Mataron a
Elena
[Elena Has Been Killed] (J.A. Torres Prods., copyright 1972)
Prod-Dir-Scr: José Antonio Torres;
Photo: José Luis Colón;
Music: Tomás Valentino;
Prod Chief-Asst Dir-Continuity: Wilfredo Rosa;
Final Edit: José Antonio Torres;
Film Ed: José Luis Colón;
Second Editor: Alfred Bahri;
Recording-Dubbing-Mix-Music Ed:Lazslo Haverland;
Chief of Technical Team-Asst Cam-Prerec Sound: Tony Montalvo Reuter;
Screenplay Assistant: Ray Wells;
Synchronization-Dialog-Music-FX: Marta Viana;
Negative Cutter: Louis Sommerstein
Cast: Eppy Dueño (Pedro), Angelo Ramírez (Matías Torres), Olga de Carlo (doña Marta), Linda Monteiro (Laura), Olga Agostini (Elena), José Antonio Torres (police chief), Rubén R. Caro (Lorenzo), Frank Rodríguez, Wilfredo
Rosa, Tony Montalvo Reuter, María Tai (Pedro's mother), Roberto de Jesús,
Vicente Colón, Felipe Vélez, Rhadames López (Juan, driver), Olga García, Mildred
García, Norma Rivera, Carmelo Ramos, Jimmy Del Río, José C. Rentas, Vitín
Medina, Joe de Oro, Juan Muradian, Joseph E. Caro, Joaquín Del Río, Jaime
Félix, Ángela Pizzini, Aida L. Negrón, Ramonita Burgos, Cristobal Torres,
Carmen Robles, Isabel E. Cheverría, Luis A. Norat, Chuitín el de Bayomón
(band) Notes: although numerous
performers who had worked in New York films (Ramírez, Agostini, María Tai,
and Rhadames López were all in El
Callao, for example, and Eppy Dueño acted in several Nuyorican
productions including
Soñar no
cuesta nada, "joven") participated in Mataron a Elena, it appears most if
not all of the movie was actually shot in Puerto Rico. Post-production still seems to have been
carried out in New York, with the ubiquitous Lazslo Haverland receiving
credit (as well as Ray Wells from
Tigresa and the well-known Guffanti
Lab--I also wonder if "Tomás Valentino" is really the NYC
library music purveyor Thomas J. Valentino). Despite the presence in
the credit of three film editors, apparently none of these felt like
removing any footage, and Mataron a Elena is overlong (at 92
minutes) and deadly slow in spots. Scenes go on for much too long, as the characters seem determined
to discuss everything in excruciating detail and repeat themselves
constantly. Trimming about 15
minutes would have greatly improved this movie. On the positive side, the picture is
filled with eccentric characters and events (like a hunchback who
bludgeons people with a wooden cross), has a real flavor of rural Puerto
Rico, and includes some nudity and even an homage to the shower scene in Psycho! The film begins with a
printed title: "I dedicate this film to all the mothers who suffer
for their children." We are
quickly introduced to the main players: a) long-suffering mother doña
Marta b) her bitter, alcoholic son
Matías c) mentally-challenged mute
hunchback Pedro d) Elena, the estranged wife of
Matías, who runs the local bordello e) bar owner Lorenzo, who
covets Elena Doña Marta goes to
Lorenzo's bar to bring Matías home. His father's untimely death and Elena's betrayal have left him
bitter. As they leave, they are
confronted by Pedro, swinging his cross. Matías smashes a liquor bottle over the hunchback's head; for this,
he is sentenced to one month in jail. Matías protests, saying he holds Pedro responsible for his father's
death, but Pedro's mother defends her son: "My son isn't crazy! You are all
crazy!" Elena visits Lorenzo to
inform him that "new material" has arrived in her brothel from
San Juan, but Lorenzo says he prefers her. Pedro wanders
in--he's been following Elena around town, playing his violin. She tells Lorenzo she wouldn't sleep
with the hunchback "for a million," but takes him to her house
and lets the whores taunt the frustrated man, then locks him
out. Matías is released from
jail and receives a letter telling him of his wife's unfaithful nature.
