''Bluebeard'' is a 1972 mystery

comedy drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Edward Dmytryk Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 – July 1, 1999) was an American film director. He was known for his 1940s noir films and received an Oscar nomination for Best Director for '' Crossfire'' (1947). In 1947, he was named as one of the Hollywoo ...

and starring

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable ...

Raquel Welch Jo Raquel Welch ( Tejada; September 5, 1940) is an American actress. She first won attention for her role in ''Fantastic Voyage'' (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer ...

Joey Heatherton Davenie Johanna "Joey" Heatherton (born September 14, 1944) is an American actress, dancer, and singer. A sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, she is best known for her many television appearances during that time, particularly as a frequent varie ...

, and

Sybil Danning Sybil Danning (born Sybille Johanna Danninger) is an Austrian actress, model, and film producer. She is best known for her frequent appearances in B movies during the 1970s and 1980s. Biography Early years and first films Born in Austria, Dannin ...

. The film's plot is very loosely based on the French folktale of a nobleman whose latest wife grows curious when he tells her she may enter any room in his castle but one.

Plot

Set in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...

in the 1930s, Baron Kurt von Sepper is a World War I veteran

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

with a reputation as a "ladykiller" and a frightening blue-tinged beard. In public the Baron carefully maintains his image as a war hero, a seemingly devout

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and a patriotic member of the Fatherland Front, but the Baron has two dark secrets he is keen to hide. All of his previous wives have died in mysterious circumstances, and he exploited the chaos of the

Austrian Civil War The Austrian Civil War (german: Österreichischer Bürgerkrieg), also known as the February Uprising (german: Februarkämpfe), was a few days of skirmishes between Austrian government and socialist forces between 12 and 16 February 1934, in Aust ...

to instigate a

pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...

against a

Jewish community Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Cast

as Baron Kurt von Sepper *

as Magdalena *

Virna Lisi Verna or Virna may refer to: People * Verna Aardema (1911–2000), American author of children's books * Verna Bloom (1939–2019), American actress * Virna De Angeli (born 1976), Italian former sprinter * Virna Dias (born 1971), Brazilian retir ...

as Elga *

Nathalie Delon Nathalie Delon (born Francine Canovas, also known as Nathalie Barthélémy; 1 August 194121 January 2021) was a French actress, model, film director and writer. In the 1960s, Nathalie was regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world ...

as Erika *

Marilù Tolo Marilù Tolo (born Maria Lucia Tolo; 16 January 1944) is an Italian film actress. She appeared in more than 60 films between 1960 and 1985. Life and career Born in Rome, Tolo, at a very young age, worked as an assistant of Mario Riva in the R ...

as Brigitte *

Karin Schubert Karin Schubert (born 26 November 1944) is a German actress. She appeared in film roles since 1970 and became a pornographic actress in the 1980s. Cinema career Her early roles included the Spaghetti Western '' Compañeros'' (1970) and Gérard O ...

as Greta *

Agostina Belli Agostina Belli (born 13 April 1949) is an Italian film actress. She has appeared in more than 50 films since 1968. Life and career Born in Milan as Agostina Maria Magnoni, Belli made her debut in 1968 with a minor part in '' Bandits in Milan'' ...

as Caroline *

as the Prostitute *

as Anne * Edward Meeks as Sergio * Doka Bukova as Rosa *

Jean Lefebvre Jean Marcel Lefebvre (3 October 1919Some sources indicate he was born in 1922. – 9 July 2004) was a French film actor. His erratic studies were interrupted by World War II. Taken prisoner and then requisitioned as a laborer, he escaped to joi ...

as Greta's Father * Erica Schramm as Greta's Mother *

Karl-Otto Alberty Karl-Otto Alberty (also Karl Otto Alberty, born 13 November 1933 in Berlin) is a German actor. He started out as an amateur boxer before discovering a talent for acting, making his début at the City Theatre in Konstanz in 1959. He then began to ...

