María Eugenia was the first film María Félix made after her film debut in El Peñón de las Ánimas.[1][3] During filming, Félix caused a stir while shooting the opening scene of the film, which featured her in a white bathing suit, attracting publicity to Félix.[1][3] It is the only film in Félix's filmography where she appeared in swimwear.[4]
It was the only film directed by Felipe Gregorio Castillo, who afterwards became a film censor.[4][5]
Reception
In his book Más allá de las lágrimas: Espacios habitables en el cine clásico de México y Argentina, Isaac León Frías collects Emilio García Riera's view of the film, calling it a "terrible melodrama."[4] The book Archivos de la Filmoteca refers to the film as a sign of how "the Mexican melodrama [was] so subject to conventions and norms" at the time, noting that the film was directed by a later film censor.[5] María Félix herself would later refer to the film in her autobiography as "a film that had no other importance than to give me experience."[6]
^ abBarajas Sandoval, Carmen (1992). Una mujer llamada María Félix: historia no autorizada (in Spanish). EDAMEX. p. 16. ISBN968-409-673-9. Casi inmediatamente después de su primera película, María firma el contrato para la segunda que se llamó "María Eugenia" […] Con esta película se suscitó un gran escándalo que le dió a María mucha publicidad. En una escena ella aparecía en traje de baño; un traje de baño blanco […] [Almost immediately after her first film, María signed the contract for the second one, which was called "María Eugenia" […] With this film a great scandal arose that gave María a lot of publicity. In one scene she appeared in a bathing suit; a white bathing suit […]]
^ abcLeón Frías, Isaac (2019). Más allá de las lágrimas: Espacios habitables en el cine clásico de México y Argentina (in Spanish). Fondo Editorial Universidad de Lima. pp. 323–324. ISBN978-9972-45-486-8. Después, la actriz lució por única vez en traje de baño para María Eugenia (1943), pésimo melodrama que supuso la única experiencia en la dirección del después censor Felipe Gregorio Castillo. [Later, the actress wore for the only time a bathing suit for María Eugenia (1943), a terrible melodrama that was the only experience in direction of the later censor Felipe Gregorio Castillo.]
^ abArchivos de la Filmoteca: revista de estudios históricos sobre la imagen (in Spanish). La Filmoteca. 1999. p. 77. El melodrama mexicano está tan sometido a convenciones y normas que la segunda película de María Félix, María Eugenia, la dirige el mismísimo director de la censura, Felipe Gregorio Castillo. [The Mexican melodrama is so subject to conventions and norms that María Félix's second film, María Eugenia, is directed by the director of the censorship himself, Felipe Gregorio Castillo.]
^Félix, María (1993). Todas mis Guerras (in Spanish). Clío. p. 69. ISBN968-11-0556-7. Después de mi debut en El peñón de las ánimas hice una película que no tuvo otra importancia que la de darme experiencia: María Eugenia. [After my debut in El peñón de las animas, I made a film that had no other importance than to give me experience: María Eugenia.]