Bluebeard is set in 19th Century Paris, France as terror grips the city for a murderer known as Bluebeard has been killing women & dumping their bodies in the river Seine. The police lead by Inspector Lefevre (Nils Asther) have no clue until a painting of one of the victims turns up in a public gallery, the owner of the painting the Duke of Carineaux (George Irving) tells the police he brought it from an art dealer named Lamarte (Ludwig Stossel). Meanwhile a seamstress named Lucille (Jean Parker) has befriended a puppeteer named Gaston Morrell (John Carradine) who has a few dark secrets including once being a painter of women...
This PRC cheapie was directed by Edgar G. Ulmar who also acted as production designer although the on screen credit went to cinematographer Eugen Schufftan because at the time he wasn't a member of the cinematographer's union & the actual on screen cinematographer credit went to camera operator Jockey Arthur Feindel, got that? Good. The script by Pierre Gendron is brisk enough I suppose but is rather bare, a little slow going in places & a bit too predictable. Right off the bat you know Carradine is the killer so it's not a mystery film in that respect & for me it felt like too much of a precession to the inevitable ending where the police caught up with him. I wouldn't say it's particularly exciting or action packed & the character's are a bit stupid, the dialogue stiff & overall while I thought it was watchable I didn't think it was anything special although at a short 70 minutes in length it won't take too much of your time up.
Director Ulmar does OK considering he apparently shot the thing in a mere six days although one has to question why none of the inhabitants of 19th Century Paris speak French or even have a French accent... There's nothing particularly scary here although the black and white photography helps create a certain atmosphere, obviously there's no violence or gore either. For some reason Ulmar has dramatic music playing constantly in the background even during what seems like an ordinary conversation between two people, it's very distracting at times & somewhat unnecessary.
Technically Bluebeard looks better than most ultra low budget horror cheapies of the period so at least it has that going for it, having said that it's still not going to win any awards. The acting is better than one might expect from a film of this budget & of this vintage, apparently this was John Carradine's favourite performance that he gave in a rare starring role.
Bluebeard is an OK time waster if your not too demanding, it's lapsed into public domain I believe so it's available all over the net for free if you want to see it. I thought it was average at best & nothing particularly special.
This PRC cheapie was directed by Edgar G. Ulmar who also acted as production designer although the on screen credit went to cinematographer Eugen Schufftan because at the time he wasn't a member of the cinematographer's union & the actual on screen cinematographer credit went to camera operator Jockey Arthur Feindel, got that? Good. The script by Pierre Gendron is brisk enough I suppose but is rather bare, a little slow going in places & a bit too predictable. Right off the bat you know Carradine is the killer so it's not a mystery film in that respect & for me it felt like too much of a precession to the inevitable ending where the police caught up with him. I wouldn't say it's particularly exciting or action packed & the character's are a bit stupid, the dialogue stiff & overall while I thought it was watchable I didn't think it was anything special although at a short 70 minutes in length it won't take too much of your time up.
Director Ulmar does OK considering he apparently shot the thing in a mere six days although one has to question why none of the inhabitants of 19th Century Paris speak French or even have a French accent... There's nothing particularly scary here although the black and white photography helps create a certain atmosphere, obviously there's no violence or gore either. For some reason Ulmar has dramatic music playing constantly in the background even during what seems like an ordinary conversation between two people, it's very distracting at times & somewhat unnecessary.
Technically Bluebeard looks better than most ultra low budget horror cheapies of the period so at least it has that going for it, having said that it's still not going to win any awards. The acting is better than one might expect from a film of this budget & of this vintage, apparently this was John Carradine's favourite performance that he gave in a rare starring role.
Bluebeard is an OK time waster if your not too demanding, it's lapsed into public domain I believe so it's available all over the net for free if you want to see it. I thought it was average at best & nothing particularly special.