Mexican Cinema's Tenement Architecture as Narrative Core

The article examines how the 1939 film "La casa del ogro" by Fernando de Fuentes used a Mexico City vecindad (tenement) as its narrative leitmotif, marking an early cinematic shift from rural to urban settings. The film features a miserly Spanish landlord (Fernando Soler), his daughters, a porter (Emma Roldán), and a thief (Arturo de Córdova), along with Don Pedrito/Doña Petrita (Manuel Tamés), considered the first gay character in Mexican cinema. A 1951 remake, "Casa de vecindad" by Juan Bustillo Oro, updated the cast with Andrés Soler, Lupe Inclán, David Silva, and Meche Barba, but lost the original's complexity by reducing characters to stereotypes and omitting the gay character. Both films use the tenement's architecture—patios, hallways, rooftops—to frame daily life, social hypocrisy, and class struggles, reflecting pre-modern housing conditions in Mexico City's historic center before multifamily developments. De Fuentes' film innovatively presents a moralistic, ironic comedy set during Christmas, where the miserly landlord briefly softens. The remake adds details like water tanks, washbasins, and English-speaking neighbors, hinting at a more complex society. The article argues that architecture is essential to both films' storytelling, providing atmosphere and fictionalizing working-class life.