The golden age of Mexican cinema, which spanned the 1930s through to the 1950s, saw Mexico's film industry become one ofthe most productive in the world, exercising a decisive influence on national culture and identity. In the first major study of the global reception and impact of Mexican Golden Age cinema, this book captures the key aspects of its international success, from its role in forming a nostalgic cultural landscape for Mexican emigrants working in the United States, to its economic and cultural influence on Latin America, Spain and Yugoslavia. Challenging existing perceptions, the authors reveal how its film industry helped establish Mexico as a long standing centre of cultural influence for the Spanish-speaking world and beyond.

Acknowledgments.- Introduction; Robert McKee Irwin and Maricruz Castro Ricalde .-1. Rumba Caliente Beats Foxtrot: Cinematic Cultural Exchanges Between Mexico and Cuba; Maricruz Castro Ricalde (Robert McKee Irwin, trans.).- 2. Así se quere en Antioquia: Mexican Golden Age Cinema in Colombia; Robert McKee Irwin .- 3. Mexico's Appropriation of the Latin American Visual Imaginary: Rómulo Gallegos in Mexico; Robert McKee Irwin .- 4. Latin American Rivalry: Libertad Lamarque in Mexican Golden Age Cinema; Mónica Szurmuk and Maricruz Castro Ricalde (Robert McKee Irwin, trans.).- 5. Mexican National Cinema in the USA: Good Neighbors and Transnational Mexican Audiences; Robert McKee Irwin.- 6. Panhispanic Romances in Times of Rupture: Spanish-Mexican Cinema; Inmaculada Álvarez and Maricruz Castro Ricalde (Robert McKee Irwin, trans.).- 7. Vedro Nebo in Far Off Lands: Mexican Golden Age Cinema's Unexpected Triumph in Tito's Yugoslavia; Dubravka Suznjevi? and Robert McKee Irwin.- Epilogue; Robert McKee Irwin and Maricruz Castro Ricalde.- Bibliography.- Index.