Spirits of the Dead is a 1968 Omnibus trilogy Directed by Roger Vadim, Louis Malle and Fedrico Fellini, and staring a mighty 1960s iconic cast consisting of Jane Fonda, Terence Stamp, Brigitte Bardot, Peter Fonda and Alain Delon. Loosely (Very Loosely) based on the Edgar Allan Poe stories Mitzengerstein, William Wilson and Never Bet the Devil your Head. The French Title of the film was Histoires extraordinaires which is from the first collection of Poe's short stories translated by French poet Charles Baudelaire, the English Title has been taken from Poe's 1827 Poem Spirits of the Dead. Have to admit up to recently I was not aware that this film existed or had been made, and have never seen it, but will try to rectify that sometime soon.
You can see various Film and TV Trailers for it here.
You can see various Film and TV Trailers for it here.
What more to say, except, yes, this film is amazing - please do see it.
ReplyDeleteI think perhaps what has kept it below the critical radar to a certain extent is the jarring shift in tone between the three segments: Fellini's is an uncategorisable masterpiece (very much in keeping with his other '60s films), Malle's has more of a sombre arthouse feel, and Vadim's is ridiculous euro-trash kitsch.
Transitioning between those three worlds in the space of two hours can be a bit of a challenge, but if you cope with the resulting headache, it's hugely rewarding.
(People often speak about waiting out the first two episodes just to get to the Fellini, but I think all three are pretty great in their own weird way.)
PS - the last time I looked, you could pick this up on a shiny blu-ray for about fiver; very much worth the effort for such a visually lavish production.
Thanks Ben. Going to now have a look online for a copy.
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