Libertad Lamarque Movies
The recipient in 2000 of a lifetime achievement award from the Mexican Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences, Argentinean-born singer/actress Libertad Lamarque (née Bouza) enjoyed eight decades of fame, performing in more than 60 films and recording nearly 2000 songs, the great majority of them heavily influenced by her country's tango traditions. The daughter of a political activist with left sympathies, Lamarque made her professional debut at the age of 15 in a Buenos Aires stage show entitled Madre Tierra. Onscreen from 1929, she became her generation's most popular Argentinean film star and her tango- or bolero-inspired songs were best-sellers all over the Spanish-speaking world. Hollywood tempted with a contract in 1940, but she turned down the offer, stating in a 1993 interview that "I didn't think anybody knew me in the U.S." In 1944, she appeared opposite newcomer Eva Duarte in the Argentinean The Circus Profession. The two actresses reportedly got into a fight that ended with Libertad serving Eva a slap in the face. When the latter became Argentina's first lady under her married name of Eva Peron, she basically had Lamarque blacklisted. Although Libertad later denied that the incident took place, she did leave Argentina in favor of Mexico in 1946, a fortuitous move that made her one of that nation's favorite stars and helped introduce her to the vast Spanish-speaking audience in the United States. She sold out New York's Carnegie Hall in 1947 and later performed frequently in both Miami, Florida, and Los Angeles. Never retiring, Lamarque was starring as the mother superior in the Mexican "novela" Carita de Angel when she died from a heart attack in Mexico City on December 12, 2000. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1969
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The simmering relationship between a racist singer named Laura (Libertad Lamarque) and her longtime black friend Angustias (Eusebia Cosme) erupts into a violent boil when Laura's daughter falls in love with Angustias' son in a drama directed by Abel Salazar and inspired by the classic Douglas Sirk melodrama Imitation of Life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Libertad Lamarque, Eusebia Cosme, (more)
The unbeatable combination of both Dolores del Rio and Libertad Lamarque co-starring in this three-hanky melodrama about the self-sacrificing love of a mother makes this otherwise unexceptional film a people's favorite. Lamarque plays the mistress of a married man and del Rio has the role of his wife. After the husband dies in an auto accident, the mistress survives the crash and later gives birth to their son. The grieving widow agrees to adopt the boy as her own -- on the condition that the mistress bow out of the picture completely. She agrees and so it is settled, until many years later when the repenting birth mother wants to get to know her now-grown offspring. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Libertad Lamarque, Dolores Del Rio, (more)
- 1960
This well-balanced film is based on the life of Jose Mojica (Pedro Geraldo), a Mexican entertainer who gave up the stage for a monk's robe and tonsure. As young Mojica's star is rising in the entertainment world he indulges in some very unpleasant personality traits -- a serious ego, arrogance, and unstable temperament plague his relationships. But then circumstances conspire to slowly wake him up, not only making him realize the errors in his attitude and behavior, but bringing him even further to the conclusion that nothing the material world has to offer is worth it. And so Mojica becomes a Friar, a monk whose life starts to touch others in a meaningful way. Libertad Lamarque plays his mother and equally famous Pedro Armendariz plays a man affected by Mojica. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Libertad Lamarque, Pedro Armendáriz, (more)
An intense drama about divorce portrayed by two leading stars of the Mexican screen. ~ All Movie Guide
Popular South-of-the-Border singing stars Pedro Infante and Libertad Lamarque head the cast of Escuela de Musica (Music School). Ms. Lamarque plays a prim-and-proper music teacher (complete with glasses) who traffics in the classic. Infante costars as the inevitable pop-music lover who introduces the heroine to the baser pleasures. Along the way, Libertad reforms the hard-drinking, womanizing Infante, so it can be said that both characters get what they want by film's end. Escuela de Musica is a virtual catalogue of what was then playing on the hit parades in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Cuba. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pedro Infante, Sr., Libertad Lamarque, (more)
The Mexican comedy Reportaje follows the wacky adventures that ensue when a man offers a large reward to the journalist that can uncover the best news story that occurs during New Year's Eve. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
The Mexican Ansiedad (Anxiety) is a showcase for three top South-of-the-Border talents. The film stars Argentine tango singer Libertad Lamarque, "pop" vocalist Pedro Infante and songwriter Agustin Lara. Lamarque plays a recently widowed singer, saddled with a troublesome son (Infante). Her other son (Lara) is a prim-and-proper businessman, albeit one with a potentially injurious "get rich quick" mindset. Along the way, Lamarque is allowed to execute a delightful dance number with a bevy of tropical beauties. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pedro Infante, Sr., Libertad Lamarque, (more)
