El Superloco
The Super Madman
The Crazy Monster
Mexico 1937
produced by Producciones Cinematográficas Exito
directed by Juan José Segura
starring Leopoldo 'Chato' Ortín, Carlos Villarías, Aurora Campuzano, Consuelo Frank, Ramón Armengod, Emilio Fernández, Jorge Cardena Álvarez, Armando Roosendal, Raúl Urquijo, Manuel Noriega, Galdino R. Samperio
written by Jorge Cardena Álvarez, Juan José Segura, music by Chucho Monge
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Margarita (Consuelo Frank) is heart-broken because her fiancé Alberto
(Ramón Armengod), a young doctor, spends more time with his mentor Dr
Dienys (Carlos Villarías) than with her. Dr Dienys by the way is a very
controversial figure in the medical community, and his experiments and
results regarding an eternal youth serum are broadly ridiculed, but not so
by Alberto. Eventually though, Dienys manages to win over Margarita's
trust ... Meanwhile, Alberto's own aunt Susanita (Aurora Campuzano) is
so afraid of Dienys she calls him an evil wizard, and she actually teams
up with Sóstenes (Leopoldo 'Chato' Ortín), a notorious drunk and her
former nemesis, and over this the two fall in love - but without letting
Dienys out of their sight. Margarita eventually comes to the conclusion
the only way to make Alberto pay more attention to her would be to flirt
with Dienys - but he takes her flirting seriously ... and from there on
things get out of hand, especially once Margarita rejects Dienys when he
tries to get physical, and he starts aging before her very eyes, and the
good doctor's monster (Raúl Urquijo) - every good scientist ought to have
one - escapes from his cell to wreak havoc ... but it's actually up to
Sóstenes to set things right again. A film that tries to sit
between too many stools, and eventually lands down on the floor crashing.
For parts (especially those with Leopoldo 'Chato' Ortín and Aurora
Campuzano) it tries to be a comedy, yet the humour never really explodes
onto the audience, then it tries to be romance, but the love story is only
paper thin, and when it comes to its sci-fi and horror motives, the film
fails to spin a decent yarn, just throws genre mainstays together and
leaves plotholes big enough to swallow whole other movies. That all said,
the film sure as hell has curiosity value ... it's just not really good.
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