''The Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks'' (Spanish:''La Torre de los Siete Jorobados'') is a 1944

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, i ...

directed by

Edgar Neville Edgar Neville Romrée, Count of Berlanga de Duero (28 December 1899 – 23 April 1967) was a Spanish playwright and film director, a member of the "other" Generation of '27. Biography Neville was born in Madrid but lived in Hollywood in the 19 ...

. It is based on a novel of the same title by Emilio Carrere.

Plot

Basilio is a superstitious young man who courts the singer . Looking for money to invite her and her mother, he gambles. He wins a small fortune following the advice of Robinsón de Mantua. He is revealed to be the ghost of an archeologist dead after an apparent suicide. Basilio is attracted to Inés, who happens to be the niece of Professor Mantua. She refuses the verdict of suicide and asks for his help. Basilio is helped by his friend, a police agent. They discover a passage from Mantua's home into an underground city under Habsburg Madrid, founded by Jews escaping their 1492 expulsion and now inhabited by money-forging hunchbacks led by Dr. Sabatino. The hunchbacks hold Inés and an archeologist friend of Mantua and try to force Basilio into staying. Basilio manages to escape and returns with the police to find Inés at her home, who barely remembers what happened. The police chief wants to arrest Basilio, but Inés intercedes. Meanwhile, Sabatino has blown down the tunnels.

Themes

The film features antisemitic tropes as core element of the plot, namely the appearance of a subterranean city dwelled by nefarious

hunchback Kyphosis is an abnormally excessive convex curvature of the spine as it occurs in the thoracic and sacral regions. Abnormal inward concave ''lordotic'' curving of the cervical and lumbar regions of the spine is called lordosis. It can result ...

s, founded by Jews back in 1492. The idea that the hunchbacks are the descendants of the Jews is not explicit, though.

Cast

Antonio Casal Antonio Casal Rivadulla (10 June 1910 – 11 February 1974) was a Spanish film actor who appeared in over 50 films between 1941 and his death in 1974. Selected filmography External links * Spanish male film actors 1910 births 1 ...

as Basilio Beltrán *

Isabel de Pomés Isabel de Pomés (10 April 1924 – 31 May 2007) was a classic Spanish film actress and one of the leading ladies in Spanish cinema of the 1940s and 1950s. She appeared in over 30 films between 1941 and 1965. Her father was the actor and spo ...

as Inés * Guillermo Marín as Doctor Sabatino * Félix de Pomés as Don Robinson de Mantua *

Julia Lajos Julia Lajos (24 February 1894 – 21 June 1963) was a Spanish film actress. She appeared in more than 50 films between 1926 and 1963. Selected filmography * '' A Palace for Sale'' (1942) * '' Orosia'' (1943) * '' Lady in Ermine'' (1943) * ...

as Madre de la 'Bella Medusa' * Julia Pachelo as Braulia * Manolita Morán as La 'Bella Medusa' *

Antonio Riquelme Antonio García-Riquelme Salvador (9 November 1894 – 20 March 1968), better known as Antonio Riquelme, was a Spanish film actor. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1911 and 1967. Selected filmography * ''El fantasma del castill ...

as Don Zacarías * José Franco as Espectro de Napoleón *Manuel Miranda *Emilio Barta *Antonio L. Estrada *Luis Ballester *Luis Latorre *Rosario Royo *Julián García *Francisco Zabala *Natalia Daina *Carmen García *José Arias *Antonio Zaballos

References

Bibliography

* Mira, Alberto. ''The A to Z of Spanish Cinema''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2010.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks, The 1944 films 1944 horror films 1940s comedy thriller films 1944 mystery films 1940s ghost films 1940s historical horror films Films based on Spanish novels Spanish historical films 1940s Spanish-language films Spanish black-and-white films Films set in Madrid Films directed by Edgar Neville Films set in the 19th century Spanish mystery films Spanish horror films Antisemitism in Spain Antisemitic films 1944 comedy films Films set in subterranea Fictional hunchbacks 1944 musical films Spanish musical films 1940s Spanish films