The comedy Buster Keaton made in Mexico -- Boom in the Moon

By Doug Gibson

There's really no big reason to see Boom In the Moon ... unless you are a cult film fanatic. (And that's why we at Plan 9 Crunch are reviewing it) It's an obscure Buster Keaton feature from 1946, made in Mexico when Keaton was at the low point of his career (he later rebounded via TV and cameos in big-budget films). But in the mid-1940s, Buster Keaton was a bit hard up for work.

But, first some background: In the 1920s, Keaton was the king of cinema comedy. But he had a drinking problem that became more acute when talkies came and he signed a multi-picture deal to make comedies with Jimmy Durante. To put it charitably, Durante's manic rantings grated on Keaton's physical, stone-face comedy. During the making of their last film, "What No Beer?" Keaton was so drunk he trashed his dressing room and disappeared from the set for several days. After the film wrapped, MGM canned Keaton.

After that, Keaton existed for almost 20 years in a sort of semi has-been netherworld. A key income was making mostly comedy shorts for Educational Pictures and Columbia. Those efforts were overshadowed by The Three Stooges shorts. He had not starred in a film for a long time when he accepted the lead role in Boom in the Moon, or as it was known in Mexico, The Modern Bluebird ("El Moderno Barba Azul)

It is a very low budget, often strange movie starring Keaton and a bunch of mediocre Mexican actors. Buster plays a sailor in a lifeboat who drifts for weeks. He doesn't know that World War 2 is over and thinks he is in Japan when he lands in Mexico. He is immediately arrested and accused of being a killer of young girls. He's paired with another clownish prisoner (Angel Garasa). The pair are offered the choice of flying to the moon in a very goofy professor's rocket instead of execution. After a bunch of clowning they accept. Somehow the professor's very pretty niece (Virginia Seret) is in the rocket when it blasts off.

After a few days the rocket lands. The trio thinks they are on the moon, but they are really just a few miles from where they took off. The two convicts are cleared ... No more synopsis in case some readers want to watch the film. (It's hard to find. The best bet is to check amazon and ebay for used copies)

The first half is a little better than the last half because Keaton has the opportunity to use a lot of physical comedy, including a funny bit in his cell. The last half unfortunately allows too many actors to babble, including one Mexican actor -- playing a silly psychiatrist -- who will cause viewers to grind their teeth in pain at his performance. The rocket is so low budget that it would not have qualified for a C-movies serial in the 1930s. Still, Keaton occasionally, with his physical deadpan humor, comes off well in a few scenes. Ironically, Garasa, as Keaton's sidekick, is as nasal and annoying as Durante was with Keaton 15 years earlier.

Keaton has very little dialogue, although the others prattle on too much. Boom in the Moon could have been a lot better if it had been shot silent, and relied on Keaton's emotion and physical comedy. But that likely occurred to nobody in 1946.

The film was released theatrically in Mexico and played only in Spanish for 37 years, including U.S. TV on Spanish-speaking stations. It was briefly released via VHS with English dubbing in 1983. The release wasn't very long and the film has become a little hard to find. A spanish version DVD is at amazon.com but costs $79.95 when I last checked.

I'm glad I watched it -- I have wanted to for at least a decade. It was good to see Keaton starring in any feature in 1946. Despite the poverty-row film, Keaton still retained flashes of the great talent in the The General and Steamboat Bill Jr., etc.

The Brainiac (El Baron del Terror) – Fiend From Beyond Time

By Steve D. Stones

Producer K. Gordon Murray took a number of Mexican horror films in the late 1950s and early 60s, duped them in English and released them to American audiences. The Brainiac is one of many of his Mexican imports released in the early 1960s. Like many of the Mexican imports from Murray, The Brainiac stars German Robles, who starred as a vampire in other Mexican films.

The year is 1661. A Mexican Baron, played by producer Abel Salazar, is accused of witchcraft, “dogmatism,” infidelity and other crimes. The Spanish Inquisition sentences him to be burned at the stake. Before his death, he vows to return from his grave and seek vengeance on all the descendants who execute him.  As the Inquisition reads the charges against him, he smirks and laughs at them, showing no fear of his sentence.

Fast forward to the year 1961 and the Baron returns to life from a fallen meteor in the sky. It is never explained why the Baron’s soul has to return in the form of a meteor, which adds to some of the strangeness of the film. After crashing on Earth from the meteor, the Baron attacks a man as his clothes magically appear on the Baron after the victim’s death.

The Baron continues his womanizing ways of the past by picking up beautiful women at local bars. Soon, he hosts a formal party for some of the descendants of his executioners to kill them. Before he attacks his victims, he turns into a forked tongue demon with pincher hands that sucks out the brains of his victims with his tongue. He keeps their brains in a chalice locked away in a chest. He occasionally eats the brains as a quick late night hors d’oeuvre.

