The Exterminating Angel (1962) El ángel exterminador (original title)

Director:

Luis Buñuel

Writer:

Luis Buñuel (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

21 August 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery

Plot:

The guests at an upper-class dinner party find themselves unable to leave.

Plot Keywords:

Guest | Room | Party | Mansion | Church

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Silvia Pinal	...	Leticia 'La Valkiria'
Enrique Rambal	...	Edmundo Nobile
Claudio Brook	...	Julio, Mayordomo; Steward
José Baviera	...	Leandro Gomez
Augusto Benedico	...	Carlos Conde; Doctor
Antonio Bravo	...	Sergio Russell
Jacqueline Andere	...	Alicia de Roc
César del Campo	...	Alvaro, Coronel; Colonel
Rosa Elena Durgel	...	Silvia
Lucy Gallardo	...	Lucía de Nobile
Enrique García Álvarez	...	Alberto Roc
Ofelia Guilmáin	...	Juana Avila
Nadia Haro Oliva	...	Ana Maynar
Tito Junco	...	Raúl
Xavier Loyá	...	Francisco Avila
Xavier Massé	...	Eduardo
Ofelia Montesco	...	Beatriz
Luis Beristáin	...	Cristián Ugalde
Patricia Morán	...	Rita Ugalde
Patricia de Morelos	...	Blanca
Bertha Moss	...	Leonora
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eric del Castillo
Janet Alcoriza	...	(uncredited)
Florencio Castelló	...	(uncredited)
Arturo Cobo	...	(uncredited)
David Hayyad Cohen	...	(uncredited)
Pancho Córdova	...	(uncredited)
Enrique del Castillo	...	(uncredited)
Jesús Gómez	...	Policia; Policeman (uncredited)
Elodia Hernández	...	(uncredited)
Luis Lomeli	...	(uncredited)
Chel López	...	(uncredited)
Rita Macedo	...	Lucía de Nobile (uncredited)
Ángel Merino	...	Lucas (uncredited)
Roberto Meyer	...	Loco; Fool (uncredited)
Guillermo Álvarez Bianchi	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Luis Buñuel

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Luis Alcoriza		uncredited
José Bergamin		play (uncredited)
Luis Buñuel		screenplay and dialogue

Produced by
Gustavo Alatriste	....	producer

Original Music by
Raúl Lavista

Cinematography by
Gabriel Figueroa

Film Editing by
Carlos Savage

Production Design by
Jesús Bracho

Costume Design by
Georgette Somohano

Makeup Department
Esperanza Gómez	....	hair stylist
Armando Meyer	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Antonio de Salazar	....	production manager
Fidel Pizarro	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ignacio Villareal	....	assistant director
Arturo Ripstein	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
José B. Carles	....	sound
Abraham Cruz	....	sound editor
James L. Fields	....	sound
Galdino R. Samperio	....	sound recording engineer

Special Effects by
Juan Muñoz Ravelo	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Ángel Corona	....	still photographer
Manuel González	....	camera operator
Daniel López	....	lighting chief

Editorial Department
Sigfrido García	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Pietro Domenico Paradisi	....	composer: additional music
Domenico Scarlatti	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Pedro López	....	script supervisor
Nicolás Rueda hijo	....	title designer (as Nicolás Rueda Jr.)

Production Companies

• Producciones Gustavo Alatriste

Distributors

• Altura Films International (1967) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Video Latino (1985) (USA) (VHS) (subtitled)
• Video Latino Home Entertainment (1985) (Mexico) (VHS)
• Versátil Home Vídeo (2003) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Arrow Film Distributors (2006) (UK) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Dynit (2009) (Italy) (DVD)
• Facets Multimedia Distribution (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Hen's Tooth Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Sagres Filmes (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Tamarelle Video (video)

Also Known As:

"El ángel exterminador" - Mexico (original title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:M | West Germany:18 | Finland:K-16 | UK:12 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Producciones Gustavo Alatriste

Trivia:

The title was taken from a friend of Buñuel, José Bergamin, who was writing a play with that title but never finished it. When Buñuel wanted to title his film, he asked for the rights of the title from his friend, but he answered that there was no trouble, because it was taken from the Bible, the Book of Revelations.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: None of the imprisoned men grow beards or even visible stubble.

Quotes:

Carlos Conde; Doctor:[Seeing a box of drugs] You kept that here?
Edmundo Nobile:Every now and then we used to meet in this room - just friends - passing unforgetable hours together.
Carlos Conde; Doctor:Why didn't you show it to me?
Edmundo Nobile:I was frightened that the world would find out about it.
Carlos Conde; Doctor:What was used for pleasure can now be used to relieve pain.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Anyád! A szúnyogok (2000)

Soundtrack:

Sonata No. 6

still one of the top comedies about utter frustration

The Exterminating Angel, what a movie- I've seen it twice now and each time it went against (in the best possible way) my better logic. It's a work that's the product of a kind of madman place, and it stays impressive forty plus years later due to its humor. Like Dr. Strangelove, or maybe more so akin to a Kafka work submerged in Catholic plague, the film subverts expectations. At the start of the film, Luis Bunuel makes it clear as day that his only explanation is that its nonsense. If one were wanting to dig on a pure comedy level it would work because the dialog is so strange and out of place (if taken seriously) but consistently so, and the timing of the sort of downward spiral that plunges into the denouement (if there is one). If one were wanting to look at it for more of the technical reasons, its peerless- Bunuel has a steady, carefully controlled camera, quite tradition at times. But then at others he reveals his revealing, awesome flashes of symbolism, which may or may not fly over some viewers heads.

And then, if one were to go so far, on an existential level it goes into the realm of nothingness, a kind of study of how a nonsensical existence, trapped for reasons not made clear to the viewer (barely to the rich cast of bourgeois, a running gag almost), which also calls in the Kafka aspect. By the hand of a surrealist comes a deadpan satire, and it almost becomes a dark fable (the Catholic aspect to the film) by the end. It's a rather shocking film on the first try, which is why it probably had some controversy when it first opened. Giving it another chance, the film works better, on a more sensory level almost. This is the kind of film where you're either scratching your head and turning it off midway through, or laughing (while in the grips of cringing perhaps) and in a weird awe. One of Bunuel's very best Mexican films.