|
 (101625)
Many Edgar Allan Poe stories have been adapted into films. Perhaps the most
well-known examples were the cycle of Poe films that were made in the 1960s by
Roger Corman. These films had low budgets and hammy acting, but they were highly
enjoyable with great casts. The best of the bunch were the ones not especially faithful
to the source material. House of Usher, which featured Vincent Price’s delightful over-the-top
performance, and Masque of Red Death, which had outstanding cinematography by
the fine future English director, Nicholas Roeg both being examples. This
third horror-themed review for "Halloween Horror" month is for me the film that best
represents European horror.
The French love Poe and seemed to understand him and relate to him more than
most Americans. Many of his American 19th Century contemporaries did not get him at all and
actually looked down on him. Even the great Mark Twain said that Poe always used
twelve words when he could have used two. Twain disparagingly referred to Poe
as the great jingle writer because of his perceived overuse of rhyme. Arguably,
his writing style and his historically themed stories filled with ancient
historical horrors feel more European than American, even though he was from
Virginia. So, it should not be a big shock that the greatest and most
artistically ambitious Poe movie adaptation was an Italian/French co-production
shot mostly in France. Poe was especially loved by the French Decadent school of poets like Charles
Baudelaire, who even penned a poem called “The Tomb of Edgar Allan Poe.” So it
should not be a big surprise that this film, which was titled "Spirits of the
Dead" in the US, was called "Histoires Extraordinaires" in France since this was
also
the name of a volume of Poe’s poetry that was translated by Baudelaire.
1968's "Spirits of the Dead" features visually impressive, high quality adaptations of
three Poe stories by three well known European auteur film makers. "Metzengerstein"
by Roger (And God Created Woman) Vadim, who was married to Jane Fonda at the time,
"William Wilson" by Louis (Frantic and My Dinner with Andre) Malle and finally
"Toby Dammit" by the brilliant Italian
director, Federico Fellini, who is often considered one of the finest film
makers of all time.
Perhaps to connect it to the Corman Poe films, "Spirits of the Dead" was released
in the United States by American International Pictures (AIP) in an edited
English-language version featuring narration by Vincent Price. As the star
of several of Corman's earlier film adaptations of Poe works, his narration
establishes a spiritual bridge between this European production and the previous
American productions. Where the Corman films were done "quick and dirty"
eschewing most commentary in favor of entertainment, this adaptation leans into
elevating the material and social commentary.
The lurid and dark sexual debauchery in the films seems to be criticizing the
hollowness of the swinging sixties era in which the film was made. The film’s
goal is to get the audience members to practice restraint, even though the film
itself does not often hold back on showing torture, partial nudity, and
promiscuity. Although it is somewhat tame compared to some of today’s horror
films, many of the visuals still pack a punch and may not be suitable for the
squeamish.
Although all three of the "Spirits of the Dead" segments are terrific, each of the
three segments is progressively better than the last one in the anthology. And
the final one by Fellini, 'Toby Dammit', is a masterpiece that sometimes shows up
on best films ever lists.
The film stars some of the finest, best-looking, and most glamorous actors of
the 60’s. It features Jane (Klute and China Syndrome) Fonda captured when she
was still a sex symbol and had not become an Oscar winner yet, as well as her
then
rival, Brigitte (Contempt) Bardot, who had worked with the great French
filmmaker, Jean Luc Godard. Also on display is Alain (Le Samurai) Delon, who
defined cool in France just as much as Brando and James Dean did here. Finally,
it includes the respected British actor and heartthrob, Terrence Stamp, who died
this year on August 17, as well as a pre–Easy Rider and Ulee’s Gold, Peter
Fonda, who had done a few Roger Corman biker films by this point in his career.
First up is
"Metzengerstein", by Roger Vadim, teams up Jane Fonda with her real-life brother,
Peter Fonda, playing her cousin who is sort of her opposite. It is by far the
most lusty and perverse episode of three. Jane plays Countess Frédérique de
Metzengerstein, the arrogant, decadent, and murderous noble woman who earns her
nickname as the female Caligula. Just to alleviate boredom, the countess and her
female friends amuse themselves by shooting arrows at a peasant man hanging from
a rope, and the woman who shoots him down before he chokes to death wins.
Later, the countess and her married lover more or less force his wife to make
love to them, and she looks like she is having a terrible time.
The countess never liked her more restrained and less wealthy cousin, Baron
Wilhelm Berlifitzing (Peter Fonda). He obviously disapproves of her
debauched behavior, and she mocks him in public. Then one day she hurts her
ankle, and he unexpectedly shows sympathy towards her and helps her, and somehow
this changes her feelings toward him. She begins to lust after him even though
she is his cousin, and she
invites him to join her in her bedtime activities (adding a meta level of
sister/brother incest). But he turns her down flat,
saying he was already a content man with his more humble, moderate lifestyle.
