Albeto Dalbes Movies
Cult director Jesus Franco's adaptation of John Willard's oft-filmed The Cat and the Canary is a fairly routine mystery about the residents of a Louisiana castle being murdered by a masked killer. Alberto Dalbes appears in a dual role as Maj. Brooks and the castle's doomed owner, Lord Marion, the first victim. When the family arrives for the reading of Marion's will, his wife is strapped to the face of a cliff and drowned by the tide. More murders follow, and as Inspector Bore (Vicente Roca) investigates, he discovers some dark secrets in the family's past, leading him to suspect that the motive may be revenge for a terrible transgression. Evelyn Scott, William Berger, and Lina Romay co-star in this muddled but passable thriller. Franco appears as Maj. Brooks' alcoholic assistant, and bit players Luis Barboo and Ramon Ardid also appear. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- 1975
This drama concerns the passage to womanhood of an adolescent girl. Even though the story includes some antediluvian jokes, it marks the first time Spanish authorities allowed such a topic to make it past the censors. The girl has a crush on her high-school teacher and has her first menstrual period. Her classmates' general ignorance about sexual matters is set forth for all to see, and this ignorance causes the heroine a lot of distress until it is dispelled. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Beatriz Galbo
One of the more notorious Spanish exercises in gory horror, this film from Basque director Javier Aguirre stars Jacinto Molina (aka "Paul Naschy") as a hunchbacked Swiss morgue attendant named Gotho. He's in love with a woman who dies of tuberculosis, causing Gotho to grab an axe and chop up some medical students who want to dissect her then hide her body in a dank crypt. A hallucination scene featuring the woman's body being eaten by rats while Gotho beats and burns them featured real rats, who bit Molina several times. Eventually, Gotho strikes a bargain with mad scientist Alberto Dalbes, who agrees to raise the hunchback's beloved from the dead in exchange for fresh corpses from the morgue to feed his monstrous blob-like creation. Rossana Yanni appears as an imprisoned psychiatrist, and the film co-stars Maria Perschy and Vic Winner ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- 1972
This sexually explicit version of the Frankenstein story was based on erotic Italian comic strips. Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price) and his servant Morpho (Jesus Franco, who directed) are at work in the lab when a carriage pulls up carrying a bird-woman named Melissa (Anne Libert). Sneaking into the castle, Melissa and her driver Caronte (Luis Barboo) kill both the doctor and Morpho, then abduct the monster (Fernando Bilbao). They really serve an evil count, Cagliostro (Howard Vernon), who wants the monster for his own nefarious ends. Only the late doctor's daughter Vera (Beatrice Savon) can stop Cagliostro, but whether or not she does is unimportant. Several versions of the film exist, but all linger on the sexual possibilities of the story. Ranging between 80 and 90 minutes, each version differs only in the amount and frequency of graphic couplings. Britt Nichols and Alberto Dalbes co-star, and one edit contains the first screen appearance of cult icon Lina Romay. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brit Nichols, Howard Vernon, (more)
- 1972
- PG
This biopic chronicles the exciting and colorful life of Mexico's most illustrious revolutionary/bandit. A thrilling train crash provides the story's best moment. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
In this comedic horror film from cult director Jesus Franco, Jonathan Seward (Alberto Dalbes) tracks the evil vampire Count Dracula (Howard Vernon) to his castle and kills him with a stake through the heart. The nightmare has hardly begun, however, as the mad Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price) revives the vampire using the blood of a nightclub singer (Josiane Gibert). The pair then join forces, along with Frankenstein's monster (Fernando Bilbao) and a mutant assistant named Morpho (Luis Barboo), in an attempt to create a vampire army to rule the world. This parody manages to deconstruct traditional legend without saying anything remotely interesting or clever, and the special-effects are strictly of the bargain-basement variety. Paca Gabaldon (appearing as "Mary Francis"), Britt Nichols, and Anne Libert co-star. Franco returned to the Frankenstein theme the following year with La Maldicion de Frankenstein. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Howard Vernon, Dennis Price, (more)
