, sort of.

Pedro Infante is of course much represented on the Web and I have little original to add. See especially the post at M! magazine for a nice summary of his life and career. Since Sobre las Olas is the only film of his that I’ve seen I can’t say too much about its place in his tragically shortened acting career. As for Infante, he was said to have been a  synthesis of Bing Crosby and Clark Gable with a touch of John Wayne. To these I would add a bit of Charlie Chaplin and more than a hint of his compatriots Tin-Tan and Cantinflas. He was also a musician of great versatility and, in this film anyway, he actually seems to be performing his double bass, tuba and especially violin solos. And of course there’s his silken smooth singing voice.  

He wasn’t the handsomest guy on the block or necessarily a great actor, but he brought a warmth to his performances and had a quality that made you like him, screen charisma if you like. But I’ve rambled on far too long, and will conclude simply with Viva Infante!

* To be sure he was born in Mazatlán in 1917 but was only here the first 2 years of his life, as his family moved to Guasave, Sinaloa, in 1919.

** oops! I just checked and the film seems to be available for viewing in its entirety on YouTube.