SANTO
VS. THE MARTIANS (1966)Director: Alfredo B. Crevenna
VCI Entertainment
SANTO
VS. THE MARTIANS (1966)Santo, the silver-masked wrestler, always got respect in his native home of Mexico, but in the U.S. his cult is way underground and his films have never got any kind of respectable handling. Here, only a handful of Santo's efforts have been translated in to English (and in these films he's called "Samson" or "Saint") while the rest of the vast catalog can only be witnessed through Spanish language UHF stations and Spanish language videocassettes. Of course, neither of these sources offer English subtitles, so if you don't speak Spanish, you have to ponder what the hell is going on.
VCI's new DVD of SANTO VS. THE MARTIANS (aka SANTO EL ENMASCARADO OF PLATA VS THE INVASION OF LOS MARCIANOS) represents the first time that a Santo film has been subtitled for the American home video audience, and the company has picked a winner to start a hopeful series with. The film is one of the last from Santo's superior black & white period (as opposed to his color period of 1967-1982 which would only give rise to a couple of gems), and it's a great deal of zany fun.
A group of musclemen and stripper-bod gal Martians led by Argos (Wolf Ruvinskis) alert Mexico of their plans to enforce nuclear disarmament, and they do this by interrupting a TV broadcast. Argos and his followers resemble a cross between "Plan 9" and "The Three Stooges in Orbit," so the folks watching at home literally think it's a comedy act and laugh uproariously. The Martians show they mean business by invading an outdoor park where Santo instructs young boys how to wrestle. They wipe out a crowd of people, and take a bunch more hostage on their spacecraft. Santo shows off his strength and beats one up badly until he disappears and goes back to the ship as well.
The guy Martians wear tights (much like Santo's wrestling attire) and the girls (who are gorgeous and even perform a musical number!) wear low-cut space suits. The men (played by such real-life wrestlers as "El Nazi," "Natanael Leon Frankenstein," and the Asian(!) Ham Lee) appear normal when they want to, but in their Martian form, they sport an oversized silver motorcycle helmet (with an eye for disintegrating humans), and long blond surfer dude hair.
These Martians try to trap Santo in many devious ways, as he's determined to conquer them and save the earthlings. First off, Santo unknowingly does battle in the ring with one of the Martian men, but he tricks him by having a second mask under the one that's pulled off (having his face revealed would be the end of Santo!). Also, Santo is disturbed at home while reading a good book with his mask, cape and tights on. The Martian babes surface and try to seduce the Saint by kissing him while in a hypnotic state (here, we also see Santo unmasked, but only get a glimpse at a back head of ample brown locks). In the end, Santo knows what to do by transporting himself to the Martian ship and exposing them to the Earth air that they can't breath without special pills.
The picture quality on SANTO VS. THE MARTIANS is superb, with rich black and white images that have nice, bright contrast. The transfer is befittingly letterboxed at a ratio that looks about 1.66:1, and the sound is also clear and only suffers slightly with some scratchiness. There are optional English subtitles that carry a large, reader-friendly yellow typeface. Somehow, watching a SANTO film subtitled actually elevates the presentation to a more honorable and less campy level.
There are a lot of supplements on hand and most of them are in Spanish and carry the same aforementioned yellow typeface subtitles. The audio commentary by Professor Juan Carlos Vargas is not actually a running commentary to the feature, but rather an intelligent essay on Santo with a backdrop of rare stills, lobby cards and posters. Vargas further comments on Santo in a similar illustrated biography for him, as well as one for co-star Wolf Ruvinskis (also popular as the Mexican TV hero "Neutron"). An interview with El Hijo del Santo (The Son of Santo) is also included. Santo Jr. sits in an armchair and is asked a string of career-worthy questions about his father and himself by either a girl or a young person that sits off screen. There's also a scrolling filmography of Santo that lists all of his films in year order.
An exiting trailer for the film (showing that they really knew how to hype these things in Mexico) is included as well as ones for other non-genre Mexi films that will be of little or no interest to the genre fan. I assume these other titles will be released by VCI as part of this new "Popular Mexican Cinema" series, but if any other Santo or classic horror films are tossed into the loop, we're in for another treat because this disc is outstanding! (George R. Reis)