Doña Diabla. 1950. Mexico. Directed by Tito Davison. Screenplay by Edmundo Báez, Tito Davison, based on the play by León Felipe. With María Félix, Víctor Junco, Crox Alvarado. In Spanish; English subtitles. DCP courtesy of Filmoteca UNAM. 98 min.
Stung by a humiliating divorce, Ángela (Felix) resolves to turn seduction into a private sport: lure a man, break his heart, move on. Years later she crosses paths with Adrián, a gambler as unscrupulous as she is—only to watch him redirect his charm toward her unsuspecting daughter, Angélica. The triangle, unveiled in flashback after an opening-reel gunshot, recalls the mother-daughter antagonism of Michael Curtiz’s Mildred Pierce (1945), but pushes the stakes further: Ángela’s hard-won independence now threatens the one bond she hoped to keep untainted. Davison guides the drama with thunder-punctuated entrances and moody interior lighting, letting Félix move from icy control to panic without losing her poise. The performance earned Félix her third Ariel for Best Actress, and the picture’s slot in the 1951 Cannes competition signalled the rising international prestige of Mexican cinema.