The Book of Stone

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Carlos Enrique Taboada directs. Ignacio Torres behind the camera. Carlos Savage cuts. Produced in Mexico. Dialogue in Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 157 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 3Directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada, shot by Ignacio Torres. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Editor Carlos Savage shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Marga López and Joaquín Cordero and Norma Lazareno carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "A legend from 7 centuries ago...".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0242601 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Only 93 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Ignacio Torres

Editing

Carlos Savage

Makeup / hair

Sara Mateos

Runtime

100 min · 1h 40m

Status

Released

Original language

ES

IMDB

The Book of Stone (1969) ↗

Also by

Carlos Enrique Taboada

• 
  Even the Wind Is Afraid

  1968 · ★ 7.9
• 
  Poison for the Fairies

  1986 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Rapine

  1975 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Rubí

  1970 · ★ 7.1
• 
  Blacker Than the Night

  1975 · ★ 6.9
• 
  El juicio de Arcadio

  1965 · ★ 6.7

Community reviews

What people are saying

• tmdb179960752017-02-14
  ★ 7/10

  Pursuing the massive success and of "Hasta el viento tiene miedo", horror director Carlos Enrique Taboada achieves an equally engaging horror story with 'El Libro de Piedra'. In this case, Taboada works with Marga Lopez and Norma Lazareno again, but playing completely different roles. Mrs. Lopez is not a strict school headmistress and she becomes a sweet and delicate governess. On the other hand, Norma Lazareno is not a naughty student anymore and she becomes a reluctant stepmother, who hopelessly tries to win her stepdaughter affection. Offering a sinister story that deals with a troubled little girl, this film contains a nice amount of beautiful shots and landscapes, that in some cases, surpases the dialogs and the characters. In 'El Libro de Piedra', a sweet governess named Julia Septién, is hired by a wealthy man to take care of his young daughter, named Silvia. As soon as the governess arrives to the mansion, she finds out that Silvia is mentally troubled. However, Julia demonstrates her courage and willingness to help the child, and she decides to stay to take care of her. Mrs. Septién manages to win Silvia's affection and the bond between the two of them grows stronger each day. However, the relationship between Silvia and her stepmother, Mariana, becomes extremely hostile and Mrs. Septién, hopelessly tries to fix this. Silvia, on the other hand, finds her affection on a statue of a boy named 'Hugo', as she calls him. It first, Julia seems amused by the idea of the imaginary friend, but as the days go by, she realizes that there is nothing amusing whatsoever. Silvia's obsession with Hugo becomes disturbing to everyone and Julia starts to fear that the child might be involved in black magic and the hostility between her and her family, is not exactly a good sign. Coping with a few unnoticeable editing mistakes, this Gothic horror masterpiece, manages to be entertaining the whole time. I like to think of it as a dark Gothic drama, with some mellow winks here and there and a final scene that erases all the mellowness with a sudden slap. Most Gothic lovers are going to appreciate "El libro de piedra" for the beauty and yet simplicity of the imagery and the situations. The interface between Mrs. Septién, the governess and little Silvia, is perhaps one of the most appealing characteristics of this film, in which a little girl is basically measured as a monster by everyone. A girl who is feared by everyone at a tender age and yet, there's someone who manages to reach her heart, creating a loving bond and realizing that little Silvia is a sweet girl deep down, no matter how hard it is to see that. "El libro de piedra" causes ambiguous reactions, because in the end, it is not very clear whether if Silvia is pure evil or if she is merely a saddened and helpless soul who ends up devoting herself to a dark supernatural strength in order to find some company

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• PR

  Producciones AGSA

Key crew

• ProducerAdolfo Grovas
• Makeup Department HeadSara Mateos
• EditorCarlos Savage
• Special EffectsRicardo Sáinz
• MusicRaúl Lavista
• Sound EditorJavier Mateos
• Sound EditorSalvador Topete

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• mexico

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1969-07-18

Also known as

International titles

• El Libro de PiedraMX