MEXICAN SUPERHERO DOUBLE FEATURE

        

FILM ONE
ROCAMBOL VS THE (FEMALE) HARPIES
[Rocambole contra las Mujeres Arpias] 1967 (87 minutes)
director: Emilio Gómez Muriel
starring Julio Aleman · Maria Duval · Chucho Salinas · Carlos López Moctezuma · Regina Torné · German Robles

FILM TWO
ROCAMBOL VS THE CULT OF THE SCORPION
[Rocambole contra la Secta del Escorpion] 1967 (88 minutes)
director: Emilio Gómez Muriel
starring Julio Aleman · Maria Duval · Chucho Salinas · Carlos López Moctezuma · Gina Romand · German Robles

        

Emilio Gómez Muriel was an award-winning filmmaker who could move seamlessly from arthouse to grindhouse throughout his career. He is probably best known to genre fans for numerous films with Argentinean starlet Libertad Leblanc (including LA ENDEMONIADA [A Woman Possessed] and SLAVE OF DESIRE). In the mid '60s he tackled this unusual superhero series. While the plot of each film contains some rather remarkable horror elements, the movies are proficiently serious without a trace of camp humor.

The superhero is actually based on a the French 'Rocambole' character, a Robin Hood thief popularized in numerous European books and movies throughout the '50s. For these two Mexican films, Rocambole has come to America to continue stealing from bad guys and donating to the poor [i.e., orphanages] while also working on a nightclub stage disguised as a magician from the Orient named Hindu . Yeah. It's a lot. But everything seems to flow within director Muriel's concept. So then, despite all that, let's address the elephant in the room... what the hell is that Rocambole superhero costume? Traditional tights and cape [certainly inspired by Batman], but what's with the Spencers/Hot Topic T-Shirt? (see pic above, center | or below left). A BIG ARROW pointing to his private parts!!!

        

In the first film, beauty queens [like gorgeous Amanda played by silky Regina Torné] are captured by two despicable criminals, Ramiro and his scientist wife Gilda. They inject the girls with a potion that produces superhuman strength but immediately turns them old and ugly. A temporary antidote is then provided after the anti-beauties pull-off various robberies for the nasty couple. But they soon revert back to hags and clamor for the antidote. Rocambole gets involved when the police think he's behind the thefts and he tries to clear his name. The sequel [with essentially the same cast] finds Rocambole involved in a caper against an underground Mafia group with ties to an evil Scorpion Sect. They are attempting to control the world through black magic.

The success of these two Rocambole films was instant, leading to a Mexican television series with Julio Aleman, Maria Duval and Chucho Salinas in the 1968-69 TV season