Bluebeard

Starring:Richard Burton, Raquel Welch, Virna Lisi, Nathalie Delon, MarilÃ¹ Tolo, Karin Schubert, Agostina Belli, Sybil Danning, Joey Heatherton, Edward Meeks, Jean Lefebvre, Erica Schramm, Doka Bukova, Mathieu CarriÃ¨re, Karl-Otto Alberty, Kurt GroÃŸkurth, Thomas Fischer, Peter Martin Urtel, Mag-Avril, SÃ¡ndor SzabÃ³
Director: Luciano Sacripanti, Edward Dmytryk
Studio: Anchor Bay
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Baron von Sepper (Richard Burton, who seems to sleepwalk through the film), a European aristocrat of vaguely Germanic heritage, marries and murders a succession of international lovelies (among them Raquel Welch, Virna Lisi, Nathalie Delon, and MarilÃ¹ Tolo) before his seventh bride, peppy but coy showgirl Joey Heatherton, discovers his secret in a frozen basement museum. Would you believe the Baron is just a nice guy who's a poor judge of character? A man who loves deeply but perhaps not too wisely? Or that he harbors a deep, troubling psychosexual secret? Director Edward Dmytryk (The Caine Mutiny), who also cowrote this Euro-pudding coproduction, tosses in a bit of all three as he barrels through his reign of terror. He even attempts to milk laughs from a few of the executions, but despite its upbeat pace it drags through unnecessary exposition and dull, dead patches of life-size kewpie doll Heatherton padding around his castle. Richard Burton struggles with a hoary stage beard and a dull screenplay that labors under the pretense of wit to deliver a bored performance. This 1972 production gets some mileage from its guest cast (most of whom offer a tantalizing flash of flesh before succumbing to the Baron's homicidal impulses), but winds up as lifeless as Burton's vacant, weary stare. --Sean Axmaker

The Black & Blue Collection (3 films} Bluebeard, Black Dragons, & The Black Raven
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The Black & Blue Collection (3 films} Bluebeard, Black Dragons, & The Black Raven
Starring: John Carradine , Jean Parker , Nils Asther , Ludwig Stössel , and George Pembroke
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer , William Nigh , and Sam Newfield
Manufacturer: ROAN
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002T7YXA
Release Date: 2004-08-31

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"Monsieur Verdoux" was a disaster at the American box-office...

an ironic delight of a movie

KILL A MILLION THEY CALL YOU A HERO; KILL ONE AND THEY KILL YOU

HOORAY FOR RAYE!

Chaplin adrift in a dark and sinister world

Monsieur Verdoux
Starring: Irving Bacon , Marjorie Bennett , Audrey Betz , Virginia Brissac , and Charles Chaplin
Director: Charles Chaplin
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00017LVQY
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Amazon.com essential video

This blistering little black comedy was well ahead of its time when released in 1947. Originally, Orson Welles had wanted Chaplin to star in his drama about a French mass murderer named Landru, but Chaplin was hesitant to act for another director, and used the idea himself. He plays a dapper gent named Henri Verdoux (who assumes a number of identities), a civilized monster who marries wealthy women, then murders them (as we meet him, he's gathering roses as an incinerator ominously bellows smoke in the background) and collects their money to support his real family. The Little Tramp is now a distant memory, though this was the first film not to feature Chaplin's beloved creation. Verdoux is largely viciously clever until it gets too heavy-handed, as evidenced when a woman he spares returns years later as the mistress of a munitions manufacturer. Ultimately, Chaplin breaks character (much as he did in The Great Dictator) to preach to the masses, declaring that against the machines of war that grip the planet, humble killer Verdoux is "an amateur by comparison." --David Kronke

Description

Charles Chaplin turns his traditionally sunny sensibilities inside out with this sublime black comedy about a family man who secretly uses murder to support his beloved invalid wife and child. There's little of the immortal Tramp in Verdoux, yet the fastidious dandy is not lacking in comic graces. Most hilarious of all are the always-foiled attempts to dispatch the raucous Annabella (Martha Raye). When this most atypical Chaplin film opened, the world was not ready to look death in the face and walk away smiling. Today, Monsieur Verdoux ranks among Chaplin's best works. It is killer comedy.

Customer Reviews:

"Monsieur Verdoux" was a disaster at the American box-office..........2007-01-08

Abandoning for the first time his character of Charlie the Tramp and creating the new and intriguing one of "Monsieur Verdoux," Charles Chaplin subtitled his first film in seven years "a comedy of murders." This was meant to shock, as was the picture's attack on war and on capitalism as the source of war, not to mention its ironic sidelights on Christianity--but to shock us to our senses...

