The Queen of the Tropics (Spanish: La reina del trópico) is a 1946 Mexican musical drama film directed by Raúl de Anda and starring MarÃÂa Antonieta Pons, Luis Aguilar and Fernando Soto. It is in the tradition of Rumberas films. It was shot at the Azteca Studios in Mexico City. The film's sets were designed by the art director José RodrÃÂguez Granada.
In Papantla, Veracruz, the orphan girl Maria Antonia (MarÃÂa Antonieta Pons) lives with Don Anselmo (Arturo Soto Rangel), a peasant producer of vanilla and his wife Trini (Maria Gentil Arcos), who adopted her when she was very young. The lawyer Esteban (Carlos López Moctezuma), son of Don Anselmo, arrives from Mexico City and at the feast of Corpus Christi he is dazzled by the beauty of MarÃÂa Antonia. The villain intoxicates the girl in order to possess her. He returns to Mexico City and he promises MarÃÂa Antonia that he will return for her when he has triumphed. With Don Anselmo seriously ill, MarÃÂa Antonia travels to Mexico City to tell Esteban, who does not want to receive her in his luxury apartment. Maria Antonia is alone and at the mercy of the dangers of the city, until she meets the young Andres (Luis Aguilar) and his friend PizarrÃÂn (Fernando Soto "Mantequilla"), who give her asylum in their neighborhood.
When one says that Maria Antonieta Pons is the Queen of the Tropics, it is true, because it is the name of a movie that she starred surrounded by great actors. To justify her Cuban accent, in the film was assigned to her a role of an orphan whose origin was unknown and was adopted by a peasant couple; the plot happening in Papantla, Veracruz. Even when she tried to be demure, she don't kept to hearing the call of the music, and to the minimum provocation, she moves with the rhythm of the music in the company of another Cuban dancer highlighted in the Mexican cinema: Kiko Mendive, who prepared several choreographies executed by this rumbera star.