Bluebeard
An aviator, an eccentric, a war hero, an aristocrat, arriving in his own aeroplane Baron Kurt Von Sepper is welcomed home, throwing a lavish ball at his mansion to celebrate his return, among the guests the beautiful Greta, almost twenty years his junior, her parents concerned about his reputation but he of course determined to bring her under his will, absconding to the gardens to be alone together…
The wedding following, they have no choice but to accept that she has been wooed by a man she cannot defy, the marriage ending in a tragic hunting incident which the investigation concludes was an accident, Baron Sepper finding new love with American dancer Anne, given the run of the house in his absence and invited to explore save for one door, given the key but told never to go beyond…
A mad film of madness and excess inspired by the French folktale, Bluebeard was released in 1972, one of the final films directed by the prolific Edward Dmytryk who co-wrote the script with Ennio De Concini and Maria Pia Fusco, set in Austria after the Great War, the Baron a member of the right-wing Fatherland Front, their politics mirroring the rise of the Reich across the border and his position presumably providing impunity from prosecution.
Starring Richard Burton as the Baron, his bluebeard caused by a chemical reaction though it obviously changes tint through the film, he brings menace and intensity but no charm, crashing through a parade of women whom he regards as disposable, beauty concealing the monsters beneath as he comes to know them, Greta (Karin Schubert), shot, Erika (Nathalie Delon) impaled alongside the prostitute from whom she hoped to learn love (Sybil Danning), “nunphomaniac” Magdalena (Raquel Welch) trapped inside a coffin to suffocate…
The only death justified guillotining screeching Elga (Virna Lisi) to end her tuneless singing, Anne (Joey Heatherton) discovers his icy vault of former lovers but rather than fleeing attempts to understand his reasoning, a showgirl of dubious talent, her dancing more frantic than elegant, displaying the emotional and intellectual range of a throw cushion as she bargains for her life, perhaps hoping for a musical number while he looks for his next brandy.
Shot in Budapest and Rome and produced by Alexander Salkind who would later move to The Three Musketeers and Superman, that Bluebeard is opulent is undeniable, but it is also dreadful, the sets and costumes unable to disguise the disjointed misogynist insanity which drives it, joining StudioCanal’s Cult Classics range supported by a commentary from film historians Howard S Berger and Nathaniel Thompson, an interview with film critic Anna Bogutskaya and a look at Dmytryk’s career.
Bluebeard will be available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from StudioCanal from Monday 28th September