"Monsieur Verdoux" managed to shock the American middle class, but not in the way its maker had intended... The public connected the distasteful message of this "crazy" film with vague memories of scandals in Chaplin's personal life and his supposed left-wing leanings...

The screen's greatest actor, its most important creative figure, the most famous man in its history, known to more of his contemporaries than even the central figures of the great religions, Chaplin for the first time tasted defeat and failure...

"Limelight," which appeared five years later, was booked into only 3,000 theaters instead of the 12,000 which in earlier days had always been eager for any Chaplin film... This debacle had nothing do with the quality of the picture but stemmed from the efforts of pressure groups which, incensed at Chaplin's defiance of accepted moral and economic standards, exerted all their power to persuade exhibitors not to show and the public not to attend it... Only its tremendous European success, as in the case of "Monsieur Verdoux," saved it from financial catastrophe...

But bigotry and hate were not the only reasons for the failures of these two highly personal confessions... They are the films of a man who has withdrawn to a distance to observe the human comedy, and it is from a distance that he sends us his messages... Their Sophoclean irony and detachment are matched by a latent savage anger and an infinite compassion... They deal in high style with our highest concerns... Above all they seek to speak the truth, not the acceptable truth, not necessarily the whole truth, but the truth as an aging man leaving illusions behind sees it... If they have a film counterpart, it is Von Stroheim's "Greed," and, pressure groups or no, they were bound to meet the fate of "Greed."

an ironic delight of a movie.......2006-12-25

I first saw the movie when I was 17 years old and was smitten immediately by its dark, perverse humor, and especially the performance of Martha Raye. It is worth buying just for her performance alone, a classic of comedy. Some of it seems a bit awkward and not smoothly done, such as the speeding wheels of the train to indicate travel and time passing. And some of Chaplain's shticks such as the way he counts bills seem a bit gratuitous but these flaws don't do much damage to the whole. One of Chaplain's best if not the very best.

KILL A MILLION THEY CALL YOU A HERO; KILL ONE AND THEY KILL YOU.......2006-09-06

THe first scene filmed by Chaplin is the final execution scene in which he sums up the philosophy of the whole film and CHaplin's own pacifist philosophy. If we invade other nations to steal their oil, etc., and kill thousands of innocent bystanders, women and childrne in the process, why are we called heroic and patriotic, but if we delight some lonely old widows and fill their dreams and then relieve them of their sorrow in order to feed our suffering family, why are we a villian?

And why does the grotesquely rudely American Martha Raye (The model for so many current comediennes?) survive? I guess because she was a lottery winner for her wealth, and not a silly lonely old widow.

Check out the streetwalker. Cute. But then corrupted by wealth and gaining money through her munitions manufacturing lover and thus in favor of war and therefore Verdouz loses heart whereas he once admired her pragmatism

HOORAY FOR RAYE!.......2006-04-23

When Chaplin set about to tell the tale of MONSIEUR VERDOUX, he wanted an actress for the role of the indestructible Annabella who could hold her own in the comedy department. He looked no further than stage/radio/movie star Martha Raye, who was known for her improvisational skills and was fearless when it came to comedy. Raye considered this the high point of her career, to have been chosen by the man she considered The Master as a co-star. Without exception, critics hail the rowboat scene when Verdoux is trying vainly to murder the obnoxious Annabella as the highlight of the film. Given the right director, Raye was matchless in comedy and also proved to be a capable dramatic actress in a precious few roles (Jumbo, The Gossip Columnist). Watch this film, if only to appreciate the comedy genius of Martha Raye. Oh, Chaplin ain't bad either.

Chaplin adrift in a dark and sinister world.......2005-12-13

Chaplin plays a French Bluebeard who loses his respectable job at a bank during the Depression and then takes to marrying and murdering rich women in order to get the money to support his invalid wife and child. It's a black comedy with a lot more emphasis on black than comedy. There's intelligence here and a great deal of cynicism: the world is an evil place, kindness is a rare commodity, etc.

What shocked most people was Chaplin's total lack of remorse as the murderer; he treats it just like a business. There are a couple of old comedy routines thrown in (most memorable is where he tries to bump off Martha Raye in a rowboat), but they don't amount to much. Chaplin's "common man" (so well represented by the little tramp in earlier pictures) is now lost in a sea of worldly despair and nihilist philosophy. There might be a lot to chew on here about the fate of mankind in a bleak world, but it's not much fun to watch.

