Victims of Sin / Víctimas del pecado (1951) [The Criterion Collection]

Director: Emilio Fernández
Writer: Emilio Fernández, Mauricio Magdaleno
Stars: Ninón Sevilla, Tito Junco, Rodolfo Acosta

A treasure of Mexico’s cinematic golden age, this deliriously plotted blend of gritty crime film, heart-tugging maternal melodrama, and mambo musical is a dazzling showcase for iconic star Ninón Sevilla. She brings fierce charisma and fiery strength to her role as a rumbera—a female nightclub dancer—who gives up everything to raise an abandoned boy, whom she must protect from his ruthless gangster father. Directed at a dizzying pace by filmmaking titan Emilio Fernández, and shot in stylish chiaroscuro by renowned cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa amid smoky dance halls and atmospherically seedy underworld haunts, Victims of Sin is a ferociously entertaining female-powered noir pulsing with the intoxicating rhythms of some of Latin America’s most legendary musical stars.

Extras:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New interview with filmmaker and archivist Viviana Garcia Besné
- New interview with cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto on the work of Gabriel Figueroa
- Archival documentary on cine de rumberas, featuring interviews with actor Ninón Sevilla
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation