This film has a great reputation in Argentina as one of the better from its director, Carlos Hugo Christensen. As an adaptation of the nice Cornell Woolrich short Story, "If I Should Die Before I Wake", it has all the elements generally found in the works of this author: suspense, interesting characters, atmosphere. It is - in this reviewer's opinion - the Argentinian counterpart of the best American adaptations of Woolrich: Hitchcock's Rear Window, Ted Tetzlaff's The Window, Robert Siodmak's Phantom Lady. Curiously, due to a letter published many years ago in a monster-magazine, this movie is sometimes listed in reference books as "El vampiro acecha / The Lurking Vampire" (perhaps its Mexican title ?) and generally with a wrong cast (Abel Salazar and German Robles). Neither Robles nor Salazar are in this film, but ALL you can like in Woolrich's novel and short stories ARE in it. The same year, Christensen made another Woolrich adaptation, "No abras nunca esa puerta", also a superior movie with two parts. The adapted stories were "Somebody on the Phone" and "Hummingbird Comes Home". Other Woolrich stories were adapted in Argentina, Mexico, and of course in France where ALL the books of this author are regularly reprinted.
Review of If I Should Die Before I Wake
