Cantaclaro


Cantaclaro is a 1946 Mexican drama film directed by Julio Bracho and starring Esther Fernández, Antonio Badú and Alberto Galán. The film is based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Rómulo Gallegos. The film's sets were designed by the art director Jesús Bracho, who was the younger brother of Julio Bracho.

Plot

Florentino, nicknamed "Cantaclaro", after saving his family's lands, goes to the plains to learn more songs to sing. There he falls in love with Rosángela, a young woman surrounded by many secrets.

Cast

Production

The film was made as part of a spate of film adaptations of Rómulo Gallegos's novels following success of Doña Bárbara.
Cantaclaro began filming in June 1945, after Julio Bracho made The White Monk. An American envoy from 20th Century Fox, Francis Alstock, boyfriend of actress Esther Fernández, who starred in the film, featured as executive producer. It features filming locations in Veracruz.

Reception

In Los Bracho: tres generaciones de cine mexicano, Jesús Ibarra states that at the time of the film's premiere, "the critics were divided their opinions and the public did not like it," stating that "despite the beautiful and fluid language, the dialogues were long and the film a bit boring," with Global Mexican Cinema: Its Golden Age citing that "some contemporary critics have generally labeled Cantaclaro, along with most or all of the Gallegos films, 'mediocre'". However, Ibarra also stated that with the film "the same thing happened as with The White Monk; Bracho made art cinema, not suitable for the Mexican public in general", going so far as to argue, when mentioning that the film won fewer Ariel Awards than Emilio Fernández's film Enamorada that year, that Bracho's film was "much more worthy of being awarded" than Fernández's film.