Verbena tragica
"In the early years of sound motion pictures, studios often filmed foreign language versions of American productions. Some utilized subtitles, others were dubbed. In some cases, American stars spoke foreign dialog from a script written phonetically on a blackboard just off camera. More commonly, however, the films featured an entirely different cast. Spanish-language productions were the most common of these alternate versions, thanks to sizeable Latino audiences in Los Angeles and other metropolitan markets, as well as those in Latin American countries. Directed by Charles Lamont and starring Spanish-born actress Luana Alcañiz and Mexican star Fernando Soler, this melodrama surrounds a boxer, released after eight months in jail, who comes home to a recently pregnant wife. Produced at low-budget Columbia studio, “Verbena Tragica” was unusual for the multi-version formula in that an English-language version was never made, most likely due to the film’s themes of adultery and revenge. "
— The Library of Congress
Verbena tragica
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1996.
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Verbena Trágica (Tragic Festival, also known as Block Party) is a 1939 film directed by Charles Lamont. The film was made in 1938 in the Spanish language only, unusual for the time but most likely due to the film's themes of adultery and revenge.
Why It Rocks
- When the film industry switched from silent to sound movies, the foreign market—a significant portion of Hollywood’s income—was suddenly in danger for several reasons. Cutters could change the intertitles used in silents from English to any language without affecting the film as a whole, but spoken dialogue presented unprecedented problems. And so, Hollywood began producing features in Spanish, French and German. Due to Los Angeles having a sizable Spanish-speaking population, and all the major studios released Spanish-language films. Verbena Trágica is a rather interesting film that was made after the regular production of Hispanic films ended. It seems to be an attempt by Hollywood to find some formula that would appeal to Latin American audiences.
- This film was was a change of pace for Fernando Soler who usually played brusque but good-natured leads in dramas and affable buffoons in comedies. The story takes place in New York City over the Columbus Day holiday, with a street fair as the backdrop. Soler plays Mateo, a Spanish-born boxer who is ending an eight-month jail sentence for fighting with a policeman. The story takes place over the course of one day, on three main sets: Mateo’s apartment, a neighborhood saloon, and the street outside. A sense of claustrophobia enhances the tragic aspect of the story, as the characters have nowhere to hide once their secrets unfold.
- In spite of the film’s reliance on literal slapstick, Lamont keeps a steady pace, pausing only for jokes and three songs, trusting the actors to deliver even if he didn’t understand what they were saying.
- The film's elements of adultery are handled fairly carefully. (Though it's likely a reason why the film was never copyrighted or got an English-language version.) Sateo's wife is a couple of months pregnant, and Blanca’s lover is Claudio, Mateo’s best friend and fiancé of Blanca’s half-sister Lola
- There's also some of the film’s cultural flavor. The characters drink wine instead of beer, and have paella for dinner, but in most respects could be of any ethnicity. They wear coats and ties or dresses, smoke cigarettes, sit at the same tables and hit the same marks that their English counterparts did. They even banter with a typical New York Irish cop, even though this one happens to speak Spanish.