Born on 29 December 1937 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, Barbara [Winifred] Steele studied art at the Chelsea Art School and in Paris at the Sorbonne, even as she worked in film. Signed by the Rank Organisation while still an art student, she began appearing in minor film and TV roles in the late 1950s. Her contract was sold to 20th Century Fox in 1960, and soon thereafter she abandoned her contract for Italy, where she became famous primarily for her numerous, mostly Gothic horror movies, including some a wasted life faves. By 1969, she was married to the American screenwriter James Poe (4 Oct 1921 – 24 Jan 1980) and living in California. The couple had one child, Jonathan, and divorced in 1973 (some sources say 1978). Her acting jobs became less and her parts smaller, and she began producing television projects — highly successful ones. She hasn't been seen onscreen in a "real" film since 2014.
Also go here:
Barbara Steele, Pt. I (1958-59)
Barbara Steele, Pt. II (1960-61)
Barbara Steele, Pt. III (1962-63)
Barbara Steele, Pt. II (1960-61)
Barbara Steele, Pt. III (1962-63)
I Maniaci
(1964, dir. Lucio Fulci)
"Where is my blood? The plot of this movie... well, there is no plot. It's a series of skits that all have the same set-up, execution and punch-line. We get a premise, it plays out for a bit and it twists in a certain way that you should not expect. For example, a pair of women (one of whom is Barbara Steele) think that their husbands are having an affair. They go through their records and find a named 'Italia.' They follow the men and discover that Italia is... the name of their soccer team. Shocking! The film is pretty much 90 minutes of this. If you're looking for blood, don't bother. This black-and-white comedy has none. It's rare though. [Mondo Bizarro]"
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Italian trailer to
I Maniaci:
Released in Italy on 28 March 1964, and in the USA on 8 September 2011; a.k.a. The Maniacs, the film was finally released on DVD in English-speaking lands in 2011.
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Barbara Steele is just one among many babes in this multi-segment Italo comedy, but she has the honor of gracing the posters looking sexy in her sweet nothings. She shows up playing two different characters — both relatively one-note — in two different skits: in L'Hobby, she plays a wife named Barbara; in La Cambiale, she plays Brugnoli's wife.
Heard in the movie —
Gianni Morandi's La Mia Mania:
"[...] The main selling point here is the fact that [I maniaci] was directed by Lucio Fulci who, of course, went on to find fame for his thrillers and horror films in the 70s and 80s. [See: Demonia (1990), Zombie (1979), City of the Living Dead (1980), and Manhattan Baby (1982).] I maniaci, however, was very much a product of his earlier career, when he was a jobbing director, more commonly associated with this kind of lightweight fluff than gore, zombies and psychopathic killers. What people tend to forget about Fulci, though, was during this period that he was actually enjoying his greatest period of domestic success within Italy. [...] His comedy films were almost always guaranteed to have the punters queuing up at the cinemas. He may not have had the critical acclaim [...], but [...] he seemed to have mastered the art of getting the best out of his money, using experienced crews and personable stars to churn out decent little productions of the type that people wanted to see. [Wild Eye]"
Heard in the movie —
Michele's Ma neanche per idea:
"A minor comedy from Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci, this anthology is of interest primarily to cult devotees for marking the notorious director's only collaboration with legendary 'scream queen' Barbara Steele. Lushly photographed and filled with popular comedians of the era [...], the film's sketches spotlight various manias. As might be expected, nymphomania gets an extended treatment, with all the requisite mugging, leering, and smarmy asides common to Italian comedies of the period, as well as a lengthy parade of songs, many scored by Ennio Morricone, and some international burlesque performers. [Robert Firsching @ All Movie]"
Heard in the movie —
Roby Ferrante's Sono un ragazzo:
"This 1964 film is all about the mania — the title translates as The Maniacs — that men and women exude every day, told in short skits [...]. Its comedy doesn't really translate so many years later, but it's worth reminding ourselves that Fulci was considered a dependable comedy director. In addition to the Morricone soundtrack, Fulci cast some of the 60s' most gorgeous actresses, foremost amongst them Barbara Steele. [B&S About Movies]"
Heard in the movie —
Barbara Baldassarre's Stelle e sogni:
Notre Cinema has the sketch breakdown:
- Episode 1 — 'L'Elaborazione': A mechanic tinkers with an old hearse to increase its speed...
