WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Santo vs. the Martian Invasion 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.519 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:12.680 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:16.120 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And today, 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:19.040 once more, we return to the realm of the great 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:25.239 and powerful Lucha doors Mexican wrestling cinema and the encounters 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.400 of these wrestlers with villains of the supernatural, science fiction, 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:33.599 and generally weird persuasion. You know, before we came on 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:36.040 Mike today, Rob, you and I in the chat were 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:40.720 talking about just other Mexican wrestling movies that come up 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.880 that look interesting, but I guess they're just not really 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:48.080 within our purview because they don't have either magic or 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:51.159 science fiction technology in it. I think we have to 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.560 limit ourselves just to those and even just walling off 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:59.360 that sort of subset. There's still so many riches to discover. 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.200 All right. Yeah, every time we dive into Lucca films, 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:08.000 I feel like I'm discovering new, potentially tantalizing titles. And 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:09.880 I mean, I think the same goes for just Mexican 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.360 cinema in general. There's just so much there, so many 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:16.919 different genres, and not all of it has really gone 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:21.040 on to resonate certainly with modern audiences, but also with 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.360 modern audiences outside of Mexico. Now. 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.360 In the past, we've covered a couple of other supernatural 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.679 Mexican wrestling movies. One was Santo and the Treasure of 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:35.280 Dracula from nineteen sixty nine, in which I would say 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:40.360 easily the most popular ever lucid or hero Santo. He 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:44.120 invents a time machine which somehow leads to a vampire 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:47.160 being unleashed upon the world, and in the middle of 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:51.920 this chaos, Santo must simultaneously fight the unearthly evil of 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.400 the Dracool and avoid being photographed in any of the 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.240 gratuitous nude scenes that were added for the euro market. 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.680 Yeah yeah, fun movie, fun episode. Definitely see the European 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:05.000 version if you get a chance, though, because it is 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:07.440 the one that is in glorious color and has been 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:08.919 just lovingly restored. 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.359 That was a real highlight, but also excellent was another 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.480 one we covered, the nineteen sixty three film Doctor of Doom, 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.200 which was mainly about two heroic luchadoras, Gloria Venus I 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.680 think that was the one played by Lorrain of Alaskaz 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:28.000 and Golden Ruby, who must defeat a mad scientist and 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:31.560 his plot too, I think kidnap women and transplant their 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:35.520 brains into a gorilla, or maybe put gorilla brains inside 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:37.720 the women's heads. I was a little fuzzy on that. 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:39.600 I think maybe a little bit of both goes on. 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:41.600 But yeah, that one was super fun. That one also 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:46.680 had the excellent Roberto Canedo playing the villain, the mad scientist, 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.800 and both of the pictures we just mentioned were directed 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:49.760 by Renee Cardona. 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:53.320 Yes, now today we are coming home to another El 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:57.680 Santo adventure, but this time it's more directly in the 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.119 science fiction realm. Though I guess both of the other 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.640 movies we talked about did have science fiction elements, because 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.040 it's always easy to forget. The Dracula movie has time 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:10.919 travel in it, it's full on time machine. But this 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:14.640 one is like your straight up alien invasion movie. Planet 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.359 Earth is in the crosshairs. The Martians are here and 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:21.239 they want full control. So this movie is Santo in 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:25.359 the Martian Invasion from nineteen sixty seven. I was thinking 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:27.760 for a while, I was a little confused, like, oh, 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:32.400 is this even technically a Santo in name movie? Because 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:33.840 a lot of the times in the movie they were 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:37.440 calling him Silver Mask, but I realize no, they also 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:39.920 call him Santo in the movie. They use both names 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:41.280 basically interchangeably. 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.120 Yeah, that was one of his monikers, the Man in 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:47.360 the Silver Mask. He gets confusing, I think, especially when 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:52.200 we're dealing with English language releases of some of the 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:55.080 Santo films, where they may call him something else, like Samson, 0:03:56.280 --> 0:03:59.960 because the name Santo wasn't as firmly established in other regions. 