They say "Two on a Guillotine" is very reminiscent to the oeuvre of producer/director William Castle. (insert buzzer here) ...Wrong! The only thing William Conrad managed to correctly imitate from William Castle is his first name. With his witty, imaginative, playful but always spooky and atmospheric horror movies, Castle undeniably made school. I had high hopes that "Two on a Guillotine" would become a decent, second-rate Castle flick, but alas. The film nevertheless starts out promisingly, with the great Cesar Romero as the flamboyant magician Duke Duquesne testing out a brand-new trick with a guillotine in front of his gorgeous wife Melinda and his agent Sheridan. The plot then abruptly jumps forward twenty years, to Duke's funeral. He's being buried in a coffin with windows (!), the wife Melinda mysteriously vanished, but their estranged daughter Cassie (who looks exactly like her mother, of course) returned home for her inheritance.
So far still good, because to claim her inheritance, Cassie must spend seven whole nights in Duke's old mansion full of hidden tricks and sinister dungeons. Vintage William Castle plot, I'd say! For some inexplicable reason, however, "Two on a Guillotine" then becomes incredibly boring. Cassie falls in love with an undercover journalist, and the entire script is wasted on footage of the two of them strolling in the park and visiting the local carnival. There isn't any tension whatsoever, and the film doesn't use any props, scenery or interactive gimmicks. Only the last five minutes as worthwhile again, with finally a bit of use for the fantastic titular French execution device. The only thing that managed to pull me through the dull middle section of this film, were the heavenly looks of lead actress Connie Stevens. Fair is fair, she is incredibly cute.
Minor (and quite irrelevant) side note: when I was a young boy, during the early nineties, one of my mother's favorite TV-shows was "Jake and the Fatman". The oddly nicknamed "Fatman" is actually William Conrad; - director of this cheap 60s horror film.
So far still good, because to claim her inheritance, Cassie must spend seven whole nights in Duke's old mansion full of hidden tricks and sinister dungeons. Vintage William Castle plot, I'd say! For some inexplicable reason, however, "Two on a Guillotine" then becomes incredibly boring. Cassie falls in love with an undercover journalist, and the entire script is wasted on footage of the two of them strolling in the park and visiting the local carnival. There isn't any tension whatsoever, and the film doesn't use any props, scenery or interactive gimmicks. Only the last five minutes as worthwhile again, with finally a bit of use for the fantastic titular French execution device. The only thing that managed to pull me through the dull middle section of this film, were the heavenly looks of lead actress Connie Stevens. Fair is fair, she is incredibly cute.
Minor (and quite irrelevant) side note: when I was a young boy, during the early nineties, one of my mother's favorite TV-shows was "Jake and the Fatman". The oddly nicknamed "Fatman" is actually William Conrad; - director of this cheap 60s horror film.