- Episode 2 — 'Lo Sport': A woman who prostitutes herself meets an employee of her husband...
- Episode 3 — 'Il Sorpasso': A motorist presses more and more on the accelerator to avoid being overtaken...
- Episode 4 — 'L'Hobby': Two women, one the wife, the other the mistress, suspect their man of seeing a third...
- Episode 5 — 'I Consigli': A couple argues in the car about how to drive...
- Episode 6 — 'La Protesta': Two friends continually complain about politics...
- Episode 7 — 'Il Pezzo antico': A couple struggles to find and buy antiques...
- Episode 8 — 'La Parolaccia': A writer lacking inspiration asks advice from a successful colleague...
- Episode 9 — 'Lo Strip': A strip club regular sees himself imitating the dancers when he returns home...
- Episode 10 — 'The Interviste': A minister always repeats the same answer to journalists' questions...
- Episode 11 — 'The Hitchhike': A Milanese motorist picks up a Sicilian migrant...
- Episode 12 — 'La Cambiale': Two couples constantly argue over the purchase of various goods...
- Episode 13 — 'La Comica finale – Il Week end': Two burglars unwillingly witness the amorous shenanigans of the occupants of an apartment...
Heard in the movie —
Paul Anka's Ogni volta:
Alongside Barbara Steele, in the skit L'Hobby we find Gaia Germani ([30 Aug 1934 – 20 Feb 2019] of Castle of the Living Dead [1964 / trailer]) as Carla, the other wife. In La Cambiale, Raimondo Vianello ([7 May 1922 – 15 Apr 2010] of Hercules in the Valley of Woe [1961 / music]) plays Ms. Steele's husband, Mr Brugnoli; Aroldo Tieri ([28 Aug 1917 – 28 Dec 2006]) plays Mr Bonfanti; and Ingrid Schoeller (below, of Return of Django [1967 / music]) plays his wife, Mrs Bonfanti.
Heard in the movie —
Nico Fidenco's Cosa rimane alla fine di un amore:
Les baisers
(1964, dirs. Claude Berri, Charles L. Bitsch, Jean-François Hauduroy, Bertrand Tavernier & Bernard Toublanc-Michel)
An Italo-French portmanteau film in which the producer, Georges de Beauregard (23 Dec 1920 – 10 Sept 1984), chose "up and coming" unknowns to direct the different segments; the film has become one of Ms. Steele's more obscure projects. Never officially released in the US, it played in a few English-speaking countries as KISS! KISS! KISS! "This New Wave-inspired variation explores who we embrace
and who we are."
The following year, Georges de Beauregard produced the far-more-interesting drama, Le vampire de Düsseldorf / The Secret Killer (1965), based on the true story of Peter Kurten.
Le vampire de Düsseldorf / The Secret Killer:
In Les baisers, Barbara Steele plays Thelma in episode 3, titled Baiser du soir, which was written and directed by Jean-François Hauduroy (31 Oct 1927 – 27 Oct 2000), in what is (as far as we can tell) Hauduroy's second and final directorial effort. (Of the five directors, only Bertrand Tavernier and Claude Berri went on to lasting, successful directorial careers.)
Paul Misraki's title track for
Les baisers:
Ms. Steele is in the third episode Baiser du soir, which, to roughly translate the French description found at Sens Critique, tells the story of how, "One dull evening, Jacques (Antoine Roblot) bets a friend that he will manage to kiss the mysterious Thelma (Barbara Steele). It looks like he is going to lose his bet when he suddenly has an idea..."
As for the remaining four episodes, to roughly translate the French descriptions found at Sens Critique:
- Baiser d'été (dir. Bernard Toublanc-Michel): "While on vacation, at the start of a day at sea, Diane (Marie-France Boyer) bets her friend Sophia (Catherine Sola [19 Jan 1941 – 12 Sept 2014] of Sweet Movie [1974 / trailer]) that the last guest, a shy young boy named Éric (Charles Sébrien), will kiss her before the end of the day. Under the pretext of seasickness, she disembarks and the boy follows her. But by the end of the day, she has still not won her bet. They return to the ship..."
