Bluebeard (1972)

Directors:

Edward Dmytryk
Luciano Sacripanti

Writers:

Ennio De Concini (writer)
Edward Dmytryk (writer)

Release Date:

1 September 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

He had a WAY with the world's most beautiful, most seductive, most glamorous women ...he did AWAY with them.

Plot:

A World War I pilot whom everbody envies as a "ladykiller" actually is - after he beds the women he's after, he murders them.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Beauty | Castle | Masochism | Impalement

Cast

Richard Burton	...	Baron von Sepper
Raquel Welch	...	Magdalena
Virna Lisi	...	Elga
Nathalie Delon	...	Erika
Marilù Tolo	...	Brigitte
Karin Schubert	...	Greta
Agostina Belli	...	Caroline
Sybil Danning	...	A Prostitute
Joey Heatherton	...	Anne
Edward Meeks	...	Sergio
Jean Lefebvre	...	Greta's Father
Erica Schramm	...	Greta's Mother
Doka Bukova	...	Rosa
Mathieu Carrière	...	The Violinist
Karl-Otto Alberty	...	Friend of von Sepper

Also Known As:

Barbablù (Italy)
Barbe-bleue (France)
Blaubart (West Germany)

Runtime:

USA:125 min

Country:

France | Italy | West Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | UK:X | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Gloria Film

Trivia:

The various Nazi uniforms in this picture are inaccurate - the colors are wrong and even the swastika has turned into a strangely shaped cross. This may have been for legal reasons, because in Germany the use of Nazi emblems is strictly regulated.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Gamera vs. Guiron (#4.12)" (1991)

Not such a "bad" movie

This is considered a "bad" movie by many people for some reason, even though the "camp" here is obviously very intentional (he actually has a blue beard, for chistsake!) Burton's character is obviously gay: he meets and marries two American sex symbols of the era (Raquel Welch and Joey Heatherton) as well as some of the most beautiful women in Europe at the time (Agostina Belli, Nathalie Delon), but since he is unable to really consummate with any of them, he finds something irritating (and often hilarious) about them and kills them (talk about your gay panic!). This movie should definitely appeal to people who love campy ensemble-type films and Richard Burton at his hammiest (probably mostly gays and women). But the most straight-arrow, un-ironic frat boy types will no doubt enjoy it too because every woman here (except for Raquel Welch) gets naked!

I did have one minor quibble though. If I was a homicidal misogynist the first female cast-member to go here would have been Joey Heatherton with her screeching voice and singular inability to deliver a convincing line of dialogue, but she gets to be the "final girl". Someone like the very lovely Agostina Belli, on the other hand, would have gotten to live a very long time.

No one else needs to act with Burton around though. He seems as happy as a pig in slop as he gets to deliberately ham it up for a change (and according to an interview I once read with one of his co-stars, Sybil Danning, he had even more fun OFFSCREEN--much to the chagrin of Elizabeth Taylor). This is really not such a "bad" movie after all.