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Archibaldo de la Cruz is the titular protagonistic villain of the 1955 Mexican crime satire film The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, also known as Rehearsal of a Murder. Archibaldo is a fanatic dreaming of committing murder out of a craving for power, only to be sabotaged in his efforts by turns of fate every time to have people die the way he wants.
He was portrayed by Mexican actor and producer Ernesto Alonso.
Biography[]
Archibaldo, an aristocrat since his childhood during the Mexican Revolution, was told then by his governess about the dangerous "powers" of a music box his family possessed. When Archibaldo tried on his mother's clothes, the governess lambasted him, and he wanted her dead. When the Revolution resulted in the woman being killed by a stray bullet, Archibaldo presumed he cursed with the box reacting surprisingly enough with an invigorated desire to murder.
As an adult, he drives his neighbor, Patricia Terrazas, home after her latest fight with her lover, planning to slash her to death with a straight razor. The lover arrives at the house, interrupting Archibaldo's plans, and she later kills herself, which a policeman passes on to Archibaldo. He then comes across Carlota Cervantes, who has an affair with someone else's husband while lying she's a virgin. As they're both fighting their own personal demons, Archibaldo extends his hand in marriage to her. Archibaldo also meets Lavinia, a mannequin dresser and tour guide for American, in an antique shop and gets closer to her, admitting he sees her as Joan of Arc burnt at the stake. Acting it out on one of her dummies, he prepares to choke Lavinia to death with his bare hands and dispose of her remains in a kiln. Archibaldo is deflated when Lavinia brings a group of Americans to tour his home, which he reluctantly welcomes.
Lavinia then leaves because she herself is to marry. When Archibaldo finds out about Carlota's affair, he still plans the matrimony, hoping to force Carlota to pray on her knees before shooting her on their wedding night. The marriage is successful, but Carlota's lover shoots her in a rage. Archibaldo, becoming more desperate and unhinged for the perfect murder, goes to a nun to tell him about his childhood experience with the governness. Pulling out another straight razor to kill her, Archibaldo chases the nun, who plummets and dies in an elevator shaft. once an investigation ensues, Archibaldo confesses all his attempts and endangerments to a judge, pleading for penalty and expressing remorse from his uncontrollable desires. The judge finds Archibaldo not guilty, as he merely planned crimes, not executed them, so he doesn't warrant penalty for murder.
Archibaldo comes to accept the outcome with relief. While he walks in the park, he goes to a lake and throws the music box into the water to put everything behind him. By happy coincidence, Lavinia arrives there too, revealing she divorced her husband. Archibaldo is delighted to reconnect with her for a budding relationship, walking off with her at the end of the film.
Trivia[]
- Archibaldo could've readily been convicted of murder or endangerment from his causing of people's deaths by accidents outside of his original intended means to kill them, but the farce of the film would've obviously been lost.