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]

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Bluebeard's Eighth Wife [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Manufacturer: Universal
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000N1FUB0

Product Description

Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Subtitles), SYNOPSIS: The great Ernst Lubitsch directed this farce (written by Charles M. Brackett and Billy Wilder) about a free-wheeling millionaire, Michael Brandon (Gary Cooper), who enjoys getting married but has a hard time staying married: he's had seven wives and is looking for number eight. He thinks he may have found her in the person of Nicole de Loiselle (Claudette Colbert), whom he meets in a shop on the French Riviera. Unfortunately for Michael, Nicole doesn't like him very much and keeps rebuffing his advances, even though most women would be only too happy to marry him for his money. For just that reason, Nicole's father (Edward Everett Horton), a financially embarrassed French nobleman, strongly suggests that matrimony with Michael would be a good idea, especially since Michael doesn't want to take no for an answer. Nicole eventually relents and weds Michael, but when she tries to get him to change a few of his habits during the honeymoon, he makes plans to divorce her. But Nicole has finally decided that she loves Michael after all, and, as he tries to flee from her, she gives chase, determined to win his heart once and for all. The same story was previously filmed as a silent picture in 1923. SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Filmographies, Interactive Menu, Photo Gallery,

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John Carradine: Puppeteer, Painter, Master Of Mayhem

Bluebeard
Starring: Iris Adrian , Nils Asther , John Carradine , Henry Kolker , and Teala Loring
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Manufacturer: Miracle Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00023BLRQ
Release Date: 2004-06-29

Customer Reviews:

John Carradine: Puppeteer, Painter, Master Of Mayhem.......2004-07-10

I did not know what to expect when I ordered this movie. All I knew was that it starred John Carradine and was made in 1944. It turns out that it is not a pirate movie; it is about Carradine as a tormented artist. Carradine, playing a nineteenth century French artist in Paris is the notorious 'Bluebeard' who kills models and dumps them into the Seine. Although I generally associate Carradine with grade Z horror movies from the sixties, he was at one time a very fine actor capable of a wide range of roles and emotions. Here he is excellent as the tormented painter and puppeteer who is haunted by an early encounter with a woman he helped, but ended up destroying him emotionally. Many of Carradine's talents are put to good use here, including the use of his singing voice. (Actually that wasn't a talent to write home about. The next time I can think of John singing is in the disastrous Coleman Francis cold war fiasco "Red Zone Cuba".)

Carradine is backed up by a talented cast including Jean Parker who plays the object of his desire, and who ultimately helps unravel his doings via a cravat she mended for him after he kills her sister. Also in fine form is Ludwig Stossel, who plays a nervous art dealer who seeks money from an unholy alliance with Bluebeard. Silent screen star Nils Asther plays a police detective very coolly, though when he speaks with his French accent he sometimes seems to be channeling Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau.

The film is well done, with excellent acting all around, although there are a few problems. The print is very dark and sometimes the outdoor action (generally at night) is hard to follow as the characters blend into the shadows more than was even intended. The music is public domain, and frequently does not fit the action onscreen, and the outdoor sets look like they were representations made for live theater on stage.

Amazon.com essential video

Description

On one level, "Monsieur Verdoux" is the story of a fired French bank clerk who goes into business for himself marrying and murdering women for their money. On another level, the film is an indictment of war, in which, according to Verdoux, mass murder is legalized, celebrated and paraded. "Killing is the enterprise by which your system prospers," Verdoux says. "As a mass killer, I am an amateur by comparison." This evaluation was particularly apt in the case of the wife, played by the irrepressible Martha Raye. As Annabella, Raye is one spouse who simply refuses to be murdered, comically evading the deadly traps that Verdoux sets for her. A complete change of pace for Chaplin, "Monsieur Verdoux" was a critical and box office failure upon its release in 1947 as the public was not ready for a cynical antihero from the man who brought the world The Little Tramp. However, its re-release in 1964 set box office records as a new audience attuned to the pleasures of black comedy by "Dr. Strangelove" gave the film the reception it richly deserved.

