Amok. 1944. Mexico. Directed by Antonio Momplet. Screenplay by Max Aub, based on the novel by Stefan Zweig. With María Félix, Julián Soler, Stella Inda. In Spanish; English subtitles. DCP courtesy of Filmoteca UNAM. 101 min.
After looting his Paris clinic to satisfy the demands of his mercurial lover Mrs. Travis (a disconcertingly blonde Felix), surgeon Jorge Martell (Julián Soler ) loses what remains of his money at Monte Carlo and signs on as a colonial doctor in India. Aboard the outbound liner he encounters Mrs. Belmont (Felix with her familiar dark mane), and begins a confession that unfolds in fevered flashback: a botched abortion, the jungle sickness locals call “amok,” and an obsession that blurs the two women into one fatal hallucination.
Spanish émigré Antonio Momplet, who left his homeland during the Civil War and worked briefly in Argentina before settling in Mexico, mounts the Stefan Zweig story on sets that reproduce an ocean liner, a Riviera casino, colonial residences, and tropical villages—an international canvas unusual for Golden Age Mexican production. The great Mexican songwriter Agustín Lara composed the score, a year before his tumultuous marriage to Félix.