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:02.920 Oh okay, kind of like in other like in the 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:06.760 peplam subgenre, you might get like Hercules Versus Machiste or 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:08.800 Samson and in different releases. 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:10.280 Yeah. 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:12.560 Now, I would say, in my opinion of the three 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.080 Mexican wrestling movies with supernatural elements that we have watched, 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:20.720 this I think is the least of the three. Doctor 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.720 of Doom and Santo and The Treasure of Dracula are 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.400 both really special in their own ways, But despite coming 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:30.040 in third, the Martian Invasion I think is still a 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.320 lot of fun. And if this makes any sense, Rob, 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.640 I think it should win some kind of award for 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:40.120 some of the funniest blocking in all of the movies 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.840 we've watched, just the way characters are kind of arranged 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:46.920 on stage or on the set for the camera to 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:49.760 look at is often in itself so funny. 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:52.800 Yeah, it has a lot of things going for it. 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.000 None of those things going for it are its story 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:59.880 and character. They're virtually like no story and character beats throughout. 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:04.039 But though Santo as always is flawless. 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.680 Santo's flawless. Santo doesn't need to grow as a character. 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:11.160 He is already, so like any criticisms about his character 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.080 is redundant because he is. 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:14.880 Missing that point. 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:20.280 Yeah. Yeah, what it lacks in those departments, arguably it 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:24.720 makes up for in just weirdness wackiness. I would say 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:28.320 the beefcake factor is pretty high in this one. 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:29.320 Yeah. 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.640 The ladies are really gorgeous as well, so it seems 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.760 it gives the viewers a lot to look at. And 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:39.120 I think has more teleportation and disappearance and reappearance scenes 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.360 than perhaps some of the Star Trek movies. Uh, they 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:44.560 really like this effect. They pull it off well and 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:46.200 they it just happens all the time. 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.720 Yes, they're really into the teleportation, which they accomplish by 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.479 the way. I like just this little physical prop not 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.240 by way of a button or by way of a 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:58.320 switch or a lever, but by a dial. It's like 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.640 the oven dials turn a dial on their belt and 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:03.880 that makes them vanish and reappear at the spaceship. 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:08.560 I love it. I love good tactile science fiction equipment. 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:14.120 Nowadays you watch it's all you know, like virtual interfaces 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:17.360 and floating holograms and you know, or Star Trek next 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.080 generation like flat screen stuff. I like that. I like 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:21.960 it when there's a chonky button and a dial and 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:22.600 a big lever. 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.120 Well, the implications of the dial are kind of fascinating, 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:29.360 especially for teleportation, because I would think teleportation is an 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:32.960 on off function. You either you teleport or you don't. 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.760 But a dial is for graduated functions like the you know, 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:39.480 the power of a stove burner or something. So it 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:41.680 makes you wonder like can do you kind of half 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.240 teleport or do you two thirds of the way teleport? 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:46.839 We never see that happen in the movie. They always 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:48.000 turn it to full crank. 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:51.840 It's kind of reckless because I think maybe you used 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.839 slowly tune it so that you maintain consciousness between this 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:57.680 incarnation and the next, as this one is destroyed and 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.520 the next one is created. But if you just turn 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.120 it really fast, I don't know. Maybe it still happens. Appropriately, 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:05.160 this movie's not really concerned with those questions. 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.480 No, this glosses over a lot of the finer points 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:12.160 of the Martian technology and the invasion plot and what 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:14.960 the humans are doing. I've got to once we get 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:17.880 into the plot, I really have questions about to what 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:22.280 extent the people understand that a Martian invasion is happening. 