El hombre y el monstruo

This is another south of the border horror flick. Actually it isn't too bad. A pianist sells his soul to the devil to become the greatest composer/conductor/musician in the world.The catch is (and there always is) that his greatest song is his downfall. Whenever he plays it he turns into a drooling snarling, hairy wild monster.(I'm not talking teenager here).

Of course maestro has a beautiful young protege that he is in love with. But he is compelled to play that funky music white boy and try to kill her.Will he kill her before she gives a world wide recital? Will the hero be in time?Will the monster break out into a rendition of "Hair"?

The dubbing on this one is much better than usual. The sets are used to a nice advantage and the musical score is well done. The acting is good(as far as you can tell from the dubbing).The monster looks like Scooby Doo in a tuxedo at times. Overall a bit above average.

I had greatly admired producer Abel Salazar and director Rafael Baledon's 1961 offering, "The Curse of the Crying Woman" (indeed, I believe it to be a horror masterpiece), and so eagerly looked forward to watching an earlier effort by that same team, "The Man and the Monster" (1958). And while this earlier film turns out to be not quite in the same exalted league as the later effort, it still has much to offer, indeed. Abel Salazar again makes for a sympathetic lead here, playing Ricardo Souto, a Mexican writer for a music journal who travels to an unnamed country to interview the great pianist Samuel Magno. What Souto doesn't realize, however, is that Magno has sold his soul to the Devil to become the greatest pianist in the world. Unfortunately, he is also often compelled to play a certain tune that transforms him into a hairy, fanged, bulbous-nosed monster, with a decidedly nasty temperament! Enrique Rambal does a fine job with this central role, and the actress Martha Roth, playing his disciple, Laura, is quite good, as well; she turns out to be as excellent a screamer as she is lousy at faking piano playing. Gorgeously filmed in B&W and employing superb use of light and shadow, this Mexican winner is a surprising visual treat. As in "Crying Woman," the mummified remains of a dead woman play a central role here, and the two films also have in common a startling flashback sequence that occurs roughly halfway through. Magno, in his Hyde-like monster state, is truly horrifying to behold, and his nighttime pursuit of Laura through a darkened hacienda is extremely suspenseful. So, too, the scene in which the "normal" Magno gives a lesson on Tchaikovsky to a young girl. Culminating at a classical music performance, "The Man and the Monster" is an instructive primer in what a classical monster movie should be, and is here presented on another wonderful DVD from Casa Negra.

Rafael Baledón's The Curse of the Crying Woman was practically unknown until it received a DVD release from the now defunct Casa Negra; and ever since has been considered something of a classic by the majority of horror fans that have seen it; myself included. I didn't go into his earlier film "The Man and the Monster" expecting anything near as good; and it's a good job really because while this film has its moments and is certainly a worthwhile slice of Mexican horror; it's also rather flawed and borrows from a lot of better films. The plot focuses on Samuel Magno; a failed pianist who, dismayed by his lack of talent, makes a pact with Satan himself. He gets to become the greatest pianist in the world; but the catch is that every time he plays the piano, he turns into a monster. With help from his mother (who is the only one that can tame him while he's a monster), he tries to break the curse by training a young girl in the art of the piano; but an enthusiastic journalist threatens to expose the whole thing.

The plot is fairly interesting and features enough different elements to ensure that there's always something going on. However, the film moves rather slowly and we're never really made to care about the central character, which can make plugging into his plight a problem. The central plot takes obvious influence from the classic 'Faust' story; but it doesn't work as well here. The fact that Satan makes the central character turn into a monster every time he plays the piano really just makes The Lord of Darkness seem petty since he's not actually getting any benefit from it (unlike Faust, whose soul he bought). The make up effects are not great and look rather like an over the top version of the monster effects in The Wolf Man; although I did actually find them rather easy to get on with. The film is rather artfully done and several sequences are really good; the all-explaining flashback sequence being among the best of them. Overall, this is still a decent horror film and one certainly worth seeing; but it's hardly among the best to come out of Mexico and I wouldn't give it high recommendations.

A mixture of the story 'Dr Jekyil & Mr Hyde' by British writer Robert Louis Stevenson, & the classic novel by German writer Thomas Mann, but leaving the intellectual stuff out, 'Dr Faustus', a frustrated music teacher sells his soul to the devil to be 'the greatest pianist of the world'. He gets it but the price he pays is turning into a hideous 'Mr Hyde' Samuel Magno, the name of the music teacher & composer, murdering women pianists. And, the disgusting scenes of the mummified body of a woman pianist he kept hidden plus the murder of a 11 years old girl. Maybe Baledon's daughter playing a role, can leave a few of us disgusted. But not entirely bad. But not an outstanding movie. At least Stevenson & Thomas Mann didn't lower themselves in such morbid scenes.

When the snoopy reporter of a music magazine Ricardo Souto (Abel Salazar) travels from Mexico City to the countryside to pay a visit to the former pianist and conductor Samuel Magno (Enrique Rambal), he finds that he lives secluded in a house with his mother Cornelia (Ofelia Guilmáin) and his protegee Laura (Martha Roth). Ricardo briefly interviews Samuel and learns that he is preparing Laura to be introduced in a Tchaikovsky concert where he will be the conductor very soon. What Ricardo does not know is that the envious Samuel has made a pact with the devil to be the best pianist of the world, and he killed the number one, Alejandra (Martha Roth). However, the devil has played a prank on Samuel and, when he plays piano, he becomes a monster. Now Samuel wants to prepare Laura to become the best pianist and break the curse.

"El hombre y el monstruo (1959)" is an unknown Mexican film with a plot that entwins Faust, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Werewolf. The musician becomes a werewolf-like monster when he plays piano or hears the music that Alejandra was playing when he killed her. The devil, instead of keeping his soul, prefers to play a prank in this story. In addition, the black and white cinematography is wonderful and the exhibition of a great part of Piano Concerto No. 1 by Tchaikovsky gives a touch of class to this movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Homem e o Monstro" ("The Man and the Monster")