Jason Robards ("Once Upon a Time in the West"), in a classic case of "What the Hell is HE doing here?", plays Cesar Charron, leader of a theatrical troupe in turn-of-the-century Paris whose troupe is currently doing a gory stage production of the Poe story. Then, people who used to perform with this company turn up dead, all with acid thrown in their faces. The inspector on the case (Adolfo Celi, "Thunderball") is always a couple of steps behind the psychotic, vengeance-seeking killer, naturally.
A truly international production, with cast & crew coming from all over the world, this adaptation of Poes' work tells a decent enough story, but a foregone conclusion REALLY takes the edge off the "mystery". Robards is badly miscast (although even he felt so), and gives one of the lesser performances of his career. Not that much of the cast really do their best work here, anyhow. Still, Celi is fun, and the lovely Christine Kaufmann ("Town without Pity") is appealing as the ingenue of the tale. Michael Dunn ('The Wild Wild West') is amusing, as always, and Herbert Lom ("The Dead Zone") is fairly menacing, but even the antagonist that he plays isn't one of his more memorable. The abrupt ending isn't particularly satisfying.
It's really the "bells & whistles" of this production that make it as watchable as it is: the production design and cinematography are effective, and the film gets a really nice music score from Waldo de los Rios.
Although set in Paris, this was actually filmed in Spain. And that's a very young Brooke Adams ("Days of Heaven"), in her uncredited film debut, playing the nurse.
Six out of 10.
A truly international production, with cast & crew coming from all over the world, this adaptation of Poes' work tells a decent enough story, but a foregone conclusion REALLY takes the edge off the "mystery". Robards is badly miscast (although even he felt so), and gives one of the lesser performances of his career. Not that much of the cast really do their best work here, anyhow. Still, Celi is fun, and the lovely Christine Kaufmann ("Town without Pity") is appealing as the ingenue of the tale. Michael Dunn ('The Wild Wild West') is amusing, as always, and Herbert Lom ("The Dead Zone") is fairly menacing, but even the antagonist that he plays isn't one of his more memorable. The abrupt ending isn't particularly satisfying.
It's really the "bells & whistles" of this production that make it as watchable as it is: the production design and cinematography are effective, and the film gets a really nice music score from Waldo de los Rios.
Although set in Paris, this was actually filmed in Spain. And that's a very young Brooke Adams ("Days of Heaven"), in her uncredited film debut, playing the nurse.
Six out of 10.