Product Details

• Actors: Dolores del Rio, Pedro Armendáriz, Alberto Galán, Margarita Cortés, Miguel Inclán
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Cobra Prodocciones
• VHS Release Date: November 1, 1993
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302957117
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #452,795 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars AN ALMOST UNWATCHABLE DVD VERSION, October 22, 2007

By 

anonymous "anonymous" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maria Candelaria (DVD)

I've been eager to acquire this film on DVD because it's one of the masterpieces of the golden age of Mexican cinema, with outstanding cinematography and a marvelous, romantic story; however, after purchasing it, I was very disappointed with the overall technical quality of this particular DVD version, but that's just my opinion as a consumer who prefers more pristine versions of great motion pictures. This movie won the Grand Prix in Cannes in 1946! It deserves a much, much better edition on DVD. If you have not seen this excellent classic--it was photographed by the very GREAT Gabriel Figueroa, and all the more reason why a more pristine version would have been fabulous--I think you'll find it quite moving and beautiful.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ¿Me queres mucho, Lorenzo Rafáil? ¡A güevo que sí!, September 19, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Mexico City, Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maria Candelaria [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A beautiful love story between a man, a woman... ...and a pig! You think I'm kidding, right? Wrong! And don't expect any of that Tarantino-south-of-the-border stuff either; this one is for real, and quite old-fashioned. Believe it or not, there was a time when the best cinema in Spanish was made in Mexico, and if I had to choose its best movie, I'd say without a doubt "María Candelaria".

Gorgeously filmed in beautiful Xochimilco (back when it was beautiful) by the great Gabriel Figueroa, it boasts terrific performances by both Pedro Armendáriz Sr. and Dolores del Río (her best film, no doubt), and remains today a cultural icon throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Emilio "Indio" Fernández directs. Don't you remember him? He's the abominable villain in Sam Peckinpah's "Wild Bunch"! He's also one of the greatest auteurs of all time. If you don't believe me, get this gem and see for yourself!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Available DVD of a Classic Mexican Film, October 25, 2007

By 

ixta_coyotl (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maria Candelaria [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America] (DVD)

I must say I do sympathize with the prior reviewer, as Maria Candelaria (Xochimilco) is a very subtly classic film that is not so immediately striking. Like most Mexican films of the period (and especially those of Emilio Fernandez) it is extremely melodramatic at times (Maria is waiting for her piglet to grow up before she can sell it to buy a dress so that she can get properly married!). Yet the songs we hum upon first listen are rarely the ones that stand the test of time. Personally, I did not find much in my first viewings of either The Grand Illusion or the Third Man, two of the greatest of classic films. Maria Candelaria, not unlike those films, is a nut which is not cracked and swallowed whole on the first try.

Del Rio is largely forgotten in the U.S. today (not to mention in Mexico), but she was one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the late silent era. She was married to the man who designed the Oscar statue. Even as late as '33, she still got top billing over Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. In 1942, Orson Welles fell madly in love with del Rio after working with her in Journey into Fear. Her return to Mexico in 1943 was considered quite a big deal.

Regarding the film's place in time, it helps immensely to first watch Fernandez's two prior efforts, Soy Puro Mexicano (1942) and then Flor Silvestre (1943), to get an idea of the level of progression which took place here. Soy Puro Mexicano looks like an even cruder Mexican WWII spin-off of Hitchcock's 30s British style. Flor Silvestre follows much the same storytelling pattern as Maria Candelaria, but it looks much more rudimentary in execution. Maria Candelaria marked the first truly high water note of the Fernandez/Figueroa style, in 1944, which they often equaled but never really surpassed. Thus this film stands all the taller for its early date of production. And comparing it to American films of the same year (almost pure war propaganda), it looks even better.

Regarding the film, it is highly innovative on a number of levels. First, it was made largely outdoors in the real location of Xochimilco with often moving cameras (whereas a recent classic like Casablanca was filmed entirely in a California studio/back lot). The camerawork by Gabriel Figueroa in that environment is superb. Secondly, the script is full of subtle ironies of real rural Mexican life (certainly pulled from Fernandez's actual experiences) never before put to screen. Take for instance Don Damian (Miguel Inclan, one of the greatest character actors in cinema history), who insists on berating the locals as "indios" despite being darker skinned than they. This aggressive malinchista streak persists in Mexico today. While generally considered sympathetic to the plight of Mexico's indigenous majority, Fernandez clearly evokes an ugly streak in their nature thru the way Maria Candelaria (Dolores del Rio) is treated. The daughter of a "puta", Maria is kept virtually imprisoned on her chinampa (island plot) by her neighbors. And while far from having white features, Del Rio clearly looks less than purely native, which would have incited the malinchista-streaked villagers against her even more (quietly jealous of her fair complexion, probably the result of one of her mother's more well-to-do clients). The irony of a dark-skinned jefe inciting mestizo "indios" against a fair-skinned "india" was certainly not lost on Fernandez. Maria's dealings with the Porfiriato legal system and her star-crossed love only add more layers to the irony of that injustice. That is the real Mexico that Fernandez wanted to put to screen.

The item here reviewed is the Televisa Mexican DVD release from their Alter's Collection. It is highly recommended. It is region 1/4 (plays on U.S. players just fine), has excellent optional English & Spanish subtitles, the image has been cleaned up considerably, and the packaging is very nicely done. All the menus and art are in Spanish but they are easy enough to navigate. No real extras to speak of, but this is a must-have DVD for Mexican cinephiles or anyone who considers himself a classic film connoisseur.