Revolutionary Mexico on Film

Drawing on studio files, newspaper critiques, internet sources and scholarly studies of Mexican cinema, this critical history focuses on film depictions, in Hollywood and in Mexico, of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the era of Benito Juarez. Mexico’s political and military battles are discussed in detail, and contrasted with the film industry’s mostly uninformative take on these events.
Important figures of Mexican history are discussed—Benito Juárez, Porfirio Díaz, Francisco Madero, Jr., Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata—as well as non–Latinos whose actions were influential. Performers, production personnel and literary sources for films dealing with revolutionary Mexico, from the silent The Life of General Villa to Cinco De Mayo: La Batalla of 2013, are covered.

Writer, actor and comedian Bob Herzberg is the author of scholarly books and Western novels. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Bob Herzberg
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 252
Bibliographic Info: 37 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2015
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7758-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1797-8
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments vi

Introducción 1

I—Políticas, 1914–1936: How Outsiders Influenced Depictions of the Revolution 7

II—Liberator, 1937–1939: The Politics and Machinations Behind the Filming of Juarez 49

III—Declarar La Guerra, 1940–1950: World War II and Época Dorada 75

IV—Revoluciónistas, 1951–1959: The Cold War and the Mexican Revolution 100

V—Caos Internacional, 1960–1969: Hollywood and Europe Film the Revolution 157

VI—Violencia, 1970–1989: Censorship Disappears as Depictions of

Revolutionary Mexico Get Even Bloodier 200

VII—Centenario, 1990–2014: A Brief Look at the Films of Revolutionary Mexico as the Revolution Hits the 100-Year Mark 229

Chapter Notes 233

Bibliography 236

Index 239

“a great addition to the shelves of movie buffs and film scholars”—Roundup Magazine.