When There Were Ghosts

The interwar period (the period between the First and Second World Wars) had a dramatic impact on cinema as an international product, with greater transatlantic exchanges of both films and film technologies. This was halted by the onset of World War II, which saw the previous hubs of cinema—the USA, France, and Germany—turn to wartime production, including wartime cinema. Mexico, as a non-combatant, did not face the same thematic or material restrictions on production, while still being closely linked to the existing systems of distribution of film. Romance, comedy, and tragedy all found unfilled economic niches internationally as the American domestic film industry fixated on war. This also resulted in the spread of film projectors, cameras, and the film industry at large throughout South and Central America.

After the war, the Mexican film industry continued apace, launching superstars—like Pedro Infante—who were hybrid movie stars/musicians. Strong censorship trends in the USA and Europe continued to play a factor, as did the state-mandated social realism of Soviet cinema, in the success of Mexican cinema. Music played an important part in the export of Mexican films, encouraging long-term record contracts and radio agreements, with cinema acting as advertisement for other media products.