11/20 12:45pm Spanish/English subtitle screening introduced by MoMA Curator of Film, Dave Kehr, responsible for MoMA’s 2018 tribute to Emilio Fernandez 

A poor fisherman named Quino (Pedro Armendariz) and his wife Juana (Maria Elena Marquez) are desperate to treat their son’s scorpion sting after being rebuked by their town’s doctor. When Quino discovers a beautiful pearl in the sea, he is convinced their misfortunes have ended, but Juana mantains that their miseries will only multiply if he doesn’t return it. He ignores her warnings and sets off to see the merchants in town…. John Steinbeck wrote the script, based on his novella. The cinematography is by the great Gabriel Figueroa. Coproduced by RKO Pictures, and shot in a Spanish and in  a separate English version, the film won  the Golden Lion at the 1947 Venice Film Festival and confirmed its director Emilio Fernandez (aka El Indio)’s stature as Mexico leading filmmaker.  

35mm print in Spanish with English subtitles courtesy of Filmoteca UNAM.

35mm print in English courtesy of The Library of Congress