El hombre y el monstruo

A friend of mine found this DVD at a flea market, and thought the cover looked pretty cool. He popped it in while I was there, and we prepared for a gorefest. What we didn't prepare for was a 50's mexican horror about someone selling their soul. Not bad, actually, except the dubbing sounds silly sometimes, and the monster is more laughable than frightening.

However, this film gets props as having the funniest methods of having a cat jump out of a womens arms. Three times throughout the movie, a woman is holding a cat, and instead of just letting it down, the filmmakers decided to tie some fishing line to the thing, and yank it out of her arms. The funniest thing had to be the noises that came from the cat. That alone made this movie more than worth it. If you can ever find it cheap, it's worth a good laugh.

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.

"The Man and the Monster" is another supreme Mexican horror accomplishment from the vintage late 50's/early 60's era. It's not as brilliant as "The Black Pit of Dr. M" or as petrifying as "The Curse of the Crying Woman", but nonetheless this movie benefices from a compelling storyline as well as from terrific scenery and devoted acting performances. Reminiscent of the legendary "Faust" as well as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" tales, the script revolves on a middle-aged pianist who sold his soul to the devil (extendedly explained during a fabulously macabre flashback) in order to become the greatest musician in the world. Of course, since all deals with Lucifer soon turn out to be fishy, Samuel quickly discovers his success comes at a high price. Whenever his finest composition of music is played, Samuel transforms into an aggressive werewolf-like monster that can only be tamed by his domineering mother. They conceal corpses in their house and attempt to break the curse by training a gifted female acolyte on the piano, but journalist Ricardo Souto comes close to uncovering the horrific secrets. The continuously uncanny atmosphere of "The Man and the Monster" is simply irresistible to avid fans of Gothic horror cinema and, even though many people criticize the make-up effects, I personally thought the monstrous effects were rather acceptable, especially considering the film's year of release. Several sequences are beautifully choreographed and almost artsy, like for example when Samuel literally begs his mother to play the piano and she eventually silently consents by handing him the key to the front door. "The Man and the Monster" is a beautiful, enchanting and immensely atmospheric period piece. Perhaps not intended for the nowadays horror-audiences, but undeniably a masterful film.

Man and the Monster, The (1958)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Mexican film about a concert pianist who sells his soul to Satan in exchange for him to become a great musician. The only downside is that he also turns into a hairy, murderous monster. I was somewhat letdown by this film but overall it was a pretty good movie but it takes way too long for the story to get started and the monster isn't used nearly enough. The screenplay does allow time for the relationship between the man and his mother to grow and this here is actually the best thing about the movie. I'm not sure if this film was meant to be a version of Jekyll and Hyde because it does share some of the same ideas even though the monster appears to be more of a werewolf with a rat's face. The monster make up is cheap but effective. Original title: Hombre y el monstruo, El.

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.