VCI Entertainment's Santo Blu-ray box set collects 8 of the monster-mashing masked Mexican wrestler's big screen adventures. The set contains four discs, with two films on each. For the purposes of this blog I'll be discussing each disc separately.
For those who know about the fantastic cinematic adventures of El Santo, no explanation is necessary. For those that don't know about the masked marvel, no explanation is possible. El Santo was a legendary Mexican professional wrestler who appeared in dozens and dozens of films. Contrary to popular belief, not all of them contained supernatural creatures....but enough of them did to enable Santo to be known to this day as one of the greatest monster fighters in cinema history.
To truly appreciate the Santo films, one must have a vivid imagination--and a realization that these are meant to be far-fetched entertainments, not realistic slices of life. The average Santo movie is as goofy as all get out, but they're not boring--they usually run about 90 minutes. If you can accept the fact that Santo is not only a full-time masked wrestler, but also a master crime fighter who shows great deductive and technical genius, you're ready for anything. And, if you're trying to get someone interested in the world of El Santo, tell them he's kind of like the Mandalorian.....because Santo never takes his mask off.
Disc starts off with SANTO IN THE WAX MUSEUM (original title SANTO EN EL MUSEO DE CERA). This was made in 1963, and it is the only black and white film in the set. This version of the film appears to be the one prepared by American producer K. Gordon Murray, who imported a ton of Mexican films in the 1960s. (It also appears that new main and end credits were created for this Blu-ray release.)
Strange happenings and mysterious disappearances are occurring near a wax museum run by the creepy Dr. Karol (Claudio Brook). Santo becomes involved in the investigation, and discovers that Karol is mentally imbalanced due to his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII (!!). The mad doctor is not only covering people in wax, he's created a number of man-animal hybrids. Santo saves the day, while the doctor is properly punished for his crimes.
Due to its being in black and white, SANTO IN THE WAX MUSEUM has a bit more of a Gothic atmosphere, with good direction by Alfonso Corona Blake. Claudio Brook, a tall man who here reminded me of both John Carradine and Christopher Lee, is a very good suave villain, and his performance would have no doubt come off better without the dubbing. Obviously this movie references MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM, but there's also reminders of THE ISLAND OF LOST SOULS.
Santo not only keeps his mask on the whole time here, he also spends the entire movie dressed in his wrestling attire (in most of the other Santo films, his dress is much more civilian). Santo has his own crime lab here, complete with a two-way tele-screen communication device. He also drives around in his usual sports car. Despite his committed investigations, Santo still breaks away every so often to participate in one of his wresting matches--which are shown here in their entirety.
SANTO IN THE WAX MUSEUM is one of the better offerings featuring the silver-masked man. A major reason why is the black & white atmosphere and the wax museum setting.
The second film on this disc is SANTO IN THE TREASURE OF DRACULA, from 1969 and in color. In this one Santo announces that he has built a time machine! (Do you think CM Punk could have pulled off something like that??) The time machine works by sending a subject to experience a past life. Santo's girlfriend volunteers to try it out, and she goes back to sometime in the 19th Century, where she becomes a victim of Count Dracula! Santo and his friends are able to watch all of his girlfriend's past adventures on a television screen, and they bring her back safely just before she is staked (but wouldn't she also be a vampire in the present day??) Through watching the past events, Santo learns that Dracula has left a vast treasure in a nearby cave, and he decides to search for it in order to give it to the needy. A group of crooks find out about the treasure by spying on Santo, and they wind up pulling the stake out of Dracula's chest, reviving him. The Count goes after Santo's girlfriend again, but the masked man winds up destroying him, with a little help from his friends.
It's best not to think about the many plot inconsistencies of SANTO IN THE TREASURE OF DRACULA--just sit back and enjoy the ride. The first part of the film, dealing with Santo's girfriend's past life with Dracula, is actually a mini-version of Bram Stoker's original story. Terence Fisher it ain't, but director Rene Cardona (a legendary figure in Mexican cinema) tries to inject some Hammer-like flavor into the proceedings, but he's hampered by the too-obvious low budget.
Dracula is played by Aldo Monti (who I thought looked a bit like George Lazenby). Monti is an okay (if generic at times) Prince of Darkness. He has a coven of vampire brides (which don't get to do much here), and he goes by the false name Alucard. This leads to the obligatory scene where the Van Helsing substitute spells out ALUCARD on a piece of paper. Despite the presence of the King of Vampires, Santo still manages to go out and fight a bout.....so I assume that this is the only Dracula film to feature a professional wrestling match??
There's another version of SANTO IN THE TREASURE OF DRACULA which has nude scenes (which I have not seen). That version, and those scenes, are not on this Blu-ray set. This may explain why Dracula's coven have so little to do in the "clean" version of the film.
Among Santo's associates in this film is a young, skinny bespectacled fellow, who reacts in a scared, nerdy manner to everything. For whatever reason, this fellow is always wearing a giant $ sign medallion--did he use Santo's time machine to go into the future and discover the fashions of various American rappers?? (Santo's time machine, by the way, resembles the one used in the TV series THE TIME TUNNEL.)
One other fact that might explain the bizarre aspects of this film: Alfredo Salazar is credited as the writer...he was the brother of Abel Salazar, who among other things was responsible for the infamous THE BRANIAC.
What hurts SANTO IN THE TREASURE OF DRACULA--and the other films in this set--is the English dubbing, which sounds as if it was done recently. The dubbing is performed in a overly-dramatic, campy manner. The original Spanish voice tracks are sorely needed here (many folks have already pointed this out on the internet).
Visually SANTO IN THE TREASURE OF DRACULA looks all right--it's colorful enough, but it lacks sharpness. But I expect that this is about as good as these movies are going to look. Both films on this disc appear to be in 1.85:1 widescreen.
The main extra on this disc is an interview with Rene Cardona III, who passed away recently. He doesn't say much about the Santo films, but he does discuss his career in the Mexican film industry and his father and grandfather. Mexican cinema expert Dr. David Wilt gives informative onscreen introductions for each film in this box set. Wilt also wrote the eight-page booklet included in the box set.
Despite the lack of Spanish voice tracks, VCI has put together a nice introduction to the wild cinematic world of El Santo. If you are looking for something unusual in fantastic cinema, you can't get much more different that this.
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