I love movies set in past centuries, as well as gothic films from past decades, so I checked this one out and while I liked the atmosphere and creepy music, the dubbing made everyone sound so stilted and unnatural. I'd rather the movie have had subtitles.
Barbara Steele was her usual enigmatic self, with those incredible eyes, and the other actors were okay, I guess, though the Kurt character got on my nerves, vacillating from bully to coward to coldhearted creep to lovesick fool, it just got too ridiculous.
As soon as Barbara makes her second appearance (after her lookalike is thrown into the watery depths by the man who sentences her mother to burn at the stake) you just know something macabre is going on. But the kid sister part of the story was a bit much, kind of unnecessary. Elizabeth grows up and is forced to marry her cousin (YUCK!!) who happens to be the man who murdered her father (double YUCK!!) and let her mother be executed for it (triple YUCK!!) Then, he falls for the mysterious Mary (a.k.a. Big sister) who appears out of nowhere and suddenly he wants to be rid of Elizabeth and plots her murder, whereas before this he wanted to conquer both her body and her heart. Too over the top.
It's not bad, but don't expect too much.
Barbara Steele was her usual enigmatic self, with those incredible eyes, and the other actors were okay, I guess, though the Kurt character got on my nerves, vacillating from bully to coward to coldhearted creep to lovesick fool, it just got too ridiculous.
As soon as Barbara makes her second appearance (after her lookalike is thrown into the watery depths by the man who sentences her mother to burn at the stake) you just know something macabre is going on. But the kid sister part of the story was a bit much, kind of unnecessary. Elizabeth grows up and is forced to marry her cousin (YUCK!!) who happens to be the man who murdered her father (double YUCK!!) and let her mother be executed for it (triple YUCK!!) Then, he falls for the mysterious Mary (a.k.a. Big sister) who appears out of nowhere and suddenly he wants to be rid of Elizabeth and plots her murder, whereas before this he wanted to conquer both her body and her heart. Too over the top.
It's not bad, but don't expect too much.