La Noche Avanza (1952)

Director: Roberto Gavaldón
Country: Mexico

"The Night Falls" in its English tittle, is starring by Pedro Armendáriz as the ultimate Mexican macho, alpha male-bravado Marcos, who is a pelotari champion, Anita Blanch and Rebeca Iturbide as his female victims, the Spanish actor José María Linares as Marcial, and Wolf Ruvinvskis as a low-rank member of the local mafia.
Roberto Gavaldón who also directed Macario, made an instant Mexican noir, which takes action at the Frontón México location, showing a cosmopolitan, glamorous and vibrant Mexico City. We can listen to Basque language at the beggining of the film, and we see real pelotari players on screen, this called my attention, whereas in Macario Gavaldón shows us the indigenous-mestizo aspect of Mexico, in this film he shows us the European side of the country. 

 

Along with the bullfighting, the Basque Pelota is another popular sport in Mexico, which also is a legacy of the Spanish immigrants. Abortion is another part of the subtext of the film, a controversial and almost sacrilegious theme at the time.

Marcos seduces and takes advantage of women whom he treats as if they were garbage, but eventually he slowly pays the price when one of them (Rebeca) gets pregnant and he neglects her in a tricky way, Marcial the leader of the local mafia commands him to lose a match but Marcos disobeys the order causing a huge lost for Marcial, that's when things get sour for him until the tragic and unexpected ending. 

 

This is a quintessential but also forgotten Mexican noir from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema and a great movie involving sports, which some years ago was displayed at the MOMA and got some recognition, but stills being in the shadows and hasn't got a decent treatment and a proper DVD release in Mexico or elsewhere.