Exhibition of National and Foreign Films in Six Mexican Cities During the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema: The Year of 1952

Abstract

From the late 1930s through the early 1950s, Mexico experienced the so-called Golden Age of Cinema in which hundreds of movies were made and exhibited in the national screens, competing successfully with Hollywood films. Through a comparative analysis, this chapter discusses the programming of films during one important year of the so-called Golden Age of Cinema in six provincial Mexican cities: Tampico, Torreón, Monterrey, Saltillo, León, and Veracruz. Based on newspaper movie listings for 52 days (one per each week of that year), the analysis explores and compares the number and type of productions exhibited as well as the most popular actors, movies, and genres in the six towns. Using the New Cinema History perspective as the point of departure, the chapter discusses the specific historical patterns, similarities, and differences of film programming in these six Mexican cities in the context of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.