PHENOMENALITY: (1-3)*marvelous,* (4-5)*uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological*
Since the majority of these lucha-flicks have mad science of some sort, I'm assigning them the cosmological function. I do so with some reservations, since I only watched two English-language versions of the five Neutron films, while the other three were in their makers' native language of espanol.
I did see all five in dubbed-English versions way back in the 1960s. But while there are a lot of dubbed or subbed Santo movies floating around, the Neutron dubs seem more elusive. That said, I got the urge to re-visit the series after reviewing EL ASESINO INVISIBLE, which in the U.S. was falsely marketed as being a Neutron flick, though the superhero-wrestler of ASESINO didn't even look like "el enmascarado negro." At first I thought I might just review the two dubbed versions available and leave the others till later. But frankly, the third one in particular seemed so slipshod that I doubted this series would ever get circulated in full. So I'm including my impressions of the three undubbed Neutrons.
The first three films in the series are all directed and co-written by Frederico Curiel, whose most enduring credit may his screenplay for 1962's THE BRAINIAC, a slow-moving horror movie with a visually impressive monster. Neutron the Atomic Superman (who despite his hyperbolic title is just a tough guy) is similarly the best thing about his films, or rather his outfit is. He wears a black mask, gloves and trousers, leaving his arms and hairy torso bare. I don't think performer Wolf Ruvinskis, a Latvian immigrant to Mexico, was especially good in the stunt department, but he certainly looks tough as he wades into four or five guys at a time.
The three Curiel flicks follow a rigid template that might have been partly borrowed from the 1938 serial THE LONE RANGER. In that chapterplay, five different stalwarts are suspected of being the Masked Man, and the serial concludes with an unmasking once the trouble is over. All three Curiel scripts focus on a lovely young woman named Nora (Rosita Arenas) and three young swains who all court her but are good friends with one another. The first film, NEUTRON THE BLACK MASK, may be suggesting that one of the three men is Neutron, who has no origin and has already set up shop as local superhero before the movie starts. I can't be sure, though, since this was one of the non-English flicks. In addition to this possible "who's-the-hero" schtick, Curiel burns up time with a lot of talky scenes and night-club performances, since Nora happens to be a professional singer. Not only has Neutron been around for a time, so has his arch-nemesis Doctor Caronte, a mad scientist who dresses all in white in contrast to Neutron's ebony attire. Caronte lusts to obtain the secret of the "neutron bomb," which may or may not have something to do with his enemy's cognomen. Unlike most mad scientists, Caronte can actually hold his own against his more martial opponent, and on top of that he has a cackling dwarf assistant and a small army of shaggy-haired zombies. Aside from all this potential, though, Caronte still seems like a weenie.
Possibly the first film didn't do that well, since it was another two years before the producers made the follow-up in 1962. However, after that a Neutron movie came out annually for the next three years. NEUTRON VS. THE DEATH ROBOTS, which I saw dubbed, recycles most of the same tropes of the first film. The "robots" of the title are just a new collection of Doctor Caronte's zombies, and although Caronte has his best fight with Neutron here, overall ROBOTS is pretty dull. Nora, the boys and the night-club performers all put in their time once again.
I saw the last Curiel film, NEUTRON VS. THE AMAZING DOCTOR CARONTE in a dubbed form, but damned if it wasn't harder to follow than any of the undubbed versions! I think Caronte discovers some sort of magic spell by which he can transfer his mind into the body of another scientist, possibly with the object of getting hold of the neutron bomb formula. Neutron appears to get killed, but we find out later that Caronte's holding him prisoner. Another guy, I think one of the three swains, dons Caronte's costume and fights brain-swapped Caronte.
Nora and her boyfriends go bye-bye for the fourth film, NEUTRON VS. THE MANIAC though we still get night-club performances for some reason. Inheriting the director's chair is one Alfredo B. Crevenna, a journeyman with an impressive sixty-year career that includes a number of recognizable Mex-horror films and the last two Santo entries. Though there are still a number of talky scenes, Crevenna is far Curiel's superior in terms of staging dramatic scenes, and Neutron gets three solid fights while he's trying to stop a weird slasher-killer. This was undubbed, but I got the impression that the slasher is a put-up job by a schemer and his henchmen. No mad science this time, but I can't call this one psychological since I didn't follow the dialogue. Beauties Gina Romand and Rita Macedo prove easy on the eyes, and Chucho Salinas, who played the comic relief in the first two Luchadoras films, essays a near-identical role here. Measured though the choice may be, MANIAC is the best of this quintet.
The final film in the series, NEUTRON BATTLES THE KARATE ASSASSINS, is again directed by Crevenna, though KARATE is not as visually distinctive as MANIAC. Like MANIAC the final Neutron eschews a lot of wild scientific inventions; this time the crusader faces a band of assassins who only execute their victims with karate blows (hence, conforming to the "weird society" trope). In addition to the script reverting to too much talk and not enough action, with or without Neutron, there are also too many scenes in what I guess are supposed to be dojos, though they just look like regular boxing gyms. Chucho Salinas plays the same comic relief as in MANIAC, while familiar faces Ariadne Welter and German Robles do their best to add a little charm to the tedious proceedings.
Maybe because Neutron's outfit makes him look like "rough trade," the producers might have done better to involve him in darker, more violent adventures. As it is, he just comes off as a rather colorless Santo imitator.
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