SUPERARGO VS. DIABOLICUS (1966)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

I may have seen the two "Superargo" films a couple of times each, possibly with the accompaniment of MST3K-style mockeries. However, I took another look at the first film in the series, and I found it a rather pleasant "masked wrestler" film, yet one that doesn't seem as rinky-dink as the average Santo film or as condescending as a spoof like THE INCREDIBLE PARIS INCIDENT. 

Despite the rise of Marvel in the early sixties, the cinema, both live-action and animated, had little to no interest in the idea of "superheroes with problems." When sixties raconteurs did costumed heroes, they tended to emphasize the idea of characters who were impossibly noble and good-hearted, even those seen through the lens of "camp," like the 1966 BATMAN. Certainly Santo, the best known wrestler-hero, is of this stripe, though he remains a total man of mystery with no personal background. The direct obverse of this was the featured costumed criminal, which had enjoyed a vogue in Europe since the rise of Fantomas.

Superargo doesn't have a lot of background either. But he does have, unlike most film-created superheroes, an inciting tragedy in his life that moves him to dedicate his life to fighting evil. Superargo is first seen in the ring wrestling an opponent, for he's not yet a superhero, just a professional wrestler who wears a mask and costume as a gimmick. News pundits remark that Superargo is rumored to possess a level of peak physical development, as if he were another Doc Savage, but one who turned his talents toward entertainment.

But not for long. Superargo accidentally kills his opponent in the ring, and though his girlfriend Lidia tells him it's not his fault, the traumatized performer says he's leaving the wrestling-game. Lidia tells him to seek counsel from a good friend from the military. Providentially, this friend hooks Superargo up with the secret service. The law-dogs happen to need a superhero at the time, for a fiend named Diabolicus (Gerard Tichy) is threatening the world by using alchemical science to transform the world's uranium into gold. The secret service guys put the noob hero through various tests, finding that his advanced training has altered his metabolism, so that he almost instantly heals wounds. His blood pressure doesn't rise even when he's exerting himself, and he can hold his breath for unusual lengths of time. He does have some vulnerability to electricity, though it can only hurt, not kill, him. So the spy-guys send Superargo to go knock on the door of Diabolicus.

There are no more psychological arcs in the rest of the film. Diabolicus is a pretty flat villain, raging with an unfathomable desire to control the world, and keeping his own rocket at his base in case he needs a quick escape. His unnamed mistress (Loredana Nusciak) seems to worship Diabolicus, and she goes out of her way to whip a captive Superargo when the hero proves defiant. A curious trope is that at one point Diabolicus thinks he's destroyed the famous wrestler Superargo, and gets the idea that his captive is some sort of impostor. When Superargo gets free, the villain sends some goons to capture Lidia with the idea of holding her over the hero's head.

Director Nick Nostro, purportedly the writer of the film by some but not all sources, brings a great elan to the battle scenes. Superargo, while not literally super-powered, tears through the villain's henchmen so easily that he puts across the "superman" vibe far better than any live-action super-dudes of that decade. Despite the low budget, Nostro uses a lot of quick cuts and closeups to make the action more appealing. He did not work on the sequel, though, so I may not find that one nearly as key to the superhero fantasy. Time will tell...