Umbracle (1972) review

Companion film (of sorts) to Portabella's Cuadecuc, Vampir once again features actor Christopher Lee as the lead figure ominously walking around Barcelona, then it cuts to Spanish filmmakers discussing the "rules" of making movies under Francisco Franco, shows scenes from Pedro Lazaga's "patriotic" 1956 war movie El Frente Infinito followed by two clowns doing their dopey routine, Lee reciting Poe's "The Raven" and then images from a slaughterhouse.  I appreciate the anti-authoritarian position taken by the filmmaker but it doesn't have the same gloomy and haunting appeal of Cuadecuc, Vampir and the various elements don't meld together into a coherent feature.  He might have been better off trimming the fragments from the Lazaga picture ... and the footage of chickens getting dispatched - sarcastically set to Ray Conniff's "They Long to Be Close to You" - is unnecessary (and too literal).