In stark contrast to AIP’s sometimes-silly Edgar Allan Poe anthology film Tales of Terror, the Franco-Italian omnibus Spirits of the Dead aims for serious, capital-A art, siccing a trio of international A-list directors on some of Poe’s most obscure works. Results are mixed, meaning that Roger Corman trumped the combined might of Roger Vadim, Louis Malle and Federico Fellini.
Vadim’s “Metzengerstein” stars a never-sexier Jane Fonda as 22-year-old countess/libertine Frederique who lives an orgiastic existence in a castle, where she keeps a tiger cub as a pet. Although wooed by her cousin (Peter Fonda, uncomfortably enough), Frederique loves a horse — not in an Emanuelle in America sort of way, but I wouldn’t put it past Vadim — perhaps the horse wasn’t young enough. This opening segment is about as successful as then-married Vadim and Fonda’s collaboration on Barbarella, which is to say it looks great, but has a story that plods along like so many exhausted equine. Vietnam vets may most enjoy seeing Hanoi Jane stepping into an animal trap in the woods.
Alain Delon is “William Wilson” in Malle’s middle, rushing to confess an act of murder to a priest. This leads to a series of flashbacks that illustrate Wilson has been haunted since childhood by a double bearing the same name (also played by Delon). Whereas the real Wilson is and always has been a número-uno dick, the doppelgänger intrudes to halt or expose his bad behavior, whether torturing a classmate with rats; dissecting a live, nude woman just for kicks; or cheating in a card game against a brunette Brigitte Bardot. The latter act, unfortunately, plays out in real time, consuming many more minutes than needed.
Unquestionably the finest is the finale, “Toby Dammit,” the only tale set in modern day. Fellini takes the opportunity to satirize celebrity, especially the oversized kind forever pursued by the paparazzi — here, an ill-tempered, arrogant alcoholic (Terence Stamp) who despises his fans as much as his critics. He gets his comeuppance in a long-overdue end. While sly and dreamlike, the piece is, like the others, one that makes its point at two to three times the length it should. —Rod Lott
“Never Bet the Devil Your Head” looks so much like a Mario Bava setpiece, with Fellini elements, that one wonders if FF was paying a sort of tribute.
The other two are pretty disposable, though certainly kinked enough. Vadim casting the Fondas together probably didn’t help anyone’s relations very much.
I agree with you about the over length of the first two stories, although I find them interesting enough to overcome their longeurs, but the Fellini film is a flat out masterpiece, one of the best short films ever made. It has the internal logic of a nightmare and great imagery throughout.
And, Todd, you’re right, the film is a direct homage to Bava. The girl with the ball is ripped right out of “Kill Baby Kill”.