An undercover agent called The Masked Man (Santo) is beaten up by three goons that kidnap him and take him to a secret lair. Mad doctor Campos (Joaquin Cordero) injects him with a special formula, attaches electrodes to his head and hits his brain with a ray that allows the doctor to control Santo’s will turning him into a puppet goon.
Dr. Campos is also a well known and highly respected scientist. Other scientists have disappeared recently and Campos’ friend Lieutenant Zambrano (Enrique Zambrano), not knowing that Campos is behind the disappearances, is concerned for Campos’ welfare. Campos’ latest victim is Doctor Lowel. It seems that Campos has been brainwashing various scientists to get their secrets so he can sell them to a foreign government. Campos also brainwashes a bank president and has him steal money from his bank. Campos plans on owning the world.
Another undercover agent called Incognito (Fernando Oses) finds Campos’ secret hideout. He finds the formulas that Campos stole. Before the police can do anything about it, Campos’ secretary, Elisa (Norma Suarez) is kidnapped by the Masked Man and Campos’ goons. Campos is in love with Elisa but she is in love with Gerardo (Alberto Insua).
The next time Incognito goes to the hideout he is challenged by the Masked Man. Incognito overcomes him and injects him with an antidote to the brainwashing serum. He leaves the Masked Man at the hideout telling him to pretend to still be brainwashed and to keep an eye on things. Meanwhile Campos is selling more secrets and plans on taking off with Elisa whether she wants to go or not.
“Santo vs the Evil Brain” AKA “Santo contra cerebro del mal” was released in 1961 and was directed by Joselito Rodriguez. It is a Cuban-Mexican science fiction espionage film. The movie was filmed in either 1958 or 1959, just before Castro took over Cuba.
There are a few things up in the air in this plot. It’s never told what happened to the scientists and the bank owner, just that they are missing. Why the undercover agents are dressed as luchadores is also strange. Santo has never worked unmasked so OK I can let that slide but Incognito is also dressed as a luchador and the plot never mentions that either one are in fact wrestlers just undercover agents. Dressing as a masked luchador is not exactly an outfit that allows one to blend in.
This is Santo’s first film so he doesn’t have much to do. He is also not named in the movie and only referred to as “The Masked Man”. Incognito, the other masked man in the film also doesn’t have a lot in the way of dialogue or screen time. Since this is the beginning of the luchador superhero phase of Mexican film it appears that they are testing the waters to see how well using luchadores as stars in various genre films will play with the public. Since it spawned an entire subgenre it appears to have worked quite well.
As far as luchador films are concerned this one is played serious and doesn’t have much in the way of camp factor. It makes the film less interesting. Santo did two Cuban-Mexican films, this one and “Santo vs the Infernal Men”. Both were filmed in 1958 and not released until 1961. Santo’s films didn’t start getting fun until 1962 when he started battling zombies in “Santo vs the Zombies”.