- Baiser de Judas (dir. Bertrand Tavernier): "Robert (Bernard Rousselet [24 Feb 1935 – 14 Jun 2021] of Alice or the Last Escapade [1977 / full movie]), a mobster who has just pulled off a job, wants to flee with Sylvie (Judy Del Carril). Tiffany (Letícia Román [12 Aug 1941 – 26 Jun 2025] of Russ Meyer's Fanny Hill [1964 / trailer, with Veronica Ericson]) warns her that she's being cheated on, and urges her to turn Robert in — she should reveal his identity by kissing him in a bar. Robert is forewarned, and nothing goes as planned..."
- Baiser de 16 ans (dir. Claude Berri): "Three male teenagers, their parents gone during the holidays, have the apartment to themselves. They invite two female Italian tourists in and try to seduce them..."
- Cher baiser (dir. Charles L. Bitsch): "Antoine (Jean-Pierre Moulin) flirts with the young foreign student Agata (Sofia Torkeli), who has come to Paris as an au pair but whose family has apparently forgotten to pick her up. He shows her around Paris, but he doesn't know who she really is..."
Of the other directors, at least one (Bernard Toublanc-Michel) did what looks to be the crappy kind of movie we here at a wasted life would waste our time on...
French trailer to Bernard Toublanc-Michel's
Cinq gars pour Singapour (1967):
White Voices
(1964, writ. & dir. Pasquale Festa Campanile & Massimo Franciosa)
Another movie by the director duo of 1963's A Sentimental Affair (see Part III), which, at least according to Robert F. Hawkins @ Variety sometime in the mid-60s, "proves that even the most prohibitive subject matter [...] can be made acceptable and even entertaining if handled with taste."
Le voci bianche premiered at Cannes in May 1964, and hit the USA on 12 April 1965, where it was screened under diverse titles: Undercover Rogue, White Voices and Counter Tenors. Barbara Steele, who you see on some of the promotional materials, plays a woman named Guilia — one assumes she had some fun with the movie's main character.
Full film in Italian:
The plot, as found somewhere online: "In the 18th century, a young man named Meo (Paolo Ferrari [26 Feb 1929 – 6 May 2018]) is sold to the Vatican to serve as a member of the choir. Traditionally, Vatican choir members are castrated to preserve their high voices, but Meo bribes his way out of the procedure. Taking advantage of his unique biological status within the choir, he seduces the wives of wealthy Vatican workers. But, when a woman (Anouk Aimée) becomes pregnant, he'll have to undergo the dreaded operation to secure his alibi."
Over at All Movie, Hal Erickson has a bit more info: "'White Voices' is a vernacular term referring to Italian Castrati of the 18th century Vatican Choir. The Castrati were male children who were castrated so that they could retain their beautiful soprano singing voices into maturity. Paolo Ferrari plays a Roman youth who isn't keen on being gelded and bribes his way out of it. Even so, he trains with the choir and becomes an habitue of the houses of the rich and famous, using his supposed lack of male essentials to his advantage — especially in bed. Ferrari comes a-cropper when he impregnates a girl and is forced to go under the knife to establish an alibi! It is very, very hard to write about White Voices without making a wisecrack, so we'll cut this short (oops!)."
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Over at imdb, way back in 2006, ali-37 sates, "[...] When I saw this movie in the Apollo theater on 42nd Street, back in the '60s, it was billed as a comedy. It was a hilarious sex romp. The hero who pretended to be a castrati would romp with the wives of the senators who thought their mates were safe with him. It was a typical Italian comedy with some sad overtones and an unhappy ending but still enjoyable."
(1964, dir. Antonio Margheriti as "Anthony Dawson)
Original title: Danza macabra. The last time we watched a version of this movie was back in 2018, and our typically verbose and all over the place review can be found here (or simply click on the title above).
The movie made it on our list of Best Films Watched in 2018 — as perhaps to be expected, seeing that our original review ended with: "Castle of Blood is, perhaps, comparable to some of the more subdued baubles in your grandmother's jewelry box: it is a real jewel, a beautiful jewel, but it looks and feels of another age. If you are one who can appreciate such beauty, then you will surely find this movie worth watching. If, on the other hand, you need the speed and superficiality of today's perfected flashiness, you won't be able to appreciate the beauty that this B-film offers."
