cinema history class: la loba

UPDATE: Corrected the name of the Director

Session: Man/Corpse/Woman into Monster, Week 4
Movie: La Loba (1965)
Directed by Rafael Baledon
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
A young, beautiful rich Mexican woman is planning to marry the doctor who's trying to cure her of her lycanthropy. Of course, he's a werewolf too. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:
This film opened strong. The titular she-wolf climbs out of a tomb and slinks off in search of victims. There's a cat-like quality to the way she moves.* I don't think I've ever before seen such athleticism in werewolves. Clearly the producers hired gymnasts and hid trampolines in the bushes. The result was a visual effect that was actually quite stunning. It was, perhaps, the most interesting portrayal of a werewolf I've ever seen. And the visuals as she was attacking her victims were beautiful in their ferocity. That was mirrored by the parallel fight scenes nera the end, as two werewolves separately fought two victims.

Sadly, the plot just didn't catch my interest. The mute daughter was a nice touch, and it was kind of interesting to see the love story between two werewolves. Although even then, I was kind of turned off by the psychic mumbo jumbo at the end. I kind of wanted to like this more than I did.

By the way, the video above is of the entire movie. I usually include the trailers, but I couldn't find it. This, though, is without subtitles. The film, as we watched it, had subtitles.

Ratings:
Me: 4
Dave: 9.7
Ethan: 7
Joe: 9.8
Scott: 7.5
Sean:3 out of 4

Extras:
Joe, a huge fan of the classic comics and comic books (his blog is listed on the side under "what i read"), delivered a memorial to the late great Tex Avery. Not that Avery just died or anything. His condition stabilized in 1980. But we just had his 110th birthday, and Joe didn't want to let the occasion pass without notice. Anyway, Joe delivered his tribute to Tex, and then showed us "King-Size Canary," a 1947 short that Avery directed for MGM.

In case you want to see it, it's here. It had some really good meta touches. And, while Blair, Ethan and I were just watching it (while I typed this post), Sharon came in the room. She commented that the animation, hand drawn as it is, is much better than what they make today. Joe would have been pleased to hear her say that.

*Yeah, I know it should be doglike, since we're talking she-wolf, but it really was catlike