Basil Rathbone-Autopsia de un Fantasma

Philip St. John Basil Rathbone, in spite of his South African birth, was one of the quintessential British actors of Hollywood's Golden Age. He was probably also the best swordsman in Tinseltown which makes it all the more ironic that his dark features cast him primarily on the losing ends of swordfights in his films. He lost to Errol Flynn in CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, Tyrone Power in THE MARK OF ZORRO and even Danny Kaye in THE COURT JESTER. Beginning with 1939's THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, however, Basil Rathbone became the big screen's definitive embodiment of master consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes.
Rathbone essayed the role in period pieces as well as contemporary, anti-Nazi films. He went on to play Holmes on radio, on record and on stage but reportedly was never truly happy with his association with the character.
As one of the truly memorable character leads, the actor also appeared in the title role as THE SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, as the future Richard III in TOWER OF LONDON, Tybalt in ROMEO AND JUKIET and even dapper modern day detective Philo Vance in THE BISHOP MURDER CASE. By the mid 1950's, he was still getting the occasional lead in lower budget films such as 1956's THE BLACK SLEEP (featuring Bela Lugosi's last real performance) but was mostly appearing quite successfully as a character actor on the new medium of television.
As the sixties dawned, the distinguished actor wrote his autobiography, IN AND OUT OF CHARACTER in which he steadfastly refused to say much about his movies or, in fact, much that was interesting at all. His film career picked up again but now he had been pigeonholed once more...this time as a horror actor. Horror films both serious and spoofy were all the rage at the time, though, and the aging Rathbone lent some relative class to such fare as TALES OF TERROR, THE COMEDY OF TERRORS, THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI and, heaven help us, HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE. Mixed and matched with such other survivors of the genre's earlier days as Lon Chaney, Jr, Vincent Price, Boris Karloff and John Carradine, Rathbone was still in demand at a time when his contemporaries had long since passed on or faded into obscurity.

Then he went to Mexico.

AUTOPSIA DE UN FANTASMA (AUTOPSY OF A GHOST) is a colorful, episodic Mexican horror spoof which apparently was never released in English. Also appearing are John Carradine and American actor Cameron Mitchell (whose erratic career features a number of projects like this). The plot, as near as I can make out after 4 long ago years of high school Spanish (and with some help from IMDB) presents Basil as the ghost of a Spanish nobleman to whom Satan (Carradine) offers the chance to live again but only if, through various guises and disguises, he can get a woman to love him. There's also a mad scientist (Mitchell), wacky robots, a couple of crazy women, a bikini-clad blonde, a cute kid in a Superman costume, stooge-like characters and famed (and annoying) Mexican child-like comic,Chabelo. Quite frankly, the skeleton sidekick has some of the best scenes.
Rathbone, as ever, attempts to maintain some dignity whilst looking vaguely Shakesperean at times. Carradine has some amusing moments as the ridiculously clad comic opera devil with a removable tail that seems to have a mind of its own. Add some surprisingly good cinematography, an unexpectedly Beatlesque opening theme and some manic comedy bits and it's just not as bad as it seems it should be. The absolute highlight of AUTOPSIA DE UN FANTASMA, however, is its use of puppets. Throughout the picture, the ghost trades dialogue with a life-size skeleton but even better is the fiery opening credits sequence, all done with puppets! Skeletons, devils, bats and white-sheeted ghosts (or is that a KKK member?)!
Rathbone returned to the US and later in 1967 dropped dead on the streets of NewYork City. AUTOPSIA DE UN FANTASMA was released posthumously in Mexico. It didn't matter, though. By that point, with TV showings endlessly, Basil Rathbone was left with the epitaph he had dreaded..."Sherlock Holmes has died." Rathbone even made one last posthumous cameo in a dubbed in voice from decades earlier. It was in Disney's 1986 animated featureTHE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE. He was the voice of...Sherlock Holmes.