Trailer to
Castle of Blood:
Since the days when we wrote & published our thoughts on the movie, some new info seems to have come to light: "The idea for Castle of Blood came to Sergio Corbucci ([6 Dec 1926 – 1 Dec 1990] of The Great Silence [1968] and Django [1966]) when producer Giovanni Addessi (30 Apr 1915 – 16 Dec 1973) commissioned him to create a film that would reuse the Medieval sets from Corbucci's comedy film The Monk of Monza (1963 / full film). Corbucci had his brother Bruno Corbucci (23 Oct 1931 – 7 Sept 1996) and screenwriter Gianni Grimaldi (14 Nov 1917 – 25 Feb 2001) write the script. [...] According to Ruggero Deodato ([7 May 1939 – 29 Dec 2022] of Dial: Help [1988] & Cannibal Holocaust [1980]), who was the assistant director on set, he persuaded actress Barbara Steele to star in the film, although Steele had just done 8½ (see Part III) for director Federico Fellini, and wanted to distance herself from horror films. When filming was about to begin, Sergio Corbucci found that his schedule conflicted with the shoot and called upon his friend Antonio Margheriti to direct the film. Margheriti had a tight schedule for filming, and shot the film using the same method as a television production by setting up four cameras at once. To finish the film on time, Margheriti brought in Sergio Corbucci to direct the scene where Giovanni Cingriglia's characters murder Steele's character. The film was eventually shot in 15 days. [Wikipedia]"
Riz Ortolani's full soundtrack:
In regard to Ms. Steele, director Margheriti later said, "She wasn't easy; she had a very strong personality — but she is an actor and the people who work in this profession are all crazy. [...] [But] I had absolutely no problem with her. Castle of Blood was quite a scandal when it opened here in Rome because of its lesbian love scene, but she did it without making any fuss. [AWFJ]"
Of director Margheriti, Barbara Steele was later to say, "Margheriti was very assertive, emotional, and aggressive. I liked him very much, but I had such collisions with Margheriti... it's very strange that I worked with him twice, we had total conflict all the way. I guess he wanted a certain rage and energy from me. [AWFJ]"
The plot, as found at TV Guide: "[Georges] Riviere plays a poet who meets writer Edgar Allan Poe (Silvano Tranquilli) and Lord Blackwood (Umberto Raho) at an inn. They bet him he cannot spend the night alone in a certain castle wherein all the inhabitants met their doom on All Soul's Eve. Riviere accepts this challenge and goes to the castle. There he meets Steele and learns that she has no heartbeat. The dead come back to life and re-enact their deaths, most of them horrible murders. Riviere finally runs from the house and is killed when he is impaled on a spiked iron fence. Poe and Blackwood wander by and collect their winnings from the dead man's pocket. One of horror cult queen Steele's best efforts. Director Margheriti remade it as Web of the Spider (1971) with Tony Franciosa."
Web of the Spider (1971):
Despite being rather a financial and critical flop when released — but perhaps typical of the Italian film industry — Danza macabre was hardly a year old when co-scripter Gianni Grimaldi already retooled aspects of the narrative for another (and relatively unknown) gothic horror, Massimo Pupillo's La vendetta di Lady Morgan / Lady Morgan's Vengeance (1965 / trailer below).
La vendetta di Lady Morgan:
"A film comprised of 90% atmosphere and 10% plot, Castle of Blood utilizes its moody black-and-white photography to the hilt as the camera morbidly caresses each dusty corner of the haunted castle and fixates on the always fascinating Steele, whose ability to simultaneously convey romantic attraction and sinister lust pays off during the memorable finale (and the great shock ending, which can still draw gasps from theatrical audiences). Fresh off the success of Mondo Cane (1962 / trailer), composer Riz Ortolani pulls out all the stops with a rapturous score based upon a particularly haunting love theme. [...] Margheriti and Steele also collaborated the same year as Castle of Blood with an effective companion piece, The Long Hair of Death (1964 / trailer), though this remains their most famous collaboration. [Mondo Digital]
The full, uncut Italian version:
Tre per una rapina / Zwischenlandung Düsseldorf
(1964, dir. Gianni Bongionni)
A.k.a. Drei von uns and Three for a Robbery, this Italian-German co-production is a lackluster krimi that found little success in its day and only recently found a DVD release.
