When Archibaldo de la Cruz (Ernesto Alonso) was a child, his mother (Eva Calvo) had a beautiful music box. Archie loved to listen to it and hear the story of the king who used to own it. His governess (Leonor Llausas) told him the story of how the king’s box was magical. With it he could kill his enemies just by playing the music box and wishing. As she is telling the story there is gunfire coming from outside. The governess goes to the window to see what is going on.
Archie, intrigued with the story, turns on the music box and wishes that his governess was dead. At that moment, a stray bullet from outside crashes through the window killing the governess. Archie sees the woman on the floor, her skirt hiked up to reveal the tops of her stockings. Archie experiences pleasure. Archie believes that the box is magic and that he is destined to kill people. The shot was the result of skirmishes caused by the Mexican revolution. During the revolution, the house is ransacked and the music box disappears.
Years later Archie is in the hospital recovering from stress after the death of his fiancé, Carlota Cervantes (Ariadne Welter). He tells the sister-nurse, Sister Trinidad (Chabela Duran) the story of the music box and that he killed his governess. He then tells her that he is going to kill her. He heads toward her with a straight razor. The sister-nurse runs away but falls down an elevator shaft. Police decide that Sister Trinidad’s death was an accident. Archie goes to see the judge (Armando Velasco) investigating the accident and confesses to her murder. The judge is confused. Archie then explains.
Archie says that he was at an antique shop when he heard the sound of the music box from his youth. He managed to acquire the box and take it home. As he listened to the sound of the box Archie remembered the feeling of power at seeing his dead governess. It renews his compulsion to kill. Archie then embarks on a quest to kill women he believes are wanton. A quest that doesn’t actually work out the way he hopes.
“The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz” AKA “Ensayo de un crimen” or “Rehearsal for a Crime” was released in 1955 and was directed by Luis Bunuel. It is a Mexican crime dark comedy film. The film was based on the 1944 novel by Rodolfo Usigli who also wrote the screenplay along with Director Bunuel and Eduardo Ugarte.
I found the movie to be a little confusing. A lot of the story is told in flashbacks mixed with Archie’s fantasies about killing women. The film switches between fantasy, reality, and flashback which sometimes make it a little difficult to keep track of what is going on. Other than that, the movie wasn’t bad. A little scattered but enjoyable enough.
Archie is basically a serial killer who never got the chance to actually kill anyone. He does take responsibility for all the deaths that happen around him, and he may actually be responsible for the events leading up to some of them but he is not directly the perpetrator. As both the protagonist and the antagonist your sympathy switches from Archie to his prospective victims.