In the early 1930s, a group of Spanish speaking cast and crew coming from Latin America and Spain made history. Hollywood was facing the turning from silent movies to talkies and the need from studios like Universal to stay viable worldwide. They betted with theitr new genre of Monster movies, debuting with Tod Browning’s “Dracula” (1931.) They simultaneously filmed the Spanish speaking version to all those countries which spoke the language which, while familiar since the dawn of the century to the magic of cinema, not with the English language as the art of movies where mostly images and music as sound.
The result was a version considered by many critics as much more artistically effective than the one starring Bela Lugosi. However the chaos was on set as they had to shoot at nights when the American crew left the sets to use the same set decoration and costumes. Also with a much lesser budget was the best scenario for an off the wall comedy series as envisioned by Mexican actor, director and producer Eugenio Derbez (“Acapulco”; “CODA”) with the surprisingly fresh and upbeat scripts by Bob Fisher (“Wedding Crashers”; “We´re the Millers”) and Emmy Winner Rob Greenberg (“Frasier”) of “Y llegaron de noche” (“They came at night”) which premiered on streaming on Televisa-Univision´s VIX on October 4.
“Y llegaron de noche” focus on the challenging enterprise for young non-Spanish speaker producer Paul Kohner (the appealing comedy actor AJ Vaage ) ordered by Carl Laemmle (Jason Alexander), “the father” of the classic Universal Monster movies of the 1930s, to put together a Spanish speaking picture when the Bela Lugosi version has already being greenlight. More hilarity happens as he amasses a cast and crew of outcasts, from a middle aged Spanish lead, Carlos Villarias (Eugenio Derbez) to a Mexican newcomer Lupita Tovar (Cuban actress Yare Santana), who will become in the long run Kohner´s wife and longtime companion.
This series combines perfectly the wit of Derbez´ comedic experience on his early years on Mexican TV from his start in the 80s as part of the cast of “Anabel” (1988), starring Anabel Ferreira, considered the Mexican Carol Burnett, to Derbez´ own “Al derecho y al derbez” (1993), as he plays with the Spanish language the way comedy legend Cantinflas did on his time. Derbez went further than Cantinflas as he triumphantly submerged in the right vehicle to do so, because what failed to Cantinflas in “Pepe” (George Sidney, 1960) trying to translate his comedic essence with his same “peladito” trying to get into the Hollywood studios with no success at all, Derbez hits the spot into a story where representation authentically tells this great true-ish story.
The key for this success was finding the right story (and most importantly, inspired on a real one) to show that when Latinos unite and collaborate for a common goal their differences vanish. The creators cleverly reminds the viewer without leaving the comedy, that in the 1930s even legal citizens were deported during immigration raids. These cultural differences are the ones that makes us grow together, and in this case laugh together, alot. The latino melting pot of Derbez with Spanish actors such as Rafael Cebrián (who plays cinematographer Miguel Barreto), a cast member of his Apple TV Plus hit “Acapulco”, and many new and fresh faces that fit perfectly for the roles they play, achieve the magic that crosses over, reaches heart, and through laughs, make history.
“Y LLEGARON DE NOCHE”: UNSUNG LATINO HEROES TAKE A STAND is streaming on the VIX app.