[As if he didn't know?] In a
flashback, Matías remembers meeting her in a bar, where he defended her
from another man. They were married
but argued and separated violently. [Coincidentally, when Matías hits Elena he is wearing a
"wife-beater" t-shirt.] Lorenzo tries to convince Matías to "forget that woman. She isn't yours any more," and if
Matías carries out his plan to avenge himself, "you'll go back to
jail." That night, a party is
in progress at Elena's bordello. Lorenzo and the police chief are in attendance, along with
Pedro. Elena says the hunchback
runs errands for the girls. A
drunken Matías comes in and tells Elena, "I'm not here for
you, I'm here for one of them." Elena sends Matías upstairs with a
whore, but later switches places with her employee. Matías is apparently too drunk to notice
he's having sex with his wife, but Pedro (outside the room) and Lorenzo
(peeping in through the window) are both agitated. The next morning (?), Pedro and Lorenzo
watch Matías depart. Someone (shown
from the waist down only) enters the house and kills Elena in the shower,
using a wooden cross such as Pedro carries around town. [Elena manages to cover her loins using
a small towel as she dies, but otherwise Olga Agostini has considerable
nude footage in this sequence.] Matías is arrested for the crime. Laura, the former
girlfriend of Matías, visits a small cemetary adjacent to Pedro's house
and convinces the hunchback to admit her to the yard. She trades him jewelry and medallions
for things he digs up from the graves, including a purse and a photograph
belonging to Elena, as well as a blood-stained wooden cross. Pedro seems to confirm Matías is the
murderer. However, when Laura and
doña Marta visit Matías in jail, he says Pedro must be guilty. The
next night, Matías--out on bail--searches the cemetary but is knocked
unconscious by Pedro. However, the
hunchback is scared off by a passing car and Matías is rescued and taken
to the hospital. Several days later,
Matías awakens from his coma and tells Laura he found his father's wallet
in the cemetary. He rushes out of
the hospital (in his robe and pajamas), fearing for his mother's safety
(she's a midwife and is out late at night). Laura and a policeman catch up with
Matías but they are too late to stop Pedro, who has slain doña Marta with
his cross. The policeman is knocked
out but Matías grabs his gun and shoots Pedro to
death. The next day, the
authorities search the graveyard and determine that Pedro killed doña
Marta, her husband, and another man who had disappeared some time
before. However, it was Lorenzo who
murdered Elena (shown in flashback), and the jealous barkeep is
arrested. Matías reconciles with
Laura. Mataron a
Elena
features the titular song as well as a number of other Puerto Rican tunes
on the soundtrack, although a fair amount of nondescript
"library" music (as well as "The Wedding March") can
also be heard. The film isn't badly
directed (despite the slow pace of many dialogue scenes), with a variety
of high- and low-angle shots and some effective transitions (in both Mataron a Elena and Sangre en Nueva York Torres uses
some swish-pans to bridge scenes, for example). The shower sequence is not exactly a
shot-for-shot remake of Hitchcock, but the connection to Psycho is clear
enough. The production values
are minimal: the movie was clearly shot on location and some of the
sequences are fine, but the low budget is visible in things such as
hand-lettered signs and cramped interiors. The Miracle Pictures DVD compounds the problem with several extended "dead" spots
(reel changes?), bad sync sound in other places, and at least one stretch
where the vertical alignment is skewed, putting part of the top of
the image on the bottom of the screen. The performances are
generally good in a melodramatic sort of way. Eppy Dueño and Angelo Ramírez have
"actor's dream" roles, one playing a mentally-challenged
character and the other a bitter drunk, both opportunities for
scenery-chewing. Olga de Carlo--a
Cuban expatriate rather than a Puerto Rican actress--is satisfactory as
Pedro's mother, although her gray hair looks rather fake. Olga Agostini
lays it on a little thick at times as the brassy Elena, but in other spots
effectively suggests a character who puts up a bold front to hide her
inner pain. Slow in spots, but
still reasonably entertaining. UPDATE 2 January 2013: Thanks to Edwin Latalladi, who informs me that this film "was totally filmed in Patillas, a little town located at the southeast coast of Puerto Rico."
He also points out that Wilfredo Rosa is currently living in the Bronx, NY, and José A. Torres is a resident of Miami, FL.
UPDATE 22 February 2021: Mataron a Elena was shown at the State-Wayne theatre in Detroit, Michigan in April 1975, on a double-bill with the Mexican
Western Los indomables. It was also released on VHS tape by Video del Sol in 1987.
HTML issues fixed (for now). 10 Feb 2022
