The quote in my summary line was spoken by the 'good' Wilson to the 'bad' Wilson (Alain Delon portrayed both) in the second chapter of this Poe based trilogy, so if you saw it you know what it means. It was the single sentiment that had application to each of the stories presented here because death was involved in each one. Reading a handful of other reviews for the picture here, it appears that many of them simply dismiss the first two segments and favor the 'Toby Dammit' piece directed by Federico Fellini. For myself, I found all three chapters to be about equally worthy.
With the piece on 'Metzengerstein' however, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have had those flagrant, colorful costumes in whatever era the story represented. They're primarily used to augment Jane Fonda's physical assets, who a couple of times provides her own interpretation of riding bareback. No surprise there, as this was directed by Fonda's husband at the time, Roger Vadim, who utilized a similar soft porn technique in the same year's "Barbarella", also starring Fonda. If I had been in charge of the story, my twist ending would have had Peter Fonda's character emerge once again after the Countess (Jane) perishes. I'm sure they could have worked that out.
The piece on William Wilson (Delon) and his doppelganger who kept showing up during stages of his life was an interesting concept. I don't know about Brigitte Bardot as a dark haired beauty though, that was a distraction. Keep an eye on that final card game when Giuseppina (Bardot) loses it all, Wilson deals himself two cards in a row during the final hand. Why wouldn't she call him on it?
The 'Toby Dammit' chapter was based on Poe's novel 'Don't Wager Your Head to the Devil" which makes every bit of sense at the final scene. What I was more concerned about was they never got around to filming that Catholic Western Toby (Terrence Stamp) traveled to Rome for. I thought there was some potential there. Toby himself is an arrogant, spiteful, condescending and neurotic actor who hates his audience, making me wonder why he was treated like such a super star. Served him right at the end of the story when he crashed his Ferrari off the bridge at the behest of his friendly and joyful devil. It wouldn't be the first time a guy lost his head over a pretty young thing.
With the piece on 'Metzengerstein' however, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have had those flagrant, colorful costumes in whatever era the story represented. They're primarily used to augment Jane Fonda's physical assets, who a couple of times provides her own interpretation of riding bareback. No surprise there, as this was directed by Fonda's husband at the time, Roger Vadim, who utilized a similar soft porn technique in the same year's "Barbarella", also starring Fonda. If I had been in charge of the story, my twist ending would have had Peter Fonda's character emerge once again after the Countess (Jane) perishes. I'm sure they could have worked that out.
The piece on William Wilson (Delon) and his doppelganger who kept showing up during stages of his life was an interesting concept. I don't know about Brigitte Bardot as a dark haired beauty though, that was a distraction. Keep an eye on that final card game when Giuseppina (Bardot) loses it all, Wilson deals himself two cards in a row during the final hand. Why wouldn't she call him on it?
The 'Toby Dammit' chapter was based on Poe's novel 'Don't Wager Your Head to the Devil" which makes every bit of sense at the final scene. What I was more concerned about was they never got around to filming that Catholic Western Toby (Terrence Stamp) traveled to Rome for. I thought there was some potential there. Toby himself is an arrogant, spiteful, condescending and neurotic actor who hates his audience, making me wonder why he was treated like such a super star. Served him right at the end of the story when he crashed his Ferrari off the bridge at the behest of his friendly and joyful devil. It wouldn't be the first time a guy lost his head over a pretty young thing.