Las Islas Marías

This is an extraordinary film, sadly neglected in the body of work of the legendary Pedro Infante. He plays a wayward youth, who ends up in the infamous prison in Las Islas Marias. The film is bleak and powerful, with many of the best Mexican film talent of the time: director Emilio Fernandez; cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa; the legendary Rosaura Revueltas, who later starred in the blacklisted film Salt of the Earth; Tito Junco, Rodolfo Acosta, and several other superb actors. It was shot on-location in the recently closed federal prison at the tip of Baja. The film powerful captures the state of the disfranchised of Mexico City. It is moving and illuminating.

At the top of his career,Infante strarred this movie assigned by his principal producers,(Rodriguez Bros.).In this movie he worked together with the most prestigious and award wining team in the Mexican movies at that time,Emilio "indio"Fernandez(Director),Gabriel Figueroa(Photographer)and Mauricio Magdaleno(Script Writer),but it became clear that Infante did not fit in this team.Infante seems to be repressed in his performance,even out of his natural enviroment which were usually more pinturesque plots that highlited his charm and songs, much of this misunderstanding between the actor and the other team members could be the boring script,which resulted in a well filmed movie,but seems to be long despite its short duration(82 minuts aprox.)