Customer Reviews:

"Monsieur Verdoux" was a disaster at the American box-office..........2007-01-08

an ironic delight of a movie.......2006-12-25

KILL A MILLION THEY CALL YOU A HERO; KILL ONE AND THEY KILL YOU.......2006-09-06

HOORAY FOR RAYE!.......2006-04-23

Chaplin adrift in a dark and sinister world.......2005-12-13

Average customer rating:

Totally unwatchable
Carradine shines in this uneven B thriller
To Love or to Kill, That Is the Question
"I knew I couldn't undo the wrongs I'd done."
John Carradine in Ulmer's moody horror classic

Bluebeard (1944) (B&W)
Starring: John Carradine , Jean Parker , Nils Asther , Ludwig Stössel , and George Pembroke
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00006G8F4
Release Date: 2002-07-30

Customer Reviews:

Totally unwatchable.......2007-06-15

Hear me people. I love movies, good movies, bad movies, awful movies, A, B, and Z movies. I've seen them all people, but Bluebeard falls into a category that defies description. Ever see a movie from the bottom of the barrel?? Well knock a hole in the bottom of the barrel, start digging, and you'll eventually find Bluebeard.

First of all the picture and sound quality is terrible. The scenes at night cannot be seen, the indoor scenes are so whitewashed, it hurts your eyes. The sound is bad too. But despite all this I could still watch it if it had a good story!!!

This is the most godwaful 'horror' movie I have ever seen. It took me three attempts to finish this movie. I fell asleep the first two attempts and finally finished it on the third. It is not because I wanted to finish it, it was because of the challenge to SEE if I could finish it. This movie spends more time wrapped around the investigation of a painting, clothing for puppets, and droll dialouge. The leading lady is a hottie, but believe me you will not care. This has got to be the most boring thing to watch next to live coverage of a session of English Parliment. Heed my warning people, you would rather eat a bucket of dirty toenail clippings than watch this.

Carradine shines in this uneven B thriller.......2006-09-28

I saw this on a cheap DVD copy, and the film may have lost a bit in translation, but time has not been kind to the soundtrack, the dialogue muffled, and the background music overbearing. Even so, this is clearly a very uneven production saved maily by the two leads and the high notes of artistry within an overall muddy piece.
Carradine is fantastic. This is a great role for him, displaying diverse talents. He is unfortunately not directed with any subtlety, and it is clear that he is the villain from the begginning, so this becomes more a story of "will the villain be redeemed by love?" That makes this film more interesting than a standard thriller.
Jean Parker is really luminous and lovely, and is the only young female in the cast that captures the feeling of the time period. The actress playing her sister is arch and tart enough to be playing a film noir gun moll, and the other young actresses are just horrible, and horribly directed, and completely out of place in a period film... they must all have come from the local bar. They certainly add a laugh (even when they shouldn't).
The movie has elements that make it interesting and artistic, the focus on painting style, the accomplished and beautiful puppet show. It becomes fairly clear that this movie should have been called The Puppetmaster... that kind of "just missed the mark" moment mars many elements of this film. It starts with the title BLUEBEARD, which is bandied about, but never followed up on, and continues.
This was a "poverty row" film, and that does endear it to me... but being from 1944, this is not that early a film, and it is simply a grade B shocker - a precurser to Vincent Price's wonderful performances in many B thriller shockers, and they have been enjoied by millions. This may actually have been an attempt to make a period film in film noir style, if so, it was a mismarriage.
Still, I give it a 3 - slightly below average, because in the overview of film history, we have much higher budget films that are infintiely worse on all levels. A similar, earlier film, but much better on all levels, is John Barrymore's SVENGALI. If you liked this, you will LOVE that.

To Love or to Kill, That Is the Question.......2006-09-03

Set against the backdrop of 19th Century France, BLUEBEARD is a black and white movie about a serial killer, named Gaston Morrell (John Carradine), who works as a puppeteer, but is also a talented and troubled artist who strangles his female models upon finishing a picture. Morrell has been attempting to live the simple life of a puppeteer, but his patron, Jean Lamarte (Ludwig Stossel) wants more money and coerces him into painting more pictures. Morrell has fallen in love with a beautiful woman named Lucille (Jean Parker) and Lamarte pursues Morrell to paint her. While Morrell fights with himself, the police race to save Lucille before Bluebeard kills again.

Illustrating the conflict that a disturbed psychopath feels in trying to live a normal life and giving into his murderous urges, BLUEBEARD is a decent movie made and distributed by the Poverty Row studio, Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). John Carradine (yes the father of David, Keith, and Robert), who became best known for playing villains and heavies, is the most famous actor in the film and is said that his role as Bluebeard, aka Gaston Morrell was his favorite role of all time. Jean Arthur does a good job as the female lead in the film. Despite the fact that the film had hardly any budget and was one of many pictures churned out from Poverty Row, the movie is a decent flick that is still entertaining today. That's better than I can say for a lot of the million dollar garbage that Hollywood likes to churn out nowadays.

