User Reviews

Joselito Rodríguez's black & white, undercover crime thriller "Santo Vs The Evil Brain" (Santo contra cerebro del mal, 1961) heralded the cinematic debut of one of Mexico's most beloved folk heroes outside of his usual arena-the wrestling ring-in a rather inauspicious debut that belied the future success of the franchise. It should come as no surprise that the history of the production of this modest B-movie assumes greater magnitude than its amateurish artistry. Sadly, Rodriguez's film qualifies as incoherent because the writers furnish little or no exposition about the events or the characters. Clearly, the filmmakers got themselves as well as the audience tangled up in the film's messy web of intrigue. Nevertheless, despite its bewildering storyline and B-movie production values, "Santo Vs The Evil Brain" would not only spawn a franchise of over forty sequels but also awaken the rest of the world to this celebrated Mexican folk hero. Santo is an undercover crime fighter decked out in a silver mask to conceal his identity. Inexplicably, he dresses like a wrestler and runs around bare chest exposed. No, Santo packs neither a pistol nor a knife. He relies on his wits, his fists, and his feet for everything required. Inexplicably, in his first outing, he winds up playing second banana to rival wrestling figure, El Incognito (Fernando Osés) and serving as a witless pawn of the chief villain, Dr. Campos (Joaquín Cordero), a mad scientist with delusions of grandeur. Campos has developed a serum combined with the application of electrodes and light rays that enables him to control Santo like a robot while he defies the law.

It seems puzzling why Rodríguez and his writers didn't provide the eponymous hero with a proper introduction and reveal his law enforcement background. Later, the Police Chief says without mentioning names that the missing man or "The Masked Man" as he refers to him is one of his top men. The Enrique Zambrano & Fernando Osés' screenplay suffers from gaps in narrative exposition. Santo is sidelined far too early as a peripheral character. The first time we see him, three sadistic gangsters have him cornered in a blind alley. Unarmed, Santo struggles to evade a flying coil of chain, deflects a nasty switchblade knife, and dodges a fistful of brass knuckles. Although he swaps blows, kicks butt, and cracks chins, these three thugs subdue him. Santo's assailants dump his unconscious carcass like a sack of groceries in their car. At this point, our hero blends into the background. After Campos zombifies him with his serum, Santo behaves like an automaton. "With this injection," Campos boasts, "I will control his mind." Afterward, Santo lurches around in a drunken stupor with little of his former poise. Later, he helps Campos' henchmen abduct a scientist. A subplot about kidnapped scientists lurks in the background but is never fully explained. Campos' henchmen abduct an affluent banker. Our mad doctor injects him with the same serum given to Santo. After returning to his office, the banker dismisses his security guard and loots the vault. Meanwhile, another masked crime fighter seen earlier prowling atop Campos' roof, El Incognito breaks into Campos' laboratory via a skylight. After he spots Santo, Incognito knows the exact antidote which will release Santo from Campos' mind control serum.

Something is wrong when the hero doesn't perform the lion's share of the action. El Incognito creates more trouble for Campos than Santo. After he administers an antidote to Santo, Incognito cautions him to play dumb without arousing suspicion until the appropriate moment to strike. Doesn't this seem like a co-star giving the star his marching orders? The hero should be front and center. He should be aggressive. He should strike fear into the villain's heart. Strangely, Santo does none. Remember, the first time we see him, Santo is fleeing from a confrontation like a cornered rat! Near the end of this 72-minute thriller, the police raid a distillery where Campos' henchmen hide. At this point, Santo snaps out of his reverie and hammers the bad guys. During the tense finale in a standoff at his apartment, Campos wounds El Incognito and threatens to kill his secretary after the authorities have surrounded his apartment. Finally, Rodríguez and his writers give Santo another chance to behave like a hero and redeem himself. Sneaking into Campos' apartment, Santo surprises the mad scientist and frees the secretary. Moments later Campos dies when the Police Chief bursts inside and guns him down!