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:25.600 It seems to alternate scene to scene, whether people are like, yep, 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.040 we're being invaded, or whether it's like, we've got to 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:29.000 keep this a secret. 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:33.200 Yeah. Yeah. Oh. I will also add the Martian technology 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.400 is of course five hundred years ahead of ours, so 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:38.720 of course it is difficult to understand. Seems like magic. 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.880 Yes, they say that many many times. Rob, I don't 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:44.720 know if you have an elevator pitch for this one, 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.520 but I would say, imagine War of the Worlds, but 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:51.280 take out the heat ray and most of the social 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:56.160 commentary and put in muscles, beefcake and burlesque dancing. 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.840 Yeah, yeah, pretty much. I will say. One of the 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:02.360 things I really liked about this one is that, since 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.200 it is I guess leaning into sci fi of the 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.120 time period, this is a film that does have a 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:12.720 message to it. It does have a pretty persistent anti 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:18.920 war and anti nuclear weapon standpoint, which I respect. 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:21.200 I guess that's right. I don't know why I said 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:23.480 take out the social commentary. I guess take out any 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.800 subtle social commentary. Instead, it's just like bluntly delivered morals. 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.680 It's like will humanity? A narrator comes on and says, 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:35.679 will humanity ever stop these crazy nuclear experiments? 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:38.360 We don't know, but it's more than we got in 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.120 Santo and the Treasure of Dracula, Like there wasn't really, 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:43.840 I mean, they were like, we must not have time 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:46.720 machines or draculas. Like they weren't really, you know, there 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:50.000 wasn't really a message attached to that picture. All right, Well, 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:51.920 let's go ahead and listen to just a little of 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:54.600 the trailer audio. I believe this is Spanish language trailer, 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.760 So we'll just give you just a little sample of 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:00.760 some of the sights and sounds here one of the sides, 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:01.640 but just the sounds. 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.520 Hera miters a parison and you come for the portivo 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:12.960 right right era, there's a parison brisona e strano phenomeno 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:28.200 provocconcierto elpanico, ela steria Collectiva Asta Secretoso, Sequestras Cambinino purind 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:43.319 and Extranaturai stampidiendo He stays Lato Marcin Grablao Costa Ricola's 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:44.199 Yaman Mexico. 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:49.880 Now. 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:52.400 I don't know if the trailer tries to mislead you 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.959 on this front, but the glorious poster for this film 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.520 does definitely mislead as to the plot contents because it 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:05.160 shows Santo appearing to hold a sort of green martian 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:08.640 in one arm, seemingly unconscious. Looks kind of like Blanca 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.360 from Street Fighter who got that under his one arm. 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.199 In the other hand, he's holding a gun, which what 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.239 would Santo wheeld a gun like that? It seems completely 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:19.719 out of character. Well, it doesn't make sense at all. 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.959 And he's standing on the surface of another planet, probably 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:25.440 the Moon, because we can see the Earth in the background. 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:27.120 Santo does not leave Earth in this. 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.199 Movie, right, and he never brandishes a laser pistol or 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:32.679 a plasma rife or whatever this is. But yeah, this 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:36.120 is a great poster for a different movie. None of 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:37.120 this actually happens. 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:41.280 Santra just shamelessly using the weapon of the enemy. It's yeah, 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:45.600 admire the art style, though it's lavishly realized. 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:51.360 Yeah, as we'll explore, Santo uses grapples, punches, kicks, especially 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:56.720 like well timed kicks, and legs scissors to an opponent's legs, 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:59.600 that sort of thing. He does not need a laser gun. 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:03.480 Now Here is where we often talk availability. I was 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.520 kind of surprised when we were going into this week 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.280 because I wanted to do another Luca movie. I was 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.800 kind of surprised how many of these classic Santo movies 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:17.880 are apparently hard to get in a good release these days. 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:19.920 Like there are tons of them that do not have 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:23.079 a solid remaster or good Blu Ray release. 