Title music to
Tre per una rapina:
Three for a Robbery appears to be the only feature film ever directed by Gianni Bongionni (6 Aug 1921 – 21 Jan 2018), who is credited under the mildly more German-sounding name "Hans Boncioanni". He co-wrote the script with Leandro Castellani and José María Otero; Otero also worked on a better krimi, the ersatz Edgar Wallace thriller known as Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Witwe a.k.a. The Secret of the Black Widow (1963 / German trailer) which, like the other ersatz Edgar Wallace thriller The White Spider (1963), is based on a book by Louis Weinert-Wilton (11 May 1875 – 4 Sept 1945).
Belina's theme song to
Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Witwe:
The plot, as roughly translated from the Italian at Cinematografo: Gerhard (Hans Echterling), a young draughtsman who works at a bank alarm equipment factory in Düsseldorf, prepares a plan for a robbery. The perpetrators will be: Nicola (Dino Mele of Amuck [1972 / trailer, with Farley Granger]), an unemployed southerner who is easy to compromise, Mario Becker (Christian Doermer [5 Jul 1935 – 14 Jul 2022] of Escape to Berlin [1961 / trailer]), a former Milanese paratrooper ready to do anything not to lose the love of Anna (Barbara Steele), an attractive model, and Hans, who brings with him the legacy of a world ruined by Nazism. By leveraging the psychological effect of surprise, the coup succeeds. But the three young people soon realize the futility of their gesture: Mario is unable to keep Anna, Nicola must account for his actions to his father, and Hans, in a strong shock, dies in an accident."
Tre per una rapina (bossa nova):
Over at imdb, unbrokenmetal calls the movie a "thriller without a cause" and says: "Calling Tre per una rapina a thriller doesn't quite get the point across. True, the framework story is about a bank robbery by 4 young men, but most of the running time is spent on their respective personal background, a kind of character (or social) study. One, for example, came from southern Italy to Germany and tried relatively unsuccessful to earn money through honest work. His story is reminiscent of the Italian neo-realism of the 1950s, not only because of the burned out b/w look of the flick. Another robber tries to impress his funky new girlfriend (Barbara Steele in an uncharacteristically funny role), another feels exploited by his father, a factory boss, etc. The bank robbery itself is amateurishly filmed. The stylistic quality in general isn't sufficient, the most annoying bit is a know-it-all narrator explaining everything in words, instead of letting the pictures do the talking. On the soundtrack, a jazz band happily improvises background music which most of the time is not fitting the darker mood of the story. Therefore, as a thriller, Tre per una rapina lacks suspense, as a social study, it lacks quality. [...]"
Over at Letterbxd, James Cagney seems to also find the movie less than spectacular: "Another bank robbery movie which tried to be different by raising the issue of Italian immigrant workers in Germany, and also inserting a disillusioned privileged young man who participates in the act just for the experience. The movie also tried to maintain a sort of documentary feel. But ultimately, none of that really elevated the work, and the end result turned out to be another run-of-the-mill outing. The sort of rushed finale (especially, the Barbara Steele angle,) didn't do the movie any good, either."
The Monocle
(1964, dir. Georges Lautner)
Original title: Le monocle rit jaune. The third and last film in a trio of French comedy thrillers cum agent films directed by Georges Lautner (24 Jan 1926 – 22 Nov 2013), all of which starred Paul Meurisse (21 Dec 1912 – 19 Jan 1979), of Diabolique (1955 / trailer), as Théobald "Monocle" Dromard. It was preceded by The Black Monocle (1961 / trailer) and The Eye of the Monocle (1962 / trailer).
