By 

Jorge A. Zarco (Fresno, CA USA) –

  

In La Mujer Que Yo Perdi(The Woman That I Lost, 1949), Pedro Infante plays Pedro Montano, an outlaw who hides out in the mountains after he accidentally kills a man who assaulted a woman(Silvia Pinal). After seeing dozens of innocent “Indians” brutally killed by soldiers, Montano takes an oath to fight for them. While hiding out in the mountains, Montano starts to fall in love with Maria(Blanca Estela Pavon), an Indian woman.

La Mujer Que Yo Perdi/The Woman That I Lost has a very ironic title as Pavon died the same year it came out in theaters. The late Blanca Estela Pavon looks very lovely in this film; I can see why Montano would fall in love with her. LMQYP is a solid film and it was made during the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema when millions of people would flock to theaters to see a movie. Nowadays, Mexico’s film industry is only pumping out 10-20 movies a year and most of them go straight to home video. This film is a must-see for fans of Pedro Infante and Blanca Estela Pavon.

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I’m currently having a Pedro Infante movie orgy, rewatching most of his films one by one. This is one of my favorites. Previous reviewers have given a summary and mentioned the irony of the early death of Blanca Estela Pavón, Infante’s good friend in real life.
The title seems prophetic; we lost a fine actress.

In this movie, as in Tizoc, I’m fascinated by the way the film treats indigenous people — and the language it gives them. Pedro, of course, is unaffected by prejudice (as he is in Angelito Negro) … well, not unaffected, but he doesn’t seem to have the innate bigotry rampant in the times (pre-civil rights movement in US). His characters display a heartfelt desire for social justice. His singing is a pleasure to listen to and his charisma is undeniable. I particularly enjoy watching his expressive eyes.

Social issues aside, this, like most of his movies, is a pleasure to watch. Infante is still el ídolo de México and other latino countries including the US, and his films and songs continue their appeal long after his untimely death in 1957. Read the comments under some of his many video clips on youtube to see his continued multinational, multigenerational appeal.

I think his films –even those without subtitles– are very accessible to English language viewers; those with English subtitles add another layer of enjoyment to Spanish-speakers, as the subtitles tend to be bad, if not howlers.

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