Sota, caballo y rey

"Sota caballo y rey" was the last film that Canadian writer Robert Quigley directed in Mexico, after which he concentrated on script writing until 1960. Although this production does not have the coherence of the script he co-wrote for "Rosauro Castro" nor of his first movie, "Cielito lindo", both collaborations with Roberto Gavaldón, the rural theme persists, as well as the violence of weapons, land tenure and control of ruthless powerful men. The film is focused on the histrionic capacity of Domingo Soler in his roles as two twin brothers, one a rancher and the other an actor and playwright, who both fight against Carlos López Moctezuma who plays the man that controls a town outside of modernity, and who answers with death sentences to the opposition of Soler and singer Luis Aguilar. The story, however, fluctuates between musical comedy and romantic melodrama, sub-genres that merge and finally impose themselves over the intense drama of corruption, with dances and routines of Meche Barba and Agustín Isunza and comic relief provided by El Chicote, plus the romantic interludes of Aguilar and Susana Cora, who also have their respective turns to sing. Composer Rosalío Ramírez never cared about the drama and his score is a collection of feisty, galloping cues. The acting weight rests on Soler and Moctezuma, because the others have little space to develop characters and Aguilar falls short in his dramatic scenes. However, being his first star role, I suppose the film helped to consolidate him as a leading man-singer of rancheras. Watching "Sota caballo y rey" will make you no harm, but neither will it be a nutrient for your cultural background.