The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre

source: The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre

I was a 6 year old kid in 1971 when one night my dad pick up this movie on TV (B&W). It was hideously captivating from the very beginning: my dad was so scared that he forgot to sent me out of the TV room and so I saw it. There are sounds and images from this movie that still echos in my nightmares: the camera following the phone line; the sobbing when someone pick ups the phone; I remember something falling without explanation to the ground,like some flower basket or such; one shot in the Mandour Mansion hall where the sunlight drops over a sofa on which a beautiful woman sits... and the "bleeding ghost". Yeah, terrified I was. Until 1975 the TV put it a couple of times and then I never see it again. Never an horror film has shocked me as this one, a real classic! But as far I can remember Martin Landau wasn't the dead lady's husband but a paranormal detective or something alike. The dead lady was Mr. Mandour's mother as far as I remember. The whole movie had this "atmosphere", something incredible arcane. Is it possible to find a video master or a film positive (or negative) somewhere and release a print? If someone accomplish to release he's have the No.1 Horror Film Ever, much better than actual CGI movies.

Similar to the other viewer, I saw this film when I was 9 years old back in 1966 on Canadian T.V. It was a failed pilot for what eventually became The Outer Limits series. Joseph Stefano wrote it and it (apparently) has also appeared under it's alternative title "The Haunted". It features a 'bleeding ghost' and a wickedly chilling story. For some reason it has failed to reach the video stage. Even one of the stars, Martin Landau, has said he used to show his 'two reeler' version of the film for guests in his home and it 'scared the crap out of them'. You can read more about the film in the latest Outer Limits Guide which talks about how they were originally going for a 'Ghost Story' style series, but the studio passed on that concept in favor of sci-fi. I believe a series called 'Ghost Story' which later became 'Circle of Fear' hit the small screen about five years later. Someone please get this 'Ghost' on DVD!

In a simple breakdown, "THE GHOST OF SIERRA DE COBRE" was a labor of creativity and love from the highly talented Joseph Stefano, who had just finished working as a producer on the first season of ABC's "THE OUTER LIMITS", which he had stepped down from after ABC's unwise decision to move the series from its popular Monday night slot to Saturday nights in Fall 1964 ( "VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA") had taken over the Monday evening time slot that OUTER LIMITS held when the network renewed that show for its second and final season, and from there, Stefano began his impressive work on this unsold, but highly impressive TV pilot that had the same punching power as his work on "THE OUTER LIMITS" had. and while some have mixed reviews here, this impressive CBS pilot could've been a weekly series, but the network unwisely passed, but despite that decision, the work was still highly impressive, since Stefano took most of "THE OUTER LIMITS" crew to work on "SIERRA DE COBRE" ( Ben Brady, a former "PERRY MASON producer had replaced Stefano, but he still maintained his Villa Di Stefano partnership with Leslie Stevens' Daystar Productions) and pretty much took the cream of "THE OUTER LIMITS" first season crew with him for this unsold CBS pilot, making "THE GHOST OF SIERRA DE COBRE" a very rare and well made 1964 TV production that had amazing potential, but was a victim of fickle network politics and planning.

I would also love to see this movie in DVD. I saw it when I was 8 or 9 years old ( back in 1978 ) There must be a way to promote this film and somehow make it to see the light again. It is a classic now and probably the newest generations would love to see it too. The special effects are very simple but as the other people mentioned before ...it is all about the atmosphere. I do remember some parts of the movie, and if I am not mistaken I think I saw this movie more than 4 times. There most be enough copies around , in some local TV stations around The World, therefore I do not see why it could be impossible not to transfer the movie to digital.

Paranormal expert Nelson Orion (an excellent performance by Martin Landau) investigates a case involving a deceased woman who's reportedly making phone calls from beyond the grave. Writer/director Joseph Stefano relates the compelling story at a steady pace, ably crafts a supremely spooky atmosphere, and makes the most out of the isolated seaside setting. The fine acting by the capable cast keeps this movie humming: Diane Baker as the concerned Vivia Mandore, Tom Simcox as tormented blind man Henry, Judith Anderson as the sinister Paulina, and Nellie Burt as cheery housekeeper Mary Finch. The plot has a few neat twists and turns while the howling and moaning ghost rates as a genuinely unsettling apparition. Conrad L. Hall's crisp black and white cinematography boasts several snazzy stylistic flourishes. Dominic Frontiere's score is a tad overwrought at times, but does the shivery trick just the same. Well worth a watch.

I have seen this film a number of times, since it was not uncommonly screened on Australian late night television in the 1960s. Martin Landau's wife is dead, and interred in a crypt in the grounds of the family mansion. There is a phone line leading from the crypt to inside the house itself, and when it rings anguished sobbing is heard on the line. Martin Landau believes it is his wife's ghost sobbing, but in fact it is connected with the ghost of an old Spanish mission, a painting of which is on the wall of the main room of the house. The film is strong on atmosphere. There are slow, lingering shots which follow the phone line out of the house, and down to the granite crypt, which are quite creepy. However, the ghost, when it appears, is a disappointment. The film never leaves the house and its grounds, and looks cheaply made, but it is one of those 'irresistable' films; the type that might become a cult favourite. Now I know why it looks cheap - it was a TV pilot!

The terrific Dame Judith Anderson is once again the holder of the secrets in this TV pilot that didn't go anywhere America simply because it was far too scary for television audiences at the time. She's once again cast as a spooky housekeeper, dressed very witch like and highly reminding me of Grayson Hall later on the TV soap opera "Dark Shadows". It is ironic that one of Hall's TV characters on that soap opera was obviously based on Anderson's character of Mrs. Danvers in the classic Hitchcock masterpiece "Rebecca", for here, Anderson is both gloomy and sympathetic as a woman whose intentions are unknown and could either be sympathetic...or sinister. Cast opposite Anderson is the future Oscar-winning Martin Landau, acclaimed for his role of Bela Lugosi in "Ed Wood", here playing a master of decoding the presence of ghostly creatures, and Diane Baker ("Straight Jacket") as the wife of a blind man and a victim of ghostly apparitions, believing that her mother was murdered by a ghost in a nearby mission. it appears that approximately 20 minutes of footage has been deleted from the print that I found, but what remains tells the story quite thoroughly and left no questions unanswered. Some of the ghostly apparitions reminded me of the William Castle cult classic "13 Ghosts", and there are moments that are genuinely more frightening than any of the theatrical release horror movies of this time. That makes this a must for fans of moody ghost stories, with Anderson and Landau truly magnificent in their characterizations.

i remember seeing this film as a child, in Sydney in the sixties, on the Deadly Earnest Show..scared the crap out of me..and i don't believe in ghosts. i saw it again years later and it was still great...the scene in the crypt has stayed with me as one of the biggest scares i ever got out of a movie. i would love to get a copy of this film, if anyone knows of it being on DVD anywhere. if you get a chance to see it don't miss it, especially if you like creepy dark tales.minimum special effects and really great suspense, i can't understand why it didn't do really well, especially with Stefano's credits.somebody must be able to do something...please!

I also saw this film on TV in Sydney Australian several times in the late nineteen sixties and early seventies. Very scary and Moody with a great soundtrack . martin landau was a skeptical paranormal investigator and there was a twist with a tourist scam going wrong .and a tragic death and mistaken supernatural identity.the scene where the "ghost" is revealed is super scary and original i have most of my favorite ghost story films on DVD like "lets scare Jessica to death" "ugetsu" "the uninvited" "13 gantry row" "carnival of souls" and "The shining so if there is a DVD of ghost of it can be found I want a copy too