La Cucaracha is a 1934 short film (20 minutes) directed by Lloyd Corrigan.
Señor Martinez, owner of a famous Mexican theater, comes to a cantina to scout out one of the dancers, Pancho. Señor Martinez intends to sign Pancho to a contract and take him away to the theater. However, his girlfriend Chatita (Steffi Duna), who doesn't want to be left behind, attempts to sabotage the deal.
This otherwise rather unexceptional short film was one of the first live-action films to feature the three-strip "No. 4" Technicolor process. Three-strip Technicolor would soon replace the old two-strip process and become the standard in Hollywood for decades.
Tropes:
- As You Know: A lot of introductory dialogue between Señor Martinez and his friend establishing that Martinez is a theater owner who is there to scout Pancho.
- Brownface: Steffi Duna was Hungarian.
- Call-Back: Señor Martinez boasts that he can mix the sauce for his meal better than the chefs can. Chatita sneers "The customer is always right," implying that they were humoring him. At the end when he gives her a job, she says "The customer is always right!"
- The Chanteuse: As it turns out, Chatita does this for a living. She sings "La Cucaracha", impresses Señor Martinez, and gets hired along with Pancho.
- Dramatic Drop: Señor Martinez dramatically drops the food in his hand and growls "Tabasco!" when he sees Chatita again. (She taunted him into dumping an absurd amount of tabasco on his food, ruining it.)
- Regional Riff: What does Pancho try to dance to? The Mexican Hat Dance, of course!
- Right Behind Me: Chatita overhears the talent scout that has come to check out Pancho. She happens to be standing right next to a poster advertising Pancho's performance, and she starts flinging insults at the portrait of Pancho, saying "I hate you! I hate you!" Naturally, Pancho comes up right behind her as she's yelling at his portrait.
- Sombrero Equals Mexican: Naturally, there are sombreros a-plenty, starting with Señor Martinez's friend in the first scene, although Martinez himself wears more of a Zorro-style flat hat. Pancho strolls around in a sombrero as well.
- Titled After the Song: The traditional Mexican folk tune "La Cucaracha".
- Title Drop: Pancho calls Chatita a cockroach when she starts getting too clingy. So she decides to sing "La Cucaracha" to interrupt and ruin Pancho's dance number.
- Translation Convention: Except for the chorus to "La Cucaracha", which is sung in the traditional Spanish.