Lyedecker (Jim Brown) is the Arizona lawman who travels to Mexico in search of Yaqui Joe (Burt Reynolds). Joe has made an illegal withdrawal of $6,000 from the band in Phoenix to help finance his tribes's uprising against the Mexican government. Sarita (Raquel Welch) is the local woman who is friendly towards the Indian leaders. Both men are tracked by General Verdugo (Fernando Lamas), the career-minded military man who realizes a victory could boost his station in high-society and politics. Also on hand is the American railroad agent Grimes (Dan O'Herlihy). The battle ensues between the Indians and the government troops as Lyedecker and Joe form a temporary alliance to survive. They are captured by the troops, but the Indians instead of the calvary come to the rescue in this routine western taken from a novel by Robert MacLeod. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jim Brown, Raquel Welch, (more)
- 1968
One of two thrillers starring Carroll Baker and directed by Umberto Lenzi, this one was released in the United States as Paranoia, the original title of the second one. Katherine West (Baker) is a wealthy alcoholic who travels to her late husband's Italian villa from New York. Soon, a slimy conman named Peter (Lou Castel) and his girlfriend Eva (Colette Descombes) move in on Katherine, taking advantage of her confused state with sex, drugs, and blackmail. One scene has the hapless Katherine served a toad for dinner, and there are some interesting moments, but this is clearly the lesser of the two films. The annoying score was composed by Piero Umiliani. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Carroll Baker, Lou Castel, (more)
- 1967
This sentimental comedy is a perfect vehicle for popular teen singers Rocio Durcal from Spain and Palito Ortega from Argentina to show their vocal talents. A stewardess (Durcal) receives a six-month suspension when a passenger (Ortega) causes an uproar during a flight to Madrid from Buenos Aires. The two later meet, fall in love and begin successful singing careers. The couple must battle her grandmother and his grandfather, who do not approve of the affair, and who themselves were prevented from marrying each other when they were both young. The two songbirds overcome adversity, their families and a bumbling agent as they deliver 10 songs of love for their fans and each other. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rocio Dúrcal, Palito Ortega, (more)
This dark, surrealistic horror film from cult filmmaker Jesus Franco is perhaps best-remembered for its images of the lethal Miss Muerte (Estella Blain) luring victims with razor-sharp fingernails while clad in a skull-mask and a revealing bodysuit. The real star of the film is Mabel Karr, portraying Irma von Zimmer, daughter of a mad scientist whose public humiliation led to his fatal heart attack. Vowing revenge, Irma uses her father's mind-control techniques to possess Miss Muerte, a nightclub performer. The hypnotized dancer murders the doctors whom Irma blames for her father's death, slicing their throats with her poisoned nails, until police Inspector Tanner (Franco) and Miss Muerte's boyfriend (Fernando Montes) track her down. One of Franco's most entertaining films, Miss Muerte is a great improvement over the similar El Secreto del Dr. Orloff, released the previous year. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Estella Blain, Howard Vernon, (more)
- 1962
Adapted from a play by Alfonso Paso, this conventional drama about the characters in a woebegone rooming house is characterized by diction that is right off the theatrical stage. Each lodger in the ramshackle house has his or her own sad story to tell and it does not look like there is much hope for redemption in any of these cases. Among this group of hard-luck pensionners is a retired army officer whose way of handling his poverty is to think about other things. Then one day Fate decides to smile on the group as a whole and suddenly there are new ways of solving everyone's troubles as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow materializes with no forewarning. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yvonne Bastien, Luis Davila, (more)
- 1958
Susana Campos plays the title role in Rosaura a las Diez (Rosaura at 10 O'Clock) Actually, when the film begins, Rosaura is pretty much a figment of the imagination of mild-mannered Camilo (Juan Verdager). Using an old photograph, Camilo invents a sexy girlfriend so as to arouse the interest of his true love, his landlady's daughter. And then one day, Rosaura shows up in the flesh, and Camilo is forced to marry her. When Rosaura is subsequently murdered, everyone has a different version of the events leading up to the crime, with the "heroine" taking on a different personality in each version. Thus, what begins as an innocuous farce ends as a melodramatic variation of Rashomon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Susana Campos, Maria Luisa Robledo, (more)