The events surrounding the production of the initial "Santo" saga and its sequel "Santo Vs Infernal Men" (Santo contra Hombres infernales, 1961) overshadow the dire lack of artistry in these films. Apparently, owing to its low production costs, the Mexican producers were attracted to sunny Havana, Cuba. Now, this choice of locations might not seem important. However, Rodríguez and his company were lensing the film about the same time Fidel Castro was creating headaches for the corrupt regime of Cuban dictator General Batista. Apparently, the city was in turmoil. Later, the producers would exploit this chaos to liberate film footage that a lab had padlocked for unpaid bills! If you watch carefully, you can spot how Rodríguez grabbed exterior rooftop shots of Havana without getting filming permits. You can tell filming occurred on actual streets since we're watching the actors cruise those boulevards! It is difficult to imagine the potential for disaster these filmmakers faced during these historic moments in a revolution. Nevertheless, Rodríguez, his cast, and his crew completed filming with incident and left Cuba unharmed to assemble the footage back in Mexico City.

Mediocre filmmaking from start to finish, "Santo Vs The Evil Brain" doesn't amount to much. Everything resembles a Depression Era Poverty Row quickie. Nobody identifies Santo by his name, and Incognito displays greater gallantry. How Santo recovered from this early setback to win over not only Mexican audiences but also worldwide audiences testifies to his charismatic presence.

Several years after turning down his first film offer, El Santo reconsidered. His first work consisted of two features shot back-to-back in Cuba -- CEREBRO DEL MAL and SANTO CONTRA HOMBRES INFERNALES.

The genre was still creeping tentatively along. The flashy features starring MIL MASCARAS, BLUE DEMON and a fully unleashed SANTO were still years away. In these first efforts, Santo appeared as a gimmick -- a police agent who wore a mask to protect his identity.

What's intriguing about this film is that Fernando Oses plays El Incognito, a second, masked agent who works with the unspecified Santo (he's simply called Enmascarado in the film). Forced by an injury to sideline a career in wrestling, Oses was a formative influence in the lucha film genre which stretched from the late 1950s through the early 1970s. Oses appeared in countless wrestler hero films (generally as a crook or a henchman) and wrote the stories and/or scripts for many more.

Gangsters capture police agent Enmascarado and carry him to a mad scientist's lair. Here, he's placed under hypnotic control and assists in a kidnapping. The researcher is also brainwashing others in the city, including a bank officer who robs his own bank while under hypnotic control.

El Incognito discovers where the evil scientist is conducting his business. He restores Enmascarado to his proper mind, but the silver-masked agent pretends to still be under control. At the right time, he attacks the thugs, as does El Incognito, who's already tipped the police off on the lab's location.

During the fight, El Incognito is shot, but he survives. The police kill the renegade scientist.

Their work done (evidently they assist various police agencies around the world), Enmascarado and El Incognito fly away for parts unknown.

A little better than its companion feature, HOMBRES INFERNALES, this features the first of numerous bouts between Oses and Santo, and some interesting tricks. It's still not up to the quality of the later films that Santo made -- particularly after the advent of color photography in the series. Still, it's an enjoyable if somewhat lightweight watch.

Five years before this movie was released, wrestler and actor Fernando Osés asked Santo to be in a movie with him. Santo had already turned down Rene Cardona's El Enmascarado de Plata as he wanted to strictly be a wrestler and thought that the films would fail. Somehow, Oses was able to get the Mexican wrestling star to play his sidekick - Osés plays a masked cop named El Icognito - in this film and Santo contra Los Hombres Infernales. Of course, that wasn't the title of either film as Santo was meant to just be the second banana. But after Santo contra Los Zombis became a success in 1962, both of these movies were rushed back out with Santo's name in the title.

Strangely enough, both were filmed in Cuba with production ending literally the exact day before Fidel Castro entered Havana and declared that the revolution was a success. This seems like William Castle kayfabe BS, but who are we to deny Santo (or El Dandy, for that matter).

In the first fight of his film career, Santo loses to a trio of crooks who beat him down to the point that an evil doctor named Doctor Campos brainwashes the man in the silver mask and gets him to commit crimes. Luckily, El Icognito saves Santo, who is called El Enmascarado throughout the movie. By the end, Santo gets his revenge and El Icognito gets a bullet, even if he comes back for Santo contra Los Hombres Infernales.

This film does not fit into the crazed form of the later Santo films, but trust me, things will get much more interesting.

Also: Do not be confused with 1961's Santo vs. The Diabolical Brain.