As part of a collaboration years in the making, the Latino Outreach Council of San Luis Obispo County and Cal Poly’s Office of University Diversity and Inclusion are co-sponsoring the showing of “La Perla,” an iconic Mexican-American film, during the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival.
LA PERLA (1947) is a Mexican-American film based on the classic novel, The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck co-wrote the play along with director Emilio Fernández. Pedro Armendáriz (Cal Poly class of '31) plays a poor fisherman who discovers the perfect pearl that forever changes his life, and his family’s too. Just like the treasure found, this is a rare opportunity to see a true classic of Mexican cinema on the big screen.
The Steinbeck Institute will join the showing for a pre-film presentation. A reception will follow with a brief question-and-answer session with the Steinbeck Institute. And after “La Perla” is shown, Armendáriz will receive a posthumous award that will be presented to the Head Consul for the Mexican Consulate (Oxnard), Euclides Del Mar Arbona.
Pedro Armendáriz was born near Mexico City in 1912. From ages 16 to 22, he attended Cal Poly, which then was a polytechnic high school and junior college, from September 1928 to the spring of 1932. He graduated in May of 1931 and stayed on as a junior college student for part of the next year.
Known as the “Mexican Clark Gable,” Armendáriz starred in iconic films from the golden age of Mexican cinema, including “Flor Silvestre”(1943) and “María Candelaria”(1944). Armendáriz also worked internationally and in Hollywood. He made several films with actor John Wayne and directors John Ford and John Huston. His last film appearance was in the James Bond movie, “From Russia with Love.” Pedro Armendáriz passed away in 1963.