"Lautner apparently lost interest in the film while making it, possibly so that he would not have to make another Monocle film. He was so offended by Meurisse's casual treatment of his co-star Barbara Steele that he decided never to work with the actor again. [French Films]"
French trailer to
The Monocle:
Over at a little website known as Amazon, someone wrote: "In this third installment, all of which starred director Jean-Pierre Mellville regular Paul Meurisse as Major Theobald Dromar a.k.a. 'The Monocle', a fey secret agent who wears a monocle (hence the nickname) and cultivates an array of other quirky mannerisms, the Major is sent to Hong Kong to track down the leader of an Asian cult that sabotages nuclear facilities around the world in hopes of stirring up a war between the superpowers as retribution for the annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Once there, he runs into another agent for the British (Barbara Steele), gets partnered with an aging American Karate expert and a French ex-patriot who shelters them in the Chinese-held section of Hong Kong. From there, it's off to Macau for some opium-smoking, gunplay, explosions, double-crossings, exotic locales, Asian spies dressed like they were in Casablanca (1942 / trailer), several plots that go awry, a few fistfights, a drugged dinner that culminates in a hilarious fight scene parody from West Side Story (1961 / trailer), a kidnapping, more gunplay and a concluding car-led cavalry chase led by the Brits and crafted by Major Dromar. Voilà."
The series is based on the novels of Colonel Rémy, otherwise known as Gilbert Renault (6 Aug 1904 – 29 July 1984), "a notable French secret agent active in World War II [... who] was known under various pseudonyms such as Raymond, Jean-Luc, Morin, Watteau, Roulier, Beauce and Rémy."
Sounds familiar,
but it's Michel Magne's theme to the movie:
Amore facile
(1964, dir. Gianni Puccini)
Music to
Divorzio italo-americano:
Possibly a.k.a. Easy Love. An obscure Italian comedy about which we could find nothing, Amore facile probably never even received an English-language release. Released in Italy in October, 1964, the multi-segment comedy by Gianni Puccini (9 Nov 1914 – 3 Dec 1968) seems to consist of five episodes, one of which, titled Divorzio italo-americano, features Barbara Steele as Contessa Bardi-Stucchi.
Scene from Amore facile,
without Barbara Steele:
Going by the poster, her costars were Raimondo Vianello (7 May 1922 – 15 Apr 2010), with whom she worked earlier the same year in Lucio Fulci's I maniaci, and Mario Scaccia (26 Dec 1919 – 26 Jan 2011), whom one finds in better, trashier films, like Gran bollito / Black Journal (1977 / trailer below) and/or L'anticristo / The Antichrist (1974 / trailer).
Gran bollito / Black Journal:
The plot(s), poorly translated from Italian:
- Divorzio italo-americano (Italian-American Divorce): A professor in love with an American woman tries to eliminate her husband.
- Una casa rispettabile (A Respectable House): The owner of a small hotel entices a mistreated boarder.
- Il vedovo bianco (The White Widower): A married man tricks an old friend into marrying his mistress so that his wife will not become suspicious.
- L'uomo corretto (The Correct Man): A guy borrows money and uses it to pay for the 'services' of the loan shark's wife.
- Una domenica d'agosto (A Sunday in August): Two couples see their planned trip to the beach fade away due to multiple mishaps.
To poorly translate what someone named Carlo Ceruti says: "[...] Easy Love is a stupid, silly, very dated and never funny episodic movie. It's not even interesting as a document of custom. Totally forgettable."
Spicer Lovejoy pretty much agrees: "One of the many episodic films, and not one of the best, that raged, with mixed fortunes, in the 60s. Directed by a veteran of the genre, and written by many screenwriters, [... but] not even they can do anything against the total insipidity of the script. To be forgotten. MEDIOCRE."
The Long Hair of Death
(1965, dir. Antonio Margheriti as "Anthony Dawson")
Barbara Steele's second horror film within the year to be directed by the Italian master "Anthony Dawson", The Long Hair of Death has never commanded the respect or popularity of the earlier project, Castle of Blood (1964). Released in Italy in the last days of 1964, it reached the UK in 1967 but never seems to have had a cinema release in other English-speaking countries, which might help to explain its unjust obscurity. Though not actually in the public domain, a scratchy and damaged "public domain" copy has long been floating around the web and on cheap DVDs; as of relatively recent, however, the film has enjoyed some improved DVD releases...
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Main theme, by Carlo Rustichelli:
While seldom noted, the Polish actress Halina Zalewska (1940 - 19 August 1