Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks (1944)

Edgar Neville is by no means a household name, even among cinephiles and fans of Spanish cinema. In fact, I probably would not have heard of him had I not stumbled upon this film while searching through Karagarga's collection of Franco-era Spanish cinema. Taking place at the end of the nineteenth century, Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks follows the adventures of young loafer Basilio Beltrán, who spends his evenings wooing a cabaret dancer, and gambling. One night while playing roulette, he is visited by the ghost of a deceased professor of archaeology who implores Basilio to help him in saving his beautiful niece Inés from a deadly fate. Neville, who worked in Hollywood during the thirties helping with the Spanish-language versions of popular films, appropriates a great deal from the Universal horror textbook in his use of chiaroscuro lighting and luminous images. And like James Whale, Neville delivers a mash-up of horror and comedy (Napoleon's ghost stumbles into the proceedings at one point), as well as elements of the detective story and magical realism. The highlight of the film is the journey into the mysterious underground city populated by the criminal hunchbacks; is an impressive set piece that serves for a thrilling climax. However, Neville's genre-bending is not always successful; the comedy elements are rather cheesy and could have been thrown out completely. The ending is also a let-down, especially coming after such a climax, in its cop-out use of dues ex machina. But Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks is worth seeing, if just for the underground city alone. The elements of magical realism and detective fiction are also more successfully incorporated than the comedy elements. Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks is a forgotten classic of Spanish cinema, one that deserves more exposure.