La Mujer del puerto

Engagingly creaky Mexican melodrama, far from the glories of later work put together by the likes of Fernandez and Figueroa, but enjoyably excessive for all that. Palma - clearly, lookswise, a Latin riposte to Dietrich, but lacking her ironic cruelty - is the woman who turns to prostitution after dad dies and her fiancé flaunts his infidelity. Worse befalls her when, working a seedy sailors' bar in Vera Cruz, she falls for a kindly matelot who saves her from a drunkard. Then, too late, the truth dawns on them. The incestuous revelation is absurd icing on the spicy cake, rather than the stuff of tragedy, but Palma gives the closing moments all she's got and just about gets away with it.