The over-the-top melodrama of Alberto Gout’s entertaining Aventurera reaches its zenith in the first ten minutes when Elena’s (Ninón Sevilla) father shoots himself in the head right after Elena’s mother leaves him to have an affair with Elena’s own boyfriend. We’re in glorious telenovela territory, and the rest of the film comprises Elena’s processing of all this pain, which includes degrading herself, manipulating men, and taking revenge on women, especially Rosaura (Andrea Palma), the dance club owner who forces her performers into prostitution (“white slavery”) by way of drugs, threats, and rape. Outside a few Busby Berkeley-style musical numbers in which Elena dons a fruit-hatted Carmen Miranda costume, Gout creates a dark-themed and dark-lit world of shadowy streets and sinister motives. The plot sustains a relentless pace: Elena eventually escapes prostitution, and we find her driving a gangster’s getaway car, marrying a wealthy lawyer to spite his mother, and running down a dark alley with a knife at her back. As the title suggests, what an adventure it is.