Castle of Purity (1973)

Interesting facts

The Castle of Purity is a 1972 Mexican drama film directed by Arturo Ripstein. It is based on a real criminal case that took place in Mexico City in 1959.

Production

The Castle of Purity was the final film for two legendary veterans of the crew.

Set designer Manuel Fontanals had worked with names like, Gabriele D'Annunzio (illustrating the first edition of 'Dreams of the Seasons'), Miguel M. Delgado, Roberto Gavaldón, Gilberto Martínez Solares, and the stage plays of García Lorca. Ripstein said, "It was a great pleasure... the set he built was really beautiful. Fontanals had to do a lot of crap movies in his career...

The home in the film reproduced the old houses in the center of Mexico City, in meticulous detail on a set at Churubusco studios. After the film was completed, Fontonals gave the only known interview of his life, published in This Magazine (September 10, 1972). He died one week later.

Ripstein made several films that were the final works of three time Ariel Award winner, cinematographer Alex Phillips, with The Castle of Purity being the last. "It was enormously pleasant. He filmed hundreds of movies... was Gregg Toland's roommate, and was famously the cameraman Mary Pickford insisted shoot her close ups."

"Alex Philips shot almost the whole movie, but suddenly he got sick. Some days he couldn't go anymore, then he was replaced by his son, with whom I worked a few times too. The shooting was [...] it was formidable; it's one of those movies where I still don't know too much about how it was done. Rather than directing, I learned."

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