The pulsating mask of the Baron as he transforms into the forked tongue demon is hilarious, and not to be missed by any fan of low-budget monster movies. Close up sequences show the demon placing his forked tongue behind the neck of his victims as he attempts to suck out their brains. Very silly stuff, but also very entertaining and fun to watch. Seeing the demon walk around in a three piece suit as his face pulsates and his pincher hands move like a crab has to be seen to be believed. You won’t want to miss – The Brainiac.  Happy Viewing! 

SANTA CLAUS (1959 Mexican): Don't be naughty this Christmas Season!

By STEVE D. STONES

This has got to be the most bizarre film in my collection. And believe me, I have many of them. I don’t think there are words in the English language to describe how strange this film is, but I will try my best. My good friend Doug Gibson was kind enough to record this film for me off of a cable show known as Off-Beat Cinema a couple of years ago when it first aired. This film certainly qualifies as “off beat,” no question about it.


Like most Christmas films, the target audience of Santa Claus is obviously children. However, I think it is safe to say that even children would find this film just too unusual, not to mention unwatchable. Only viewers with a strong stomach for the usual and obscure may get a kick out of it. Not even Howard The Duck or Garbage Pail Kids The Movie can compete with this turkey! Perhaps the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) should replace Troll II with this film as the “worst film of all time?” At least Troll II is very entertaining and has some redeeming qualities.

Santa lives high in the sky in a palace above the North Pole. The inside of his palace looks like strange Islamic architecture gone bad. A part of the palace is known as Toyland, where children from all over the world serve as Santa’s helpers. In this film, his helpers are not the stereotypical little elves with red hats, beards and green outfits. Santa plays an organ as children from China, Russia, France, England, Africa, Spain, Japan, Germany, Italy, Mexico and the USA perform bizarre dance and musical performances.

A child from Mexico gives Santa a doll of the Devil. The child lights a fuse on the doll and it spins like a top. This releases the real Devil down in Hell. Before coming to the earth, the Devil dances in Hell with several other Devils.

When arriving on Earth, the Devil tempts a little girl named Lupita to steal a doll her mother cannot afford to give her for Christmas. Lupita stares longingly at the doll in a store front window. Lupita attempts to steal the doll, but decides to be a good little girl and put it back. Santa observes this in a giant telescope from his palace, and is pleased by Lupita’s decision not to steal the doll. She has now made Santa’s short list of good little girls this Christmas.

The Devil also tempts three little boys to throw rocks through the storefront window where a Santa is greeting children. Unlike Lupita, the three boys decide to be naughty and throw the rocks through the storefront window at the Santa. This does not please the real Santa at the North Pole.

One of the strangest sequences in the film is a dream sequence in which little Lupita is dreaming of getting the doll she wants for Christmas. She stands in a large room full of giant boxes. The boxes open to reveal giant dolls that perform a bizarre dance for Lupita. One of the giant dolls again tempts Lupita to steal the doll she wants. It must be the Devil in disguise! This scene reminds me of something out of Babes In Toyland.

A boy with rich parents dreams of opening giant boxes on Christmas Day with his parents inside the two boxes. All he wants for Christmas is the love and affection of his parents. This is a touching scene because it suggests that not all children only want toys and gifts for Christmas. They also want love from their parents.

Another strange sequence shows a key maker who looks like a prehistoric caveman forging a giant golden key for Santa. The key is to be used to open any door to enter every child’s home on Christmas Eve. Santa tests the golden key on several doors in his workshop.

Santa also spends some time exercising on a conveyor belt and practicing going down fake chimneys while his helpers load up his sleigh with gifts. His reindeer look like giant white plastic toys that require a key to wind them up. He tells a child helper from Russia that he cannot replace the reindeer with sputniks to make the sleigh travel faster. This is a very strange comment coming from Santa. It’s an obvious reference to the cold war and the space race that was going on at the time this film was made.

A funny sequence in the film shows Santa on his way down a chimney as the Devil blows fire up the chimney, burning Santa’s backside. Santa gets his revenge as he finally makes his way into the house and shoots the Devil in his butt with a dart from a child’s dart gun as the Devil is trying to escape out a window.

If there is one important message to be taken from Santa Claus it’s the timeless Christmas theme that Santa rewards good little boys and girls and carefully watches out for the bad ones. Little Lupita is tempted several times to steal the doll she wants, but she refuses because she is hopeful Santa will bring it to her for Christmas. Her good behavior is rewarded at the end of the film.

Beware little children this Christmas Season! Santa may be watching you through his giant telescope from his crystal palace high above the North Pole! I hope you are being nice little boys and girls!