"I knew I couldn't undo the wrongs I'd done.".......2006-05-11

The film "Bluebeard" from cult director Edgar G. Ulmer is set in 19th Century France and begins with the police fishing yet another body out of the Seine. It seems that the residents of Paris live in fear of a serial killer who strangles his young female victims and then tosses them into the Seine. The beginning scenes of the film stress the atmosphere of fear that reigns in Paris--residents hurry home at night rather than face death at the hands of the killer.

Puppeteer Gaston Morrell (John Carradine) holds his puppet shows in the park, and the murders haven't been good for business. After meeting dressmaker Lucille (Jean Parker) and her friends, Morrell invites them to come and see his puppets. After the puppet show, it's obvious that Morrell is attracted to Lucille. While it is revealed that Morrell is the killer, the film stresses his motives and the detective work involved in solving the crimes. Lucille likes the softly spoken Morrell--who's also a portrait painter--so the plot becomes a tense race against time as Lucille becomes more involved with the deranged killer. There's also an interesting complication in the form of art dealer/landlord Jean Lamatre (Ludwig Stossel)--a man who shares some moral responsibility for Morrell's crimes.

Director Edgar G. Ulmer makes splendid use of light and shadows to highlight the sinister subject at hand. Some of the best scenes take place under the bridges around the Seine, and it's in these dark corners that Morrell feels most comfortable, using the sewer system as a short cut when hiding his crimes. One of the biggest complaints about these old film transfers to DVD is that the film is often either too dark or bleached out--obscuring action. But in this Alpha DVD is film is certainly watchable--however, the sound quality is poor and muffled--displacedhuman

John Carradine in Ulmer's moody horror classic.......2006-05-07

One of the more ambitious productions from notorious 'Poverty Row' studio Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), BLUEBEARD features the amazing John Carradine in the oft-fabled lead role.

Gaston (Carradine) is an artist/puppeteer in 19th century Paris who gets his thrills from murdering pretty young models. His newest model Lucille (Jean Parker) learns of Gaston's bizarre desires and decides to ensure his capture. Despite the 'Poverty Row' limitations of it's studio, BLUEBEARD is filled with exceptional photography and lavish production values, largely thanks to it's expert director Edgar G. Ulmer (who directed the 1934 masterpiece "The Black Cat" and whose later credits included "Strange Illusion" as well as "The Strange Woman" with Hedy Lamarr).

Jean Parker (best-remembered as Beth in the 1933 Katharine Hepburn/George Cukor "Little Women") plays Lucille and makes for a strong and vibrant heroine in the tradition of the great Ulmer leading ladies. John Carradine, who specialised in playing pychopaths and murderers, is completely mesmerising as Gaston.

The supporting cast includes Nils Asther, Ludwig Stossel, Teala Loring, Sonia Sorel, Henry Kolker and veteran character-actress Iris Adrian.

Average customer rating:

Totally unwatchable
Carradine shines in this uneven B thriller
To Love or to Kill, That Is the Question
"I knew I couldn't undo the wrongs I'd done."
John Carradine in Ulmer's moody horror classic

Bluebeard
Starring: John Carradine , Jean Parker , Nils Asther , Ludwig Stössel , and George Pembroke
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Manufacturer: All Day Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Strange Illusion
Monsoon (Isle of Forgotten Sins)
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ASIN: B00003ETHF
Release Date: 2000-01-11

Customer Reviews:

Totally unwatchable.......2007-06-15

Carradine shines in this uneven B thriller.......2006-09-28

To Love or to Kill, That Is the Question.......2006-09-03

"I knew I couldn't undo the wrongs I'd done.".......2006-05-11

John Carradine in Ulmer's moody horror classic.......2006-05-07

Threshold of Terror: Bluebeard / House on Haunted Hill

Average customer rating:

ONE OF THE BETTER PUBLIC DOMAIN DOUBLE FEATURES

Threshold of Terror: Bluebeard / House on Haunted Hill

Manufacturer: PC Treasures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

Product Description

Double Feature including a Superman cartoon "Mechanical Monsters"

Customer Reviews:

ONE OF THE BETTER PUBLIC DOMAIN DOUBLE FEATURES.......2005-11-17

WHAT IT IS:

Usually, one expects less than nothing from these cheap, public-domain double features. This is an example of a pleasant surprise.

SAVE THE BOX BECAUSE:

Save the box, because that is the only case that comes with this DVD!

