Directed by Alberto Gout • 1950 • Mexico
Starring Ninón Sevilla, Tito Junco, Andrea Palma

A darkly glittering feminist revenge tale played at fever-pitch delirium, this oft-cited pinnacle of the popular Mexican cine de rumberas genre—dizzyingly plotted “fallen women” melodramas studded with showstopping musical numbers—stars Ninón Sevilla in one of her defining roles: as Elena, a young woman whose happy life shatters abruptly when her mother walks out for another man and her father commits suicide. Reduced to poverty and taken merciless advantage of by a villainous nightclub owner (Andrea Palma), Elena reinvents herself as a cabaret star. But she never forgets the people who wronged her, and when a chance to exact vengeance presents itself, Elena seizes the opportunity.