10 · 24 · 15

Screening of The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales at the 13th FICM

Jaime Garba, reportero (@jaimegarba)

The Mexican Gothic Film Program at the 13th FICM, organized in collaboration with the Cineteca Nacional and Fundación Televisa, began with the screening of El esqueleto de la señora Morales/ The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales by Mexican director Rogelio A. González. The film was presented by Alejandro Pelayo, director of the Cineteca Nacional, at the Cinépolis Morelia Centro.

Rogelio A. González started his career in film as an actor, participating in the film ¡Como México no hay dos! (1955). In addition, since 1944 he had worked as a screenwriter with director Ismael Rodríguez. His directorial debut came in 1950 with the work, El gavilán pollero, starring Pedro Infante.

The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales is based on the book, The Islington Mystery by Welsh writer Arthur Machen, and the screenplay was written by prominent screenwriter Luis Alcoriza, a regular collaborator of Luis Buñuel. The film stars Arturo de Córdova and Amparo Rivelles.

At the first screening of the film at FICM, Alejandro Pelayo said:

On the black comedy genre in Mexico:
“Black comedy is a genre that is very little addressed in Mexican cinema, but it has big roots that go back to English comedies. In our country two important filmmakers handled this genre like no other, director and screenwriter Luis Alcoriza and Rogelio A. González.”

About the director Rogelio A. González:
“González is very representative for Mexican cinema. He worked as a screenwriter in the early days of the successful films of Pedro Infante, directed by Ismael Rodríguez. From 1950, after his directorial debut, he became the most important director of the second period of Pedro Infante.”

About The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales:
“The combination Alcoriza-González is central to this film. It is a great work that masterfully uses the genre of black comedy. The performances are very good – Amparo Rivelles in her role as the conservative and unbearable woman, while Arturo de Córdova’s part is perhaps his best role in cinema because his natural overacting in this film is sensational. It is with The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales that he leaves behind the Golden Age of Mexican film to begin the auteur cinema of the sixties and beyond.”

The filmography of A. González consists of more than 100 films, including La vida no vale nada (1955), Ando volando bajo (1959), Amorcito corazón (1961), Chanoc (1967), Dr. Satán y la magia negra(1968) and El gran perro muerto (1978).
The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales is about a terrible marriage in which the wife torments her husband with jealousy and dissatisfaction, in addition to her obsessive puritanism. The situation between them becomes so complex that out of desperation, he announces a sudden trip of his wife, however, in his taxidermy laboratory, he preserves a skeleton, which he treats in a very peculiar way.

The Mexican Gothic Film Program is also supported by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Alameda Films, América Móvil, Mondo Macabro, Eduardo Moreno Laparade, STPC and IMCINE, Criterion Collection and Manuel Santillán Durán.

The program is complemented by a photographic exhibition during the 13th FICM, organized jointly with the Fundación Televisa.