La Loca translates to Mad Woman, a harsh but accurate description of the heroine, played by Libertad Lamarque. Outwardly a kindly philanthropist, the woman is, in private, dangerously close to insanity. When she finally does go over the edge, all of her previous good works are forgotten by the public, and she is treated--or mistreated--like any other mental patient. La Loca is all the more powerful when one realizes that its star, Libertad Lamarque, was heretofore best known for her work in lighthearted musical comedies. Director Miguel Zacarias avoids sensationalism throughout, unfolding his tragic tale in calm, matter-of-fact fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Libertad Lamarque, Ruben Rojo, (more)
- 1947
Two great Latin singing stars team up in this musical melodrama directed by the innovative Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunuel. Gerardo (Jorge Negrete) and his friend Demetrio (Julio Villarreal) are a pair of footloose cowboys in turn-of-the-century Mexico who are looking for work after escaping from prison on dubious charges. Gerardo persuades Jose (Francisco Jambrina), an tycoon from Argentina who is looking for oil in Mexico, to give work to himself and his friends, but just as their fortunes are on the rise, the oilman disappears and is feared murdered. Jose's sister Mercedes (Libertad Lamarque) travels to Mexico to find out what's become of him, and when she learns that Gerardo has taken over as manager in Jose's absence, she's convinced that Gerardo and his pals are to blame. Wanting to know more about Gerardo and his cronies, she takes a job as a singer as "Gran Casino," a rowdy nightclub near the oil fields; in time, she strikes up a romance with the good-hearted roughneck and learns just who her brother's enemies really are. Gran Casino was Luis Bunuel's first project after settling in Mexico in the wake of the Spanish Civil War and an unsuccessful attempt to seek asylum in the United States; an uncharacteristically conventional story which was not well suited to Bunuel's talents (and a musical to boot), Gran Casino fared poorly at the box office, and it was two years before he'd get to make his next film, El Gran Calavera. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1945
The popularity of Argentine singing stars Libertad Lamarque and Hugo del Carril is the sole raison d'etre for La Cabalgata del Circo. The title translates as The Circus Parade, and accordingly the story concerns a travelling circus, touring the Argentine Pampas. The story is the usual "backstage" concoction, with Lamarque standing by her handsome but unreliable boyfriend Del Carril. When the film was released in the U.S. in 1945, critics commented that supporting actress Evita Duarte "does not reveal much screen talent." Duarte would eventually find success in another field of endeavor when she married Argentine president Juan Peron. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Libertad Lamarque, Hugo del Carril, (more)
- 1944
El Fin de la Noche (End of the Night) is a WWII rarity: An anti-Nazi film from neutral Argentina. Musical favorite Libertad Lamarque stars as a French nightclub singer who intends to escape her homeland when the Germans take over. She is aided in her flight by a wounded Resistance fighter, with whom she falls in love. The plot requires Lamarque to later become the "singing sweetheart" of the occupying German troops. In order to save her daughter from reprisals, she is forced to lure her Resistance-fighter sweetheart into a Nazi trap. Though it's clear who the villains are in El Fin de la Noche, no Swastikas are shown at any point in the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Libertad Lamarque, Alberto Bello, (more)
- 1943
The Argentine Eclipse de Sol (Eclipse of the Sun) has the look and feel of a like-vintage Hollywood romance. Latin American screen favorite Libertad Lamarque plays a drab young brunette housewife whose life is considerably altered when she dyes her hair blonde. Soon she has aroused the interest of her former boyfriend, much to the dismay of her present husband. It's the sort of story that could have been wrapped up in two reels, but director Luis Saslavsky manages to milk the situation for 84 minutes. As in most Lamarque vehicles, the song interludes are the film's highlights. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Libertad Lamarque, Georges Rigaud, (more)
- 1942
Some observers detected the influence of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane in Carlos Borcosque's innovational Yo Conoci Esa Mujer (I Knew That Woman) The plot revolves around a popular musical star (Libertad Lamarque) who is held responsible for the death of her husband. Also considered culpable is the doctor who attended the dying man, inasmuch as he was in love with the singer. When doctor and singer are wed, it causes a scandal of major proportions, one which has wide-ranging repercussions on the couple's physically handicapped son. Conventional enough in terms of story and characterizations, Yo Conoci Esa Mujer is chock full of bizarre camera angles and lengthy deep-focus "takes," which seem to have been as much influenced by the German silents as by Citizen Kane. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Libertad Lamarque, Rafael Frontaura, (more)
- 1941
Presented in Spanish, this drama follows a young farm girl who goes to the big city, becomes a nightclub dancer and gets involved with a shady character. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Libertad Lamarque, Luis Aldas, (more)
