04 · 10 · 25

Hernán Cortés: two atypical visions

Rafael Aviña

The leading figure of the Spanish conquest is, undoubtedly, Hernán Cortés (Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1485-1547), also known as Hernando Cortés, Hernán Cortez and Fernando Cortés. In Mexico, Cortés made alliances with the Tlaxcaltecas, used Malitzin also called Malinche —an indigenous woman that the tlatoani¹ Moctezuma Xocoyótxin gave to Cortés— as an interpreter and later had a son with her: Martín Cortés in 1522. By the way, Cortés' legitimate wife, Catalina Suárez Marcayda, died in strange circumstances: apparently murdered by the conquistador, who was portrayed in American cinema and television in a curious and unusual way.

In 1947, 150 workers from 20th Century Fox arrived in Mexico from Hollywood to take part in Henry King's film Captain from Castile, starring Tyrone Power, César Romero, Jean Peters and Stella Inda, to be filmed mainly in Morelia and Acapulco. The film was nothing more than an entertaining swashbuckling adventure film that took the Conquest of Mexico as a pretext to create a fictional tale of action and romance with a fabulous soundtrack by Alfred Newman, who had already scored the second version of The Mark of Zorro (1940), which also starred Tyrone Power.

Power plays the role of Pedro de Vargas, who in 1518, at the dawn of the 16th century, is forced to escape from Spain after mocking Diego de Silva (John Sutton), a wicked and noble knight member of the Holy Inquisition who not only strips him of all his lands, but also becomes his enemy to the death. In the company of a friend, Juan García (Lee J. Cobb), and the young Catana Pérez (Jean Peters), he manages to enlist in the expedition of Hernán Cortés, who goes from exploration of the new and exuberant lands of America to the Conquest of Mexico with only 500 men. Cuban-American César Romero (The Joker in the 1960s Batman TV series) plays Cortés and Stella Inda plays the role of La Malinche. Mexicans Gilberto González and Ramon Sánchez play two Mexicas.

That is to say, the figure of the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés (1485-1547), exactly four centuries after his death, is relegated to the background and his representation is that of a character halfway between the exotic and the mythical, just as he would be personified in a curious television series of the so-called golden age of American TV.

On September 9, 1966, the first episode of the television series The Time Tunnel, created and produced by Irwin Allen, premiered in the United States, entitled Rendezvous with Yesterday. In just a few minutes, the public is introduced to a secret U.S. government project: the construction of a time machine; a sort of cylindrical tunnel hidden in a scientific complex in Arizona. Those responsible for this unclassified program are: General Heywood Kirk (Whit Bissell), Dr. Raymond Swain (John Zaremba) and Dr. Ann McGregor (Lee Meriwether, none other than one of the most beautiful Catwomen of the aforementioned Batman TV series). However, the project will soon be cancelled due to the opposition of a senator.

Faced with this threat, the young scientist Dr. Tony Newman (James Darren) turns on the tunnel and travels back in time to prove that the experiment works and is taken to the deck of the mythical ocean liner Titanic on April 14, 1912, hours before the ship crashes its deck with an iceberg. Despite the scientists' efforts, they are unable to return Newman to the present and so another colleague and friend of his, Dr. Douglas Phillips (Robert Colbert), offers to go for him, keeping a newspaper of April 16 to avoid the catastrophe. The captain of the Titanic does not believe them, the ship sinks and they are transported to another adventure in time, watched in anguish by their companions from a large cathode ray screen.

The Time Tunnel exemplifies, to a large extent, several of the problems that historical cinema tends to have: a meticulous recreation of the data and situations of the collective memory and the most well-known moments of that official history, and at the same time, elements of suspense, action and mystery to fight against the academic boredom of the historical narrative itself. As it happens in the representation of the conquest of Mexico where The Time Tunnel provided situations as absurd as amusing to the subject.

In chapter 21, entitled: Idol of Death, scientists Tony and Douglas —dubbed in their transmission in Mexico by Luis Bayardo and Jorge Lavat, respectively - are sent by chance to the coasts of Veracruz in the year 1519. The Spanish captain Hernando Cortez (Anthony Caruso) is obsessed with finding the “Golden Mask of the Tlaxcaltepecas” (sic), a symbol of power for the Mexica tribes. Cortez does not hesitate to torture some indigenous people, however, Tony and Douglas step in and are captured by the Spanish soldiers. Meanwhile, on the other side of the tunnel, those responsible hire a Mexican archaeologist to locate them in strategic points of Veracruz; however, he is driven by greed for the piece of gold that he desires as much as the conqueror, even though they are separated by more than four centuries. Here, the Conquest of Mexico and the controversial figure of Hernán Cortés are reduced to the obtaining of an idol and the obsession of a man driven mad by gold, in one of the most absurd episodes of the series.

Translated by Adrik Díaz

Translator's Notes

1. TN: The tlatoani was the ruler of the Aztec Empire.