The spoiled aristocrat thinks she should have anything she wants, and she is
angered that he spurned her. Seeking revenge, she sets fire to his stable, but
the fire accidentally kills him. She gives up her sex-capes and unexpectedly
starts to grieve for him, sending her into a deep depression. Like many characters
in Poe's stories, she seems even more attracted to him after he is dead.
One day a horse seems to materialize out of nowhere at her stable, which entices and
excites her with its wildness. He seems completely untamed, but he will only let
the countess ride him. We are later told her cousin died saving his favorite
horse, and she comes to believe her cousin’s soul has transferred into the beautiful
stallion. She becomes totally devoted to the horse, which provides her a way for her
to stay connected to her dead cousin’s spirit. All of this leads to a tragic
ending, which helps her cousin achieve a measure of peace and justice.
Although the plot is a bit hazy and vague, especially at the end, the segment
features cinematography as gorgeous as Barbarella, Vadim and Fonda’s other
collaboration of that year. That film was a guilty pleasure for many, many people,
including me, but the
"Metzengerstein-Spirits of the Dead" episode is a much better piece of
filmmaking.
The second segment was directed by French New Wave director Louis Malle, who did
a brilliant music/film collaboration with jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, on
Frantic. Unlike Vadim, who was known for his visual style and eroticism, Malle
may be known more for how well he directs actor interactions rather than his
visual style. In his segment, "William Wilson", a disturbed young man (played by
the handsome and elegant Alain Delon), tells his life story, sharing all of his
sins with a priest in a confessional. This introductory narrative device was not
in the original story, which dove right into the action.
If possible, the villainous "William Wilson" is even more evil, debauched, and
sadistic than the Countess of the last story. When he is in school, the evil
Wilson and his friends (of which he is the ringleader) lower a terrified boy who snitched
on him into a vat filled with rats. After he is expelled from school, he joins
the army and leads a platoon that likes to gang rape women.
The only thing that holds him back is another boy at his school with
coincidentally the
same name and unknowingly functions as his conscience. The second boy shows he is
better at everything than his evil counterpart, and he spoils all his fun. This
"good Wilson" always shows up as if out of nowhere and always saves the day. He
prevents the "evil Wilson" from following through on his worst impulses. He has a
similar kind of relationship to his rival with the same name as the Sentry has
to the Void in Marvel Comics. He seems to know more about the other Wilson than
anyone should, and interestingly, we never see his rivals’ faces until the
climax at the very end.
But the most mysterious and most poetic of the three is "Toby Dammitt", which is
based on Poe’s short story: "Never Bet the Devil Your Head". The segment was
directed by Federico Fellini, who also made another equally brilliant short,
which appeared in "Boccaccio 70", which was an enormous influence on Woody Allen’s
underrated New York Stories segment.
Toby Dammit is like a beautiful fusion of Faust and La Dolce Vita, which retells
the usual demonic pact story while mocking the shallowness and tediousness of
the celebrity lifestyle. This is by far the most profound of the trilogy,
relating the tale of a hedonistic and opportunistic Hollywood actor
played by Terrance Stamp who makes a deal with the
devil. When Satan comes to collect, he takes on the form of an innocent little
girl all dressed in white, playing with a balloon. Although extraordinarily
little happens in terms of plot, it is all very atmospheric, upsetting, and
disturbing. The segment also contains an amusing Oscar parody sequence,
cut in some prints of the film, in which the drunk actor is asked to do a
Shakespeare monologue like a performing seal. It is hard not to get Fellini’s
point about how the film business consumes and celebrity culture itself degrades
and dehumanizes its performers. The last shot, which is a pun on the title of
the Poe story it was based on, is as wonderfully weird as anything Luis Buñuel
or David Lynch ever did. It is the perfect ending to the segment and the film
itself.
I used to teach this film and sometimes just the "William Wilson" portion in my American
Literature class, but I do not know if I could get away with it anymore. This
was before the most important thing was not to make students uncomfortable in
any way. And as I found out through my experiences, sometimes it is better not
to take unnecessary risks in the classroom.
Some meat and potatoes horror fans will find "Spirits of the Dead" slow and pretentious.
This is not a splatter film but instead a rich, thoughtful exercise-a blend of eerie scares and high art. When
I did my Vito’s
Best Horror Film List – ART INTERVIEWS, essay,
"Spirits of the Dead" appeared in my Top 25. There is a longer French version of
the film that works slightly better than the American versions,
the latter of which sometimes cuts the torture scenes. Discerning horror fans who give it a chance might be as impressed
as I was. There is really no other film like it,
|
