Sonido de la Muerte, El |
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Spain • 1966 • 91m •
   • Directed by: José Antonio Nieves Conde. • Starring: James Philbrook, Arturo Fernández, Soledad Miranda, José Bódalo, Antonio Casas, Ingrid Pitt, Lola Gaos, Francisco Piquer. • Music by: Luis de Pablo.     When a group of isolated people in the Greek mountains set off a cave explosion, they are menaced by an invisible shrieking dinosaur that had been buried for eons.
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The prejudices of the era of film criticism are extensible to genre films produced over the years in Europe in imitation of styles, mainly American, and British (fantastic productions and terror of the British company Hammer Film, for example).
Do not forget that the production of most commercial genres are shot in those years in co-production: the year of the film Nieves Conde Italian director Mario Bava Capital wheel Italian and Spanish films of similar characteristics, "Terrore nell spazio "(1965), and soon after the German Ernst von Theumer repeat the experience with" The Isle of the Dead "(1966). Principals Jesus Franco and Santos Alcocer also resort to foreign capital to film "Miss Muerte" (co-production with France, 1966) and "Kiss the corpses" (co-production with the United States, 1966), respectively. They are films based on commercial terms, and made with expectations in the international market, generally prepared with good trade and sometimes with surprising results "The sound of death" are fully in this genre films modeled on American and British styles breaking into Europe from the sixties (Italy, Spain and to a lesser extent also in Germany and France), leading to spaghetti-western, and called "Fantaterror", terrifying narcissistic adventures Jacinto Molina "Paul Naschy" and adventure, action and espionage films.
This film Nieves Conde, it is not surprising, given birth to a small group of U.S. financial. While almost all of the technical team is Spanish and Madrid Zurbano Films company is the only producer accredited, two recurring names of the series B of those years, Sam X. Abarbanel and Gregg Sizes argumentistas listed as screenwriters and film. However, Nieves Conde himself, points to another cause of the production of the film, which is to take advantage of the high budget remains an American blockbuster shot in Spain, "Battle of the Bulge", Ken Annakin, 1965.
Filming took place between May 3 and June 5, 1965, inside the cave was built in the studies that the American producer Samuel Bronston had in those years in the Iberian Peninsula, and the remote rural Greece which is filmed the plot was recreated smoothly in the suburb of La Cabrera. The title originally planned, "The sound of a million years ago" later became "The prehistoric sound of death" and, finally, in "The Sound of Death".
The plot of the film is simple: three adventurers "André" (Antonio Casas), "Asilov" (James Phillbrook) and "Dorman" (Josñe Bódalo), seeking a hidden treasure in a cave in a remote rural area of Greece. Accompany them in their search "Pete" (Arturo Fernandez), a hired driver in Athens, "Sophia" (Ingrid Pitt), the Asilov lover, and "María" (Soledad Miranda), daughter of "Andre" and fond of Like her father archeology.
Ignoring the warnings from local residents, who claim that the cave is cursed, and following an old map, "André", "Asilov" and "Dorman" use dynamite to open unexplored caves. One blast exposes two major prehistoric eggs (apparently petrified) and "André" leads one to the cabin where he is staying in the care of a local employee, "Calliope" (Lola Gaos). The egg opens and escapes inside a prehistoric monster invisible beeps awful, capable of causing death. Predictability of the plot, outlining causes of settings and characters, but not hidden at any time a script perfectly constructed, that transcends its status monster movie to approach the field of cosmic terror. Science has a role in the development of anecdotal history, full of mythological references and legendary as the legend of the Golden Fleece, the monster as a symbol of moral punishment of greed.
The invisibility of prehistoric monster, probably motivated by budget constraints, is an original and imaginative resource that lets you play with a certain ambiguity and, at the same time, contributes mightily to create a haunting atmosphere and oppressive. The viewer does not know at any time the dimensions and physical characteristics of the creature, but the abominable sound emitted is more than enough to imagine the terror it represents. We therefore suggested to the horror of the suggestion: the effect of the prehistoric creature footprints left in the snow land was recreated directly on the set with the use of mirrors and its silhouette, achieved by using simple overprints.
The simplicity of the story has its fair translation in images due to work sober and effective staging of Nieves Conde, supported by the excellent soundtrack of Luis de Pablo and the striking black and white photograph of Manuel Berenguer, which leverages to perfection the meager resources at their disposal.
Another point of interest in the film, perhaps most important, is in the cast, which highlights the presence of two actresses who shortly thereafter would become cult figures of European horror films of the era: the actress British Polish-born Ingrid Pitt (born in 1937, his real name is Ingoushka Petrov), which in 1970 would be elevated to the status of myth erotic genre after participating in three more or less similar films, "The Vampire Lovers", Roy Ward Baker, 1970 and "Countess Dracula," Peter Sasdy, 1970, produced by Hammer Film, and "The House That Dripped Blood", Peter Duffell, 1971, produced by Amicus.
Review by psagray from the Internet Movie Database.
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