KLIMOVSKY, LEÓN

(1906-1996)

Buenos Aires-born León Klimovsky is one of the most versatile filmmakers in Spanish film history. He trained as a dentist, and was a practitioner for over 15 years, then decided to follow his creative inclinations (he had been an occasional art and jazz critic) and turn to filmmaking. He directed his first film, the Dostoyevsky adaptationEl jugador(The Gambler), in 1948, and until 1955 he achieved a strong reputation in Argentina with films likeSuburbio(Suburb, 1952) orEl túnel(The Tunnel, 1952). From 1955, he also developed a career in Spain, although continued to work on Argentinian projects until the mid-1960s.

Klimovsky cultivated several commercial genres, following prevailing trends, including spaghetti Westerns (Dosmil dólares por Coyote[Two Thousand Dollars for Coyote], 1966;Un dólar y una tumba[One Dollar and a Tomb], 1970) and pop musicals (Escala en Tenerife[Stop at Tenerife], 1964).In the early 1970s, he became internationally known for his horror films, sometimes starring and written in collaboration with Paul Naschy. Among them, the most emblematic for fans areLa noche de Walpurgis(Werewolf's Shadow, 1971), a milestone in the genre, as well asLa saga de los Drácula(The Dracula Saga, 1972),Dr.Jeckyll y el hombre lobo(Doctor Jeckyll and the Werewolf, 1972),La orgía nocturna de los vampiros(Grave Desires, 1973), andLa rebelión de las muertas(Walk of the Dead, 1973). All of these are cheap reworkings of old stories, with legendary characters recast in increasingly convoluted combinations of periods and themes. They had international casts and achieved widespread distribution in several countries. In many cases, different versions were edited, depending on censorship demands: Spanish films before 1969 could not contain any kind of nudity, and after that only in limited situations, whereas other countries like France or Germany could be more flexible about this. Toward the end of his career he specialized in issue-centered films:Muerte de un quinqui(Death of a Gipsy, 1975),Secuestro(Kidnapping, 1976), andViolación fatal(Trauma, 1978) belong to this period.