BLUEBEARD
(1972)Director: Edward Dmytryk
Anchor Bay Entertainment
BLUEBEARD
(1972)The supplements on this Anchor Bay DVD include a Richard Burton bio that quotes him as saying, "I've done the most awful rubbish in order to have somewhere to go in the morning. Of course, if you're going to make rubbish, you try to be the best rubbish in it." Well, this umpteenth retelling of BLUEBEARD certainly is rubbish, and although Burton claims to have modeled his performance after "the master," Vincent Price, he paces through the role with only a hint of enthusiasm.
Since his phony accent is terrible, you'll have a hard time figuring out what nationality Burton is supposed to be. Actually, he plays Baron Kurt Von Sepper, a wealthy Austrian aristocrat with a dark, blue-toned (yes, really) beard. He marries the lovely Greta (Karin Schubert), but then shoots her in a tragic hunting "accident." Then he falls for an American showgirl, Anne (Joey Heatherton) and marries her right away. One night, Anne is left alone at the Baron's palace and she makes the ghastly discovery of a freezer full of former wives. Knowing that she uncovered his dark secret, the Baron tells her how and why he killed all of his spouses, with Anne being the next victim in line.
Basically, BLUEBEARD is an overlong (2 hours+) very upscale (for an exploitation film) European production by the man who gave us THE THREE and FOUR MUSKETEERS and SUPERMAN (Alexander Salkind) and directed by blackballed Hollywood vet, Edward Dmytryk (THE CAINE MUTINY). Primarily of interest here is that after some drawn out dramatic events, we get to see the boring, impotent Bluebeard execute his wives in pseudo "Dr. Phibes" fashion. Besides Karin Schubert's shooting, Virna Lisi has her head guillotined, Nathalie Delon is pierced with a huge tusk along with her lesbian lover (Sybil Danning), Raquel Welch is suffocated in a casket, Marilu' Tolo (who knees Burton in the nuts) is drowned after some kinky S&M, and Agostina Belli has her throat ripped apart by the house falcon.
Why did I tell you all this if you haven't yet seen it? Well, look at the poster reproduction inside the DVD, and you'll note that these deaths are no secret. If you don't want to actually see these payoff scenes before you watch the film, don't view the bios of all the actresses first, as they expose their fatal few seconds before the biographical information is displayed. Of course, there is also a nice bio of Burton that reveals some funny quotes about Liz Taylor, a trailer, and a still gallery.
Anchor Bay's transfer looks stunning, with beautiful, vibrant colors and excellent source material. The picture is letterboxed at 1.85:1 and 16x9 enhanced. The mono sound is also crisp and clear, enriched by a very unusual score by the great Ennio Morricone that shadows Harry Robinson's score for COUNTESS DRACULA (1971). There's a great menu that shows Burton playing an organ amongst candles and smoke; when you enter your selection, a falcon sweeps across the screen!
By the way, all of the lead actresses have nude scenes accept for Welch (humbug) who plays an overzealous nun (the nuns never looked like this when I was in Catholic School), yet she does manage to wear a sexy low cut dress. I must admit, I got a gleeful chill up my spine when Heatherton flashes her boobs at Burton, but I would only recommend this film to very tolerant Europhiles! (George R. Reis)