Usually cast as a romantic hero, Pedro Armendáriz plays a pelota superstar of almost Trumpian arrogance here, a man who believes there are only winners and losers in this world and you don’t get to be the former by caring about the latter. On the court he’s the epitome of strength. Off it, he strings along a clutch of smitten women, seducing and discarding them without a thought. At one point he even kicks a dog. But after getting a naive teenager pregnant, this boorish brute of a man is about to get his comeuppance…
If you don’t know much about pelota (aka jai alai) — think squash played on three walls at 250 km an hour — there’s a surprising amount of action in the movie’s first half. But it’s the fiendish and jet-black second half which secures La Noche Avanza its place in the Mexican noir canon.
We appreciate the support of Fundación Televisa // DCP Courtesy of Cineteca Nacional México
No Hollywood movie of the time would have taken the risk of placing such an utterly despicable character at the center of the story,
inviting the audience to enjoy the clever and twisting course of the bastard’s downfall. The people around him look good only in comparison; this is an altogether ugly world, driven by vengence and greed, rife with lies, cheating, and double-crosses.Imogen Sarah Smith, Noir City
Deliriously entertaining.
The Movie Gourmet
Roberto Gavaldón
Pedro Armendáriz, Anita Blanch, Rebeca Iturbide, Eva Martino
Mexico
1952
In Spanish with English subtitles
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Credits
Executive Producer
Ernesto Enriquez
Producer
Óscar J. Brooks, Felipe Mier
Screenwriter
José Revueltas, Jesús Cárdenas, Roberto Gavaldón
Cinematography
Jack Drapper
Editor
Charles L. Kimbal
Original Music
Raúl Lavista
Production Design
Edward Fitzgerald
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