Classic literature into grindhouse movies

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Movies Editor

In a few weeks (Thursday, April 21, to be exact) the Fargo Theatre will host “Grindfest 2,” another double feature presentation of selected trailers for low-budget and/or exploitation films from the last half of the 20th century, originally aimed at drive-ins and “grindhouse” theatres that specialized in such fare. A similar program of trailers proved very popular last November at the Fargo Theatre and this sequel is scheduled to reprise the best from that evening at 7 p.m. with a new set of even cruder, more extreme trailers showing at 9:15.

All this week, the annual UND Writers Conference in Grand Forks is bringing current literary figures and their work to a North Dakota audience, as well as a daily film festival made up of titles selected by each author.

Now how can these two disparate events be connected, you might be wondering? Think three works by 19th-century American master of the short story Edgar Allen Poe as seen through the eyes of three major European auteur directors, and then packaged for American movie audiences by Samuel Z. Arkoff’s notorious American International Pictures. The result was a French-Italian co-production that became AIP’s first R-rated horror film, released in the U.S. under the title “Spirits of the Dead.” Last November it came out on a region-free Blu-ray from Britain’s Arrow Video.

In 1967, Roger Vadim, Louis Malle and Federico Fellini each directed an episode for this anthology of three Edgar Allen Poe stories, released in 1968 in France as “Histoires Extraordinaires” (Extraordinary Stories), in Italy as “Tre passi nel delirio,” (Three Steps of Delirium) and in England under the most accurate title, “Tales of Mystery and Imagination.” The 1969 American release by American-International naturally changed its name to be more easily marketed as a horror film, dubbed everything into English and also added a voice-over introductory and concluding narration by Vincent Price (included as a bonus item on the Blu-ray).

Although released to home video as “Spirits of the Dead,” the British/international cut is the main feature, with Vadim’s “Metzengerstein” in English, Malle’s “William Wilson” in French and Fellini’s “Toby Dammit” (an updated version of “Never Bet the Devil Your Head”) in a mix of Italian and English. There is an alternate audio track with an all-English dubbed version. The full-length and slightly different all French-language version is also included, as a standard-definition bonus feature.

The overall film is a mixed bag, as many anthologies are. Each episode shares a few themes with the other two (besides the Poe connection), notably the doppelganger motif and an edgy eroticism, so they play well together as a complete work. However, each can stand on its own as a short film of approximately 40 minutes if a viewer does not wish to sit through the full two hours at a sitting.

The first episode (Vadim’s) is the weakest by far, whereas the second (Malle’s) is far more accomplished dramatically and artistically (although certain critics disagree vehemently on those two). The first episode suffers from lackluster pacing, padding, sometimes incoherent editing and bland over lit studio interior scenes that look like 1960s TV and drive-in movies. The photography of exterior scenes, however, is strikingly beautiful. Next to the scenes of depraved aristocratic debauchery, the young Jane and Peter Fonda, playing cousins of opposite temperament, seem to be the primary attraction (and Peter doesn’t get to do much but look sad and thoughtful while Jane is mostly petulant and vindictive). It’s interesting to note that the Fondas are obviously speaking English in the English-dubbed version and are obviously speaking French in the French-language version (though someone else dubs Peter’s voice), indicating that their scenes were shot twice. The French version (with optional English subtitles) also somehow seems more literary and less exploitive than the English version, despite its lower image quality and altered colors.

Malle’s “William Wilson” is much more consistent and has a fine European look to both color and image composition, as well as more disturbing psychological undertones than Vadim’s more heavy-handed film. This episode has the most explicit nudity and sadism so beloved of grindhouse devotees, although Malle’s style is generally more philosophical than Vadim’s more prurient approach.

The third episode (Fellini’s) is easily the best and makes the entire film worth watching, despite certain flaws. Terence Stamp is quite good and the film is very much prime Fellini. The rich Giuseppe Rotuno cinematography and fast-paced editing combine with a wonderful Nino Rota score to really establish the Fellini flavor, and it would make a good short to precede “8½” or some other Fellini classic. His segment, entitled “Toby Dammit” (after the name of the central character) is also the only one updated to the present-day. Its first half is turned into an extremely amusing satire on the Italian film industry and film-making in general. The last portion of the story turns into more of an Italian-style Stephen King-like thriller but it’s still the most notable of the three as a major work by its director. Indeed, it would have been interesting to see it expanded to feature-length.

The Blu-ray includes a 60-page booklet with the original Poe stories plus a couple of interesting critical essays and lots of illustrations, mainly lobby cards and posters. Picture and sound quality on the main feature are very good, somewhat less so on the bonus items.

The Fellini section alone makes this worth getting, but any fan of Poe on film or French cinema should find it of interest. The Blu-ray cost from England, including shipping, is still only about $20. “SPIRITS OF THE DEAD” on Blu-ray—Movie: B+  /  Video: A   /  Audio: A   /  Extras: B-

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