La Cucaracha

Pioneer Pictures followed Warner Brothers July 1934 color short "Service With A Smile" with its own Technicolor short film a month later in August 31, 1934's "La Cucaracha." The small Pioneer studio, affiliated with RKO, was formed to produce color movies. Two Whitney-family members, large stockholders in Technicolor, believed in the company's technology. At first having ambitions to produce the first color feature film using the new process, the Whitneys, along with Merian C. Cooper ("King Kong") as the studio's vice president of production, opted for the shorter musical. In "La Cucaracha," Steffi Duma stars as a jealous singer who hears a famous theatre owner is looking to audition her dancer boyfriend in a Mexican cafe. Her attempts to derail his chances are an excuse to display Technicolor's vibrant colors to the viewing public.

"La Cucaracha" gained fame as the Academy Award winner as the Best Short Subject in a Comedy. Its success at the box office spurred interest towards financing expensive feature films. Pilgrim had spent $65,000 on the 20-minute color short, far more than the normal $15,000 black and white movie at the time.

If Technicolor was ever going to be used to good effect early on, then this scenario would seem to have been a good choice. The story is all largely predicable as impresario "Sr. Martinez" (Paul Porcasi) arrives at a café for a nice supper and to watch a dancer he hopes to sign up. The resident singer "Chaquita" (Steffi Duna) overhears his plans and sees an opportunity for stardom herself. That tees us up for some flamboyant Spanish dancing from "Pancho" (Don Alvarado) and a fine rendition of the old folk song "La Cucaracha" from Miss Duna. We get the impression that dancer and singer are a bit hung up on each other, and that "Martinez" is heading for a fall, but none of that really matters here as the whole thing is really about showing us just how bright and vital the colours and costumes are when lit properly and the dancing creatively choreographed.

... even if the film is rather pointless. Made by RKO to show off the sumptuous three-strip Technicolor process for the first time (after several two-strip bits and full-length features had been made through the period of 1929-1933), La Cucaracha is very thin on story - it is mostly set in a bar with dancing, singing (the title song, obviously), and a bit of fighting.

The sound quality wasn't brilliant but the visual quality can't be faulted. This movie is on DVD as an extra to RKO's Dixiana (itself boasting beautiful two-strip colour in the final sequences) but is really on worth a look for historical interest.

Well worth finding a copy; the first live-action 3-strip Technicolor film is very pretty to watch (note in particular the beautiful blues in some of the costumes), is well-timed, and has a funny set piece in which the pompous theatre owner gets a well-deserved commupance from the fiery lady. The only problem is that the sound quality of the Roan DVD, which I have, was not very good, and made it very difficult to understand some of the dialogue. I probably would have given this a higher rating than the 7 I gave it, if the sound quality had been better. All the same, I recommend it.

La Cucaracha (1934)

** (out of 4)

This Oscar-nominated film is rather short on story, which takes a backseat to the studio's use of Technicolor. The film tells the story of a Spanish singer (Steffi Duna) who is worried that her lover/dancer (Don Alvarado) is about to be taken away for a bigger gig so she goes out of her way to ruin his meeting with the producer (Paul Porcasi). This short is certainly very hit and miss because while the story is rather bland, the performances and look of the movie are top notch. I really enjoyed the visual look of the film and the print quality is still strong enough to show off the rather good looking colors. Just take a look early in the film at a greenish colored cape, which just looks marvelous. I also enjoyed all three of the main characters due in large part to the fun performances with Duna really sticking out with her beauty and charm. With that said, the story is pretty weak and the movie goes by at a snail's pace.