as Baron's Friend *

Kurt Großkurth Kurt Großkurth (or Grosskurth; 11 May 1909 – 29 May 1975) was a German actor and singer. Biography Grosskurth was born in Langenselbold, Germany, in 1909. He grew up in Rhineland-Palatinate. In the 1920s, he followed his father's wish and we ...

as Baron's Friend * Thomas Fischer as Baron's Friend * Peter Martin Urtel as Baron's Friend * Mag-Avril as Marka * Sándor Szabó as The Doctor *

Dennis Burgess Dennis Burgess (February 18, 1926 – November 3, 1980) was a British television actor born in Neath, Glamorgan, Wales. He married Glenys Maria Hare at Neath, in 1958. Burgess came from Port Talbot, attended Port Talbot Secondary School and wo ...

as The Coroner *

Mathieu Carrière Mathieu Carrière (; born 2 August 1950) is a German actor. Life Carrière grew up in Berlin and Lübeck; he attended the Jesuit boarding school in Vannes, France, a school which had previously been attended by the director of Carrière's fir ...

as The Violinist

Production

Filmportal.de noted that some sources claim that Luciano Sacripanti also directed the film. Filming took place in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croat ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (Romulus and Remus, legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg ...

, Italy. In February, 1972, Burton's wife,

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

celebrated her 40th birthday in Budapest. The party, held at the Hotel Intercontinental, was attended by several celebrities, including

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film icon ...

Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956. Kelly ...

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in ''Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...

, and

, and became a huge media sensation in the then-Communist country.

Release

''Bluebeard'' had its world premiere at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood on August 15, 1972. It was released in West Germany on December 15, 1972.

Reception

Critical response

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film two stars out of four and wrote, "There is no longer any novelty in watching the sad disintegration of Richard Burton's acting career."

Roger Greenspun Roger Greenspun (December 16, 1929 – June 18, 2017) was an American journalist and film critic, best known for his work with ''The New York Times'' in which he reviewed near 400 films, particularly in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and for '' ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote: "I have rarely seen a horror film so coyly aware of its own camp potential. But it is better at being foolishly serious than at being slyly humorous, and its few good moments come before it admits that its spook lightning and its maybe 3,000 pounds of phony cobwebs are essentially a joke."Greenspun, Roger (August 19, 1972).
Screen: Richard Burton as Bluebeard—He Plays Slayer of 7 Beautiful Women Baron Relates Story in Series of Flashbacks
. ''

''. 28.

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

of the '' Chicago Tribune'' gave the film one star out of four and wrote that the scenes of sadism "are designed to pander to people who enjoy seeing women abused". He put the film on a year-end list he made of the sickest films of 1972. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "high camp". Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' panned the film as "123 minutes of unrelieved boredom and morbidity", adding: "Heavily made up and dyed, and speaking in a post-synched German accent, Burton seems to be sleepwalking." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nat ...

'' wrote: "''Bluebeard'' is so lacking in both style and conviction that it's often more muddled and ineffective than actively offensive." He wrote of Burton that "unless he's contemplating a permanent career in exploitation movies, it would be difficult to sink below this credit ... his final words are, 'This is ridiculous', but he's done nothing to convince us that he's superior to the material, that he's just doing some good-humored slumming and ought to be indulged his bad judgment". Clyde Jeavons of ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...

'' faulted "Dmytryk's indecision over whether to plump for black comedy or straight-faced horror, and it demonstrates his overall failure to find either a style or a formula sturdy enough to carry the film's heavy burden of absurdities and plain bad acting".

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1972 films Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films based on Bluebeard Films directed by Edward Dmytryk Films set in the 1920s Films set in the 1930s Films set in Austria Films set in Germany Films shot in Budapest Films shot in Hungary Films set in castles 1970s thriller films French serial killer films West German films Italian thriller films English-language French films English-language German films English-language Italian films 1970s English-language films 1970s Italian films 1970s French films