Dos monjes (1934) review

Friar Javier (Carlos Villatoro) is behaving in a deranged manner and his fellow monks believe he's possessed by El Diablo, so Friar Juan (Víctor Urruchúa) is brought in to try and help him out, but Javier wallops Juan in the face with a crucifix - once separated, Javier explains the history the two of them have together and their involvement with a woman named Ana (Magda Haller) ... and then Juan tells his side, which is a bit different.  Even though it can be quite overwrought (which might make some viewers groan) and the story is a tad stretched out, this early Mexican melodrama is a moody depiction of the way in which both love and jealousy can drive people mad, and the art direction by Carlos Toussaint is excellent, with the monastery looking like a metallic cave (there's also a good use of shadow play).  Still, no matter how irate one can get with the fairer sex, shooting ladies is forbidden, and abandoning society to become a religious figure doesn't fully clear one's conscience.