La Cucaracha (1934)

* * ½

Colourful and musical short but it is severely lacking in story and poorly acted. The sole purpose of this film was to highlight its use of colour, music and dancing. For such a short film is manages to make quite an impact as it is visually and audibly engaging, however it is a shame that the story and acting took such a bit due to the desire to promote new technologies.

This film is one of the earliest to use colour and the makers ran riot with their new toy. There are garish costumes floating around everywhere. But it is not only the costumes that are brightening this film as the lighting is used to add to the drama (or melodrama) of the story. There are envious green shades and angry red scenes which are all too blatant for a modern audience.

The famous song, which everyone knew despite having not seen the film, is very welcome as it livens up the odd, over-dramatic story and helps to distinguish this film from a soap opera. It is a shame they did not do more songs as the acting is dubious and there are monologues which are almost painful.