Susana (Mexico, 1951) 82min B&W DIR: Luis Buñuel. PROD: Sergio Kogan, Manuel Reachi. SCR: Luis Buñuel, Jaime Salvador, Rodolfo Usigli; based on the novel by Manuel Reachi. MUSIC: Raúl Lavista. DOP: José Ortiz Ramos. CAST: Rosita Quintana, Fernando Soler, Víctor Manuel Mendoza, María Gentil Arcos, Matilde Palou. (Columbia Pictures)
Susana seems like a foreign version of Erskine Caldwell, though based on a novel by Manuel Reachi. In this hot, heavy-breathing melodrama, Susana (Rosita Quintana) escapes from an asylum, and is found by one family during a rainy night. They take her in, and while she earns her keep there, she comes on to three men: the patriarch Don Guadalupe (once again played by Fernando Soler), his studious son Alberto (Luis López Somoza), and the trusted farmhand Jesús (Víctor Manuel Mendoza)!
In this entertaining piece, religious fanaticism is played to the hilt. The older women at the farmhouse cross themselves upon hearing every thundercrack during the stormy night (the acting is exaggerated). In the first scene, Susana prays to the “gods of the jail” to let her free! Suddenly, she notices that the bars are loose on the door! This tramp takes the family unit to task. In one shocking scene, the mother Doña Carmen (Matilde Palou) learns that her husband is smitten with Susana, decides that she, not Susana, is the one who must leave. Watch the reactions of her sons! It is consistently enjoyable, although there are more interesting films by Buñuel in this period.
My viewing of Susana was made available by the VHS release on Castle Hill’s Cinematheque Collection, which were often stocked in the foreign sections of specialty video rental stores back in the day. It has since been released to DVD on Cinemateca.