Llévame en tus brazos (Take Me in Your Arms) Lensed by the renowned Gabriel Figueroa, the magnetic Ninón Sevilla (1921–2015)—who also produced, uncredited, alongside brothers Guillermo Calderón and Pedro Calderón—stars as Rita, a young woman in Veracruz who lives for her family and her true love, José (Armando Silvestre). When Rita’s father trades her “services” to the wealthy Don Gregorio (Carlos López Moctezuma) to forgive his gambling debts, José is reluctant to forgive her transgressions. Featuring elaborately staged song-and-dance numbers that showcase Sevilla’s numerous talents, director and co-writer Julio Bracho’s sweeping melodrama favors Rita’s longing above all, allowing Sevilla’s charisma and magnetism to empathetically carry us through the film’s well-earned finale.

Víctimas del pecado (Victims of Sin)
Cuban-born Ninón Sevilla lights up the screen in another Emilio “El Indio” Fernández collaboration with venerated director of photography Gabriel Figueroa in her immediate follow-up to Alberto Gout’s rumbera masterpiece, Aventurera (1950). Sevilla stars as dancer and sex worker Violeta, who rescues an abandoned infant and is determined to fiercely protect the child from its father, a pimp with connections to Violeta's nightclub. A gritty film noir made grimier by Figueroa’s lurking shots of nighttime Mexico City, Sevilla’s zealous performance contradicts the curse of the film’s title, her gravitas morphing Violeta into an unlikely, nuanced hero.