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6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Cruz Diablo remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have a soft spot for grainy, high-stakes melodrama from the 1940s, Cruz Diablo is worth your time. If you prefer movies that actually make sense from start to finish without leaving you scratching your head, maybe skip this one.
It’s the kind of film where everyone wears fancy hats and the sword fights are more about the theatrical posing than the actual danger. Honestly, it feels a bit like watching a live stage play that was hastily filmed during a rehearsal.
Rita Hayworth is in this, which is basically the only reason I clicked play. She’s magnetic, even when she’s just staring blankly at a wall while the plot decides what to do next. The rest of the cast is just loud and very, very busy.
The whole gimmick with the sword-drawn cross on the forehead is pretty funny. It’s supposed to be intimidating, but it just looks like the bad guys are getting a messy facial scrub. You can almost see the actors trying not to laugh when they get 'marked'.
There’s a weird pacing to the whole thing. One minute we are in a tense ballroom, and the next we’re in some dungeon that looks like it was built out of cardboard boxes. It reminds me a little of the frantic energy in Il castello del diavolo, where the sets matter less than the sheer speed of the nonsense.
I found myself wondering if they just lost half the script midway through filming. Characters just pop up to explain the plot and then vanish like they have a bus to catch. It’s not necessarily bad, just very disorganized.
The sword fighting? Well, let’s just say it’s not exactly world-class athleticism. It’s more like a polite dance where nobody wants to actually ruin their costume. If you’ve seen the heavy-handed drama in something like Unfaithful, this is the complete opposite in terms of tone. It’s all light, surface-level, and very silly.
It’s a dusty little time capsule. Don’t go in expecting a masterpiece. Just watch it for the costumes and the sheer confidence with which they deliver lines that make zero sense. Sometimes, that’s all you really need on a Tuesday night. ⚔️
IMDb 5.6
1931
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