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL:

This is certainly a classic of the genre starring Vincent Price. This version is B/W and Fullscreen, 75 minutes. A 3-star horror classic without gore.

ABOUT THE TRANSFER:

The transfer for the "House On Haunted Hill" was not nearly as good as the "Warner Brothers", Widescreen, BW release that I last saw this movie on. However, it played in "Fullframe" about the way a VHS transfer would, with acceptable sound and video, though a little dark at times. There was no bouncing or flutter or excessive artifacts on the film. One would assume that he/she was watching the movie on cable by the quality of the transfer.

BLUEBEARD:

This very creepy John Carradine horror vehicle is a real sleeper. Basically, it is a "Boston Strangler"-in-Paris film made 60 years ago. It is a worthwhile film to see, definitely a 3-star film, and again, without the gore or profanity that one finds in more recent offerings from this genre.

ABOUT THE TRANSFER:

Not as good as the first, but the bouncing stopped after the opening credits and some artifacts and fading persisted throughout this 60-year-old film. Still, it was quite watchable.

MECHANICAL MONSTERS:

This original "Superman Cartoon" played even better than either of the feature presentations. This is a very good transfer of a nearly 60-year-old cartoon.

BOTTOM LINE:

At around $5.00, it is very well worth the price.

Average customer rating:

Hang onto your seats, a camp classic!

Bluebeard
Starring: Carradine , Parker , and Asther
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

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( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

John Carradine gives the performance of his career as Gaston Morel, an opera-singing puppeteer-cum-psycho serial killer preying on the women of Paris--but not before he paints their portraits! When Gaston falls in love with his intended victim, he accidentally leaves clues for the Gendarme agents on his trail--and their pursuit ends in a climactic chase through the sewers of Paris. Stylishly directed by acclaimed filmmaker Edgar Ulmer, this classic horror thriller has been too long misrepresented by poor quality copies. This definitive edition has been digitally mastered from newly restored 35mm preservation elements prepared by the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris.

Customer Reviews:

Hang onto your seats, a camp classic!.......2004-04-20

Though this wretched movie is not the nadir of Richard Burton's career (check out "The Klansman" for that dubious distinction), it comes mighty darn close. The script, the acting and the general tone of this movie is beyond repulsive, it is tawdry, inane and ultimately, quite pathetic. However, there is one overwhelmingly redeeming feature to "Bluebeard:" it is so bad it is unintentionally hilarious!

Burton sleepwalks through this silly film with a cheap, stick-on goatee. As always, he overacts to a ridiculous degree and one eternally wonders why his directors never took him aside and said, "Richard, you don't need to scream every single line." Alas, Burton is magnificently dreadful here, his attempts at lovemaking become bombastically embarrassing to watch, his few, brief attempts at some decent acting are wickedly futile. One real-life moment to ponder: following one love scene with one of the no-name Italian starlets, the director yelled, "cut!" but Burton and the starlet continued kissing and then walked off the set to Burton's waiting limousine. Hmmm, where was Liz?

Description

Bluebeard(1944, B & W, 73 MINs.)Starring John Carradine and Jean Parker In the famous art district of Paris, a new evil has taken up residence. A troubled and intense artist seeks out various portrait models to aid in his work. But when the paintings are finished, he strangles his models. Can the authorities catch him before he strikes again? And who will be lured next into his lair of death? Chamber of Horrors (1958, B & W, 75 MINS.) Starring Vincent Price, Richard Long and Carolyn Craig Upon his death, a wealthy industrialist leaves behind a huge treasure in his private tomb. The way to the treasure is through seven interlocking doors with seven distinct keys. The evil Dr. Manetta has six keys but Lili Palmer, the rightful heir, holds the last. Manetta will stop at nothing to get that key and the treasure even if it means subjecting Lili to the nefarious chamber of horrors.

Customer Reviews:

Watchable but barely.......2005-11-06

First of all, fans of Vincent Price should be aware that he is not in "Chamber of Horrors"--nor are Richard Long or Carolyn Craig for that matter. Nor was the film produced in 1958--from the look of it, probably early to mid 1930's. The film is a fairly tedious bit of melodrama. The transfer is awful--fuzzy picture and the sound is so bad the dialogue is hard to make out. "Bluebeard" is the better of the two with John Carradine's restrained performance the reason for giving the dvd two stars. The picture isn't terrible clear, but the sound is okay. So, for five dollars I would give this one a look if you like John Carradine, but skip over "Chamber of Horrors".

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