El Signo de la Muerte (1939)

SENSACIONAL PELICULA

Ademas de un muy divertido Cantinflas. Tomás Perrín hace una de sus primeras películas. Como siempre de galán y héroe. Una película que pretende ser de misterio, pero que con Cantinflas hace que sea deliciosa. Perrín, sensacional. Un clásico del cine mexicano March 2, 2008

Quetzalcoatl cult

This is one of (Mario Moreno) Cantinflas's early movies before he became the headline star comedian. In this movie Cantinflas is an assisstant to a mad professor, as well as tour guide at the museum of anthropology. He is not as funny as in his late movies but he has his moments where you can see the Cantinflas character is developing. This is an old school horror flick in black and white, not really scary but more mysterious. The copy I own is without subtitles and in Spanish. Dr. Gallardo is played by Carlos Orellana and he is a pretty good bad guy, complete with a horrible fake mustache and facial hair that may have been borrowed from Charlie Chan. The plot evolves around a string of murders of women that are taking place in the city.It seems that the good Dr. Gallardo is moonlighting and he's the head of an ancient Indian cult that performs ritualistic sacrifices as the Aztecs did. He has an elaborate palacial estate in the countryside, complete with a hidden underground Aztec sacrificial area. This is where the women can be tied to a huge stone before the dagger is plunged to remove the heart. No blood or gore is shown only comic book looks of despair and fright. He takes his victims one by one. An unsuspecting Cantinflas and police are clueless. One day a wise woman newspaper reporter gets access by saying she has old codices. Once inside she mistakingly leans on an old bookcase to reveal the secret passage. Ahhh,the old revolving bookcase! The adventure continues and the tables are turned on Dr. Gallardo. This is a horror movie like the old dracula and frankenstein movies, pretty corny but fun time period pieces. The movie has some pretty interesting sets recreating the ancient Aztecs sacrificial areas and the costuming is very good too. Recommended for laughs and a look at the innocence of scary movies once upon a time. March 4, 2007

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