Although not as prolific as his compatriot Emilio Fernández, director Roberto Gavaldón is indisputably one of the finest from Mexico's Golden Age. Known affectionately as 'The Ogre' because of the discipline he imposed on the set, he holds the unique distinction of having no less than eight in the top 100 Mexican movies.
He is especially effective in intimate scenes and is given full rein here in this adaptation of the play by Alejandro Casona who was living in Argentina at the time as an exile from Franco's Spain.
Casona maintained that his theatre was of 'love and hate' and that certainly applies here as three seemingly happy marriages are thrown into disarray when, as a result of a macabre joke, the husbands believe their wives to have all been unfaithful with the same man, a bachelor who happens to be a long-standing friend of them all.
Plenty of angst and soul-searching ensues and gives ample opportunity for impassioned performances. The stunning Laura Hidalgo had raised male temperatures in 'L'Orchidéa' in 1951 and although her career sadly fizzled out after 1957 she proves herself a force to reckon with here and her performance as Ada is gloriously intense and sensual. As Gustavo the bachelor, Arturo de Córdova plays the kind of role at which he excels, that of the urbane man of the world suffering from inner turmoil. This was to reach its fullest expression of course in his astonishing performance as Francisco in 'El' for Luis Bunuel, released the same year. Others artistes that impress are José María Linares-Rivas, René Cordona and the ill-fated Miroslava Stern.
Gavaldón is a superb technician and his skill is never more apparent than in the way he choreographs the final duologue between de Córdova and Hidalgo which lasts a full twenty minutes.
The film paints a fascinating picture of the rigid social structure of the time and the obsession with keeping up appearances. Also on display is the Machismo culture in which a wife's infidelity is deemed more shameful than that of the husband. Sixty-five years on has anything really changed that much?!
