Oh, What Times, Don Simon!
1941 film
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Oh, What Times, Don Simon! (Spanish: ¡Ay, qué tiempos señor don Simón!) is a 1941 Mexican period musical comedy film directed by Julio Bracho and starring Joaquín Pardavé, Arturo de Córdova and Mapy Cortés.[1][2] It was shot at the Clasa Studios in Mexico City. The film's sets were designed by the art director Jorge Fernández.
Julio Bracho
Agustín J. Fink
| Oh, What Times, Don Simon! | |
|---|---|
| |
| Directed by | Julio Bracho |
| Written by | Neftali Beltrán Julio Bracho |
| Produced by | Armando Espinosa Agustín J. Fink |
| Starring | Joaquín Pardavé Arturo de Córdova Mapy Cortés |
| Cinematography | Gabriel Figueroa |
| Edited by | Emilio Gómez Muriel |
| Music by | Raúl Lavista |
Production company | Films Mundiales |
| Distributed by | Films Mundiales |
Release date |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | Mexico |
| Language | Spanish |
Plot
Set during the early 20th-century regime of Porfiriato Díaz, Inés (Mapy Cortés) is a beautiful, wealthy young widow who suspects that her boyfriend, an army captain named Miguel (Arturo de Córdova), is being unfaithful to her.[3][4] To catch him in the act, Inés and her friend Beatriz (Anita Blanch) sneak into a risqué, male-only cabaret theater revue, where she witnesses Miguel openly cheating on her with the show's principal dancer, Coco Anchondo (Chelo Villarreal).[3][4] While hiding in the theater, Inés also spots Don Simón (Joaquín Pardavé), the portly, highly conservative president of the local "League of Good Manners," covertly watching the provocative show from behind a balcony curtain.[3][5]
The situation complicates when their presence at the scandalous venue is discovered by the Méndez sisters (Dolores Camarillo and Consuelo Guerrero de Luna), a pair of moralizing spinsters from the league who immediately press for Inés to be expelled from the high-society group for her unseemly conduct.[6] The league tasks Don Simón with executing her official ban, but because he is secretly infatuated with the young widow, he is entirely unable to deliver the news.[6] Recognizing his weakness and his hypocrisy, Inés and Beatriz blackmail Don Simón, threatening to publicly expose his cabaret visits unless he helps them navigate the social fallout.[6]
To break off her engagement with the unfaithful Miguel and outrage the judgmental town spinsters, Inés officially discards her mourning attire and begins openly flirting and going on public dates with Don Simón.[3][6] This strategic romance drives Miguel into a fit of intense, aggressive jealousy, culminating in a series of highly volatile public misunderstandings that prompt the army captain and the elder bureaucrat to challenge each other to a deadly duel.[6] Ultimately, through a chain of comedic, vaudeville-style errors and the timely revelation of a long-hidden family secret, the duel is averted, exposing the community's double standards and allowing the true lovers to reconcile under the eyes of the law.[6]
Cast
- Joaquín Pardavé as Don Simón
- Arturo de Córdova as Miguel
- Mapy Cortés as Inés
- Anita Blanch as Beatriz de Alpuche
- Miguel Montemayor as Ramoncito
- Dolores Camarillo as Adelaida Méndez
- Agustín Isunza as Licenciado Alpuche
- Luis G. Barreiro as Oropeza, el poeta
- Consuelo Guerrero de Luna as Caritina Méndez
- José Ortiz de Zárate as Don Roque
- Diana Bordes as Josefina
- Carlos Martínez Baena as Cura Camacho
- María Luisa Carvajal as Tiple de ópera
- Paco Zarate as Tenor
- Chelo Villarreal as Coco Anchondo
- Víctor Velázquez as Amigo de Miguel
- Edmundo Espino as Comandante Rocha
- Armando Velasco as Sebastián, mayordomo
- David Valle González as Nicolas, cochero
- Humberto Rodríguez as Amigo de don Simón
