In this English-language version of the Spanish-language Mexican production, María Elena, María Elena makes a “bad” choice, allowing sexual desire to trump a sensible marriage, thus sending her faithful fisherman suitor across the sea. There, Alfredo (Juan José Martínez Casado) learns of a mysterious island inhabited only by women, and the rich pearl beds on its shores. An adventure film ensues, in which silent “native women” are captured by competing groups of males attempting to find the pearls. Alfredo leads the original group, but then finds out that María Elena is mortally ill, and returns home to save his beloved.
She-Devil Island presents an interesting case of how Mexican films were circulated in the United States, since the English-language version was distributed as an exploitation picture, although the actual film—unlike the advertising—has little real salacious content. The film's artistic pretentions are evident in several scenes of folk music and dance, which were commonplace in the 1930s, when the still-budding Mexican film industry was highlighting authentic national culture or Mexicanidad. Copyrighted as early as November 1935, the Spanish-language María Elena was released by Columbia and opened at the Teatro Campoamor in Harlem on February 17, 1936. The film went nowhere. Then in July, states’ rights distributor First Division released the English version under the exploitative title, She-Devil Island, ballyhooed with racy posters by Al Friedlander. When the film opened in Newark, NJ, it did “sensational” business, earning $7,000 in its first week; a month later the film was still running at the giant Fox theater in Brooklyn.
Reviews in the New York Times for María Elena were tepid: “Despite the Hollywood influence said to have been exercised by Columbia Pictures upon ‘Maria Elena'…the ending of this sad story of an innocent maiden's infatuation is just what patrons of importations from below the Rio Grande are accustomed to.” Reviewing the English-language She-Devil Island, however, Variety (“novel and exciting) and Film Daily (“a bit of something off the beaten path”) were more enthusiastic. —Jan-Christopher Horak
35mm, b/w, 66 min. Director: Raphael J. Sevilla. Production: Charles L. Kimball Productions. Distribution: First Division/Grand National. Original Story: Ernesto M. Cortazar. Screen Adaptation: Alfonso Liguori, Raphael J. Sevilla. Songs and Music: Lorenzo Barcelata. Musical Score and Direction: Juan S. Garrido and Max Urban. Cinematography: Lauron S. Draper. Cast: Carmen Guerrero, Juan José Martinez Casado, Adolfo Giron, Beatriz Ramos, Lucy Delgado.
Restored from two 35mm acetate prints and a 35mm nitrate print. Laboratory services by Fotokem, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio, Inc., Simon Daniel Sound.