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:28.440 Yeah, and a lot of times higher quality versions are 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.240 really lacking, Like Santo and the Treasure of Dracula. When 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:34.480 they found that reel and were able to restore it, 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.000 like that was big news. I found the Reuter's News 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:41.080 article about that, like everyone's excited there like this one. 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:43.160 As far as I know, there are no Blu Ray 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:46.040 versions of it, no restored versions of the footage, no 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:50.160 color versions or anything like that. Nothing like we had 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.920 with the Treasure of Dracula. What we do have is 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:57.439 perfectly watchable. I watched it on a DVD release this 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:01.480 is I think like VCI and or Mech DVD rented 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.000 from Atlanta's own Video Drome. They have a number of 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.720 Santo films there you can rent again perfectly watchable quality. 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.000 He was in Spanish with English subtitles, and the disc 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.520 also had some extras also in Spanish, but with subtitles 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:15.520 that are worth seeking. So that's worth seeking out of you. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:19.240 If you want the physical media experience for this film. Yeah, 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:21.679 I don't know how available it is right now though, 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:32.920 but you can rent it at Video Drum. All right, 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:35.679 shall we get into the people behind and in this film? 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:38.439 Yes, I want to know more. So this is a 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:41.360 different director than our previous Lucha outings. 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:46.679 That's right. The director here is Alfredo B. Crevena. He 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:51.040 lived nineteen fourteen through nineteen ninety six German born Mexican 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.800 film director and screenwriter who directed more than one hundred 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:57.040 and fifty films between the mid forties in the mid nineties. 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.440 An acclaim filmmaker in his own right of the Mexican 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.400 Golden Age of cinema. Among his most well received works 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.439 are the nineteen fifty six drama Talpa and the nineteen 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:10.439 fifty one film Girls in Uniform. Now this is a 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.720 boarding school drama based on a nineteen thirty one German 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:18.400 film of the same name. The German film I was 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:22.199 reading about it suffered multiple waves of censorship, but is 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.120 today held up as a cult classic of lesbian cinema. 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:29.920 I haven't seen Crevenna's version of this, but I'm to 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.640 understand it grapples with these themes as well while also 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.920 pushing up against its own censorship issues. At the time, 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:40.080 I realized, Girls in Uniform may sound like a sketchy title, 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.400 but this is like, this is a serious These are 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:44.800 serious film projects, and I think the original German film 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:45.640 was based on a play. 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:48.400 Yeah, I can see the phrasing could give the wrong idea. 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:50.720 It sounds like a like women in Prison type title. 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.880 Yeah yeah, but nothing of that sort. I have not 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.400 seen either of these films, but they are very well regarded, 0:13:57.480 --> 0:13:59.400 or at least the German version is very well regarded, 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.840 and people seem to like the Mexican version as well. Now, 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.920 outside of dramas and comedies, Curvenna also directed multiple santo 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:10.240 and other lucha libre movies, some zoro films, some Mexican noir, 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.480 and also some horror. A couple of titles that jumped 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.560 out of me include Planet of the Female Invaders from 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:20.000 sixty six. This starred Elizabeth Campbell Mari Monte who will 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:23.240 get into Loreno Valasquez, who we'd already mentioned, a nineteen 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:27.840 eighty film called The Dracula Dynasty. I'm already intrigued. A 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:31.480 nineteen seventy nine film called The Whip Versus Satan, which 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.440 is supposed to be a zoro esque adventure where the 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.240 zoro esque character has occult powers and battle Satan. 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.640 Oh okay, so it really is the Whip Versus Satan, 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:45.960 It's not. Yeah, Satan has the whip. No, that's Pen's type. 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:48.600 Yeah. Yeah. And then there's a nineteen ninety two film 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.120 called On the Edge of Terror, said to be a 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:55.560 very weird and disturbing ventriloquist horror film with Robert Canedo 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:56.880 in a supporting role. 0:14:57.960 --> 0:14:59.880 Okay, I'd be done for watching it. 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.000 Of these. Yeah, it sounds like I say every time 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.840 we dive into Mexican cinema. There are so many titles 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:08.080 that jump out and sound I booked I footnoted a 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:09.560 few of these to explore later. 