Histoires extraordinaires (1968)

Histoires extraordinaires (1968) aka Spirits Of The Dead
Genre: Horror | Arthouse
Country: France/Italy | Director: Federico Fellini/Louis Malle/Roger Vadim

Language: French or Spanish (Dual audio) | Subtitles: English (.srt file)

Aspect ratio: Widescreen 1.85:1 | Length: 121mn
Dvdrip Xvid Avi - 640x368 - 23fps - 1.48gb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063715/

Cast:
Brigitte Bardot ... Giuseppina (segment "William Wilson")
Alain Delon ... William Wilson and his double (segment "William Wilson")
Jane Fonda ... Contessa Frederique de Metzengerstein (segment "Metzengerstein")
Terence Stamp ... Toby Dammit (segment "Toby Dammit")
James Robertson Justice ... Countess' Advisor (segment "Metzengerstein")
Salvo Randone ... Priest (segment "Toby Dammit")
Françoise Prévost ... Friend of Countess (segment "Metzengerstein")
Peter Fonda ... Baron Wilhelm Berlifitzing (segment "Metzengerstein")

Three top European directors take on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Roger Vadim's "Metzengerstein" is incredibly beautiful. It was shot around great-looking, crumbling oceanfront castles and is remarkably photographed, costumed and scored, it's just a shame the core plotting is so weak. The evil Baroness Frederique (Jane Fonda, the directors wife at the time) is an insatiable tyrant who presides over orgies and sadistic, dehumanizing games. When she destroys a pure soul, her distant cousin Wilhelm (Peter Fonda), horses and fire play a key role in her demise.

"William Wilson," by Louis Malle, is an entertaining reworking of the old doppelganger theme starring Alain Delon as a pure lout AND his better half, a exact copy who drives him crazy by putting a halt to his evil impulses. Odd story structure here and Brigitte Bardot (in a black wig) is good support during a fateful card game. And then comes the really good stuff.

"Toby Dammit" (released separately as "Never Bet the Devil Your Head"), a brilliant and sometimes chilling piece of enigmatic film-making from Federico Fellini. Terence Stamp is a marvel of facial expressions as boozy, obnoxious British movie star Toby Dammit, who falls apart at the seems upon arriving in Italy to start production on a Western reworking of the story of Christ. Instead he becomes imprisoned in his own personal hell. In every possible technical department, this segment is a triumph and the creepy finale (borrowing a key image from Mario Bava's KILL, BABY, KILL!) has lost absolutely none of its impact. Source

Screenshots

2 comments:

N Prasad said...: part 7 was deleted/missing could you repost it please many thanks; March 6, 2011 1:58 AM
A. Balsalm said...: Haven't seen this one in any shape or form in ages either. If I recall, I didn't much care for the first part, but the rest were amazing.; May 18, 2011 9:24 AM

My duck is dead

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