A well paced and compellingly played production that stunningly brings most of the roles of the classsic Noir Film. Miguel (Julián Mateos) and Javier (Victor Valverde) are two brothers who have followed very different paths in life . Miguel is in the seminary , where he is preparing to receive Holy Orders . Javier is a hired murderer for a criminal organization led by Bernstein (Ismael Merlo) and henchman (Luis Induni) . As a contract killer Javier kills in exchange for enough money to sustain his vices but in a criminal assignment he's seriously injured . Suddenly, Miguel hears of the dangerous situation his brother is in and sets out to save him. Miguel leaves the seminary and, looking for Javier, immerses himself in the circles of the underworld of the noisy city of Barcelona . The meeting of the two brothers is very violent and lethal .
The picture is developed with tension , suspense , emotion , and the exciting deeds are unfolded with absolute logic until the bloody final outcome . Dealing with existence of a nasy group of crooks , giving a deep psychological detail studio of some misfit characters . At the same time , it concerns a sibling rivalry between two opposite brothers resulting in fateful consequences. There's also the ordinary good girl : Margarita Lozano and the bad girl : Silvia Solar as the typycal Femme Fatal of the classic Film Noir . An appropriate and interesting production in short budget that alrightly copies adequately most of the characters of the classsic Noir Film . This flick is installed in the well-known terrain of marginality such as Barcelona's Chinatown or Chinese slum , to tell a story that follows a paradigm of the North American criminal genre : two troublesome human beings in a close relationship with each other end up facing each other by choosing different paths in life. El precio de un asesino (1963) contains a certain historical interest to contemplate a traditional genre that was mostly shot in Barcelona and Madrid and mainly in the late fifties and early sixties . An acceptable attempt by the Spanish cinema, produced by prolific Ignacio F. Iquino and his ¨I. F. I.¨ company , when he was still trying to create good films. And he partly succeeded, or at least he tried for a long time before he kicked and sickled into uncovering a ¨Bis cinema¨ and others by financing or directing lousy Paella Westerns , or sleaze erotic picture , which were what really fed him . On this occasion Iquino achieves a distracted film, not at all boring, that unites crime films with thrillers and even socio-dramatic psychological themes along with interesting roles .Among the latter there are several characters as the two protagonists : Victor Valverde and Julian Mateos , two intimate brothers who become Cain-Abel alike , though at the end getting some exciting scenes between them . Both of whom give fine interpretations , though there are quite a few stridencies at times, especially those of Víctor Valverde and Julián Mateos themselves , when they talk to each other going from calm dialogue to wild shouting ; a way to provide the twisted plot a dramatic intensity , but it really squeaks . Both of them being accompanied by a very good support cast , such as : Fernando Sancho , Margarita Lozano, Silvia Solar , Xan Das Bolas , Luis Induni and Ismael Merlo.
This nice film belongs to the Spanish Film Noir whose main center was in Barcelona and Madrid, at times ; other great titles also located within a Barcelona or Madrid production are the following ones : "Distrito Quinto" (Julio Coll,1957) , ¨Brigada criminal¨(1950) Ignacio F Iquino , ¨A sangre fría (1959)¨by Juan Bosch , ¨Un vaso de Whisky¨(Julio Coll) , or "A Tiro Limpio" (1963), by Francisco Pérez-Dolz , ¨091 Policia al habla¨ by Jose Maria Forqué and the best Noir resulted to be "Los Peces Rojos" (1955) by José Antonio Nieves Conde . The motion picture was professionally directed by Miguel Lluch , though he fails to impress in any of the sections but the narrative is unclear and has its strengths and weaknesses.