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.280 Man, just from the title and cast list. Planet of 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:16.360 the Female Invaders. Sounds like it may have a lot 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:19.040 in common with another show favorite that we did, Ship 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:22.640 of Monsters, which also had Lorraine of Alaskaz, and was 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:26.680 about women invaders coming to Earth to find the perfect 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.520 man to I don't know, like replenish their species. 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.400 Yeah, that one was a musical that was great. 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:33.920 Yes, which was wonderful. 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.600 I love that movie all right. The writer for this 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.720 picture is Rafael Garcia Trevesi, who lived nineteen ten through 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.040 nineteen eighty four, Mexican screenwriter who wrote loads of Santo 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.240 films in addition to just seemingly loads of everything else. 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.960 His credits include nineteen sixty two Santo and the Vampires, 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.800 as well as non Santo movies like the horror film 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.320 Spiritism from sixty two and the historical thriller Black Wind 0:15:58.400 --> 0:15:59.240 from sixty five. 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:02.640 I don't want to be mean, but I will say 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.480 I don't think the writing is a huge highlight on 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:05.920 this one. 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:11.440 No, No, you know it. It gave them something to shoot, 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:15.080 you know. Yeah, But like I said, at least some 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:18.680 of the films that this writer did, you know, are 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:22.000 are were well received and are you know the thing 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:23.960 about Luke, we should mention a lot of The thing 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.240 about a lot of these Lucha Libre films is that 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:32.560 they are they are essentially low budget, swiftly produced genre pictures. 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:37.360 So yeah, they're not necessarily, you know, great examples of 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:40.680 what everyone involved was capable of, especially when you're talking 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:41.840 about the people behind the scenes. 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.440 Yeah, I mean you can tell from a business perspective. 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.160 I think a lot of times the idea was, like, 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.200 we have an extremely popular and charismatic wrestler. We want 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.360 to find a way to string together a number of 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:57.160 different fight scenes with some unusual texture and costumes. How 0:16:57.680 --> 0:16:59.480 can we kind of like thread all that together? 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:03.440 All right? The star of this one, and of course 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:05.960 we've talked about him before in our previous episode, is 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:10.800 El Santo. Now we know now that El Santo's given 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:15.280 name was Ridolfo Guzman Herte and he lived nineteen seventeen 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.879 through nineteen eighty four. But it's worth noting that at 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:21.159 the time period, and during this time period and even today, 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.840 lucha libre stars their actual name is not necessarily a 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:30.280 matter of public record. And during El Santo's day, like 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:34.120 this guy like lived the gimmick. You did not see 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:37.320 pictures of El Santo without the mask anywhere he went 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:40.639 and was known. I guess he would go to the 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:43.040 grocery store. I'm to understand, you know, he would not 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:46.480 be wearing the mask, but he would be incognito. Anytime 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:48.920 he was appearing as El Santo, he was wearing the mask, 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:53.000 no one saw his face. And it's still the same 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.760 today with some wrestlers in Mexico. The people don't have 0:17:56.960 --> 0:18:01.400 their access to the details of their their non gimmick life. 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:05.800 Seems like there could be some advantages to that from 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:07.960 the wrestler's point of view. I mean, if you're like, 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:10.320 it's a way of being a famous person while still 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.840 being able to have some privacy in your regular life. 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.400 Yeah. So yes. El Santo the Saint probably the most 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:20.200 famous and instantly identifiable luchador of all time. He was 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.159 active for five decades and in addition to being a 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:26.359 superstar in the ring, he was able to spin that 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:30.080 off into becoming a comic book superhero, and that led 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:34.440 to numerous films where he's generally playing the role of 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:38.080 a superhero or a crime fighter, taking on everything from 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.520 crime and corruption to supernatural evil, and of course invasions 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:44.320 from other planets. As we'll be discussing today he was 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:48.560 the ultimate good guy or technico. He never lost his mask, 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.680 but he did famously reveal his face on TV prior 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:54.800 to his death from a heart attack in nineteen eighty four. 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:59.000 He was appearing on their mask and it wasn't something 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.600 they promoted. They were like, oh, Santo's going to reveal 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:05.520 his face today. It was like, almost casually, He's like, 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:07.399 this is my face, and he showed his face and 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:08.359 then put his mask back on. 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:11.720 I've seen the footage. It's very brief. It's almost like 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:13.840 like he doesn't give you a real good look. He 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:15.440 just kind of peels it up and then pulls it 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:16.120 right back down. 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:19.600 Yeah, but it's still there's there's an emotional quality to it, 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:21.960 not as emotional as some of the footage you'll find 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:26.360 of older luchadors losing their mask in a match where 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:27.920 they put their mask on the line and they lose 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:29.359 it and then they have to as like in a 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:33.040 ceremonial fashion, reveal their face and revealed their full name 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:37.399 to the audience, and generally like tears are streaming, family 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:42.119 members are presents, very emotional, but there wasn't is no 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:45.080 bigger deal than Santo. It wasn't just a lucha star. 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.560 He was and is a cultural icon. I mentioned this 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.480 the last time we talked about him, but wrestling journalist 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:55.200 Dave Meltzer has pointed out that it's difficult to really 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:58.800 point to a figure quite like Santo in American culture, 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:01.840 Like you can't really compare him to any American wrestling 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.040 name in terms of how important he was and is. 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:06.840 So you can't say, oh, well, he was like hul Kogan, 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:09.600 or he was like the Rock even, No, you'd have 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:13.639 to point to a superstar like Muhammad Ali or Elvis 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:18.280 Presley to even get close. And again, especially during their heyday, 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:21.720 Like you'd really have to look to Elvis Presley during 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:24.440 the height of his fame and you'd probably get close 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:25.640 to what Santo was there. 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:28.520 I mean, I am, by no means an expert in 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.560 the cultural reception of El Santo, but one thing I 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:35.840 noticed from all these movies is, Yeah, there is this 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:39.560 aura of absolute awe about him that I guess you 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:43.320 could compare to celebrities like Elvis. Except even with people 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.359 like Elvis, I don't know if there was also the 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:51.159 kind of holy veneration, Like there's just this understanding in 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:55.040 all the Santo stuff. I've seen that Santo is just 0:20:55.640 --> 0:21:00.600 a perfectly honorable person. He is the ultimate law full good. 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:04.280 Even in a world where you can't trust anything else, 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:05.479 you can trust Santo. 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:09.200 That's right. Santo is the best office without any question. 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:12.119 And yeah, he does seem to like stand at this 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:17.080 perfect place where all these different energies in Mexican culture 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:21.560 come together. Like there's this like sacred Catholic element to him. 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.560 I mean, he is the saint at the same time 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.840 he is the superhero. He is a like Superman, but 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:30.920 he is he is also in that area where he 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:34.080 is both a comic book character and a real person. 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:38.720 He is a performer. Yeah, and he is absolutely good. 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:42.280 There are no shades of gray to this character. Everything 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:47.640 is silver, beautifully said. Yes. So the comics came first 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:50.600 again and this allowed this larger than life character to 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:54.520 then branch out into films, And there were so many 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:57.120 Santo films of the sixties, seventies, and eighties, and their 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:04.400 success allowed other luchador to crossover into cinema. And again, 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:07.400 these films are often cheap and fast, and they hopscotch 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:11.440 through different genres horror, science fiction, western, spy movies, crime, 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:15.560 flicks some outright comedies in the mix as well. All right, 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:19.240 so that's Elcento, but there are numerous other wrestlers in 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:21.840 this picture. There's there's quite a bit of grappling in 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.920 the movie, and I think that all the the other 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:28.359 main roles are also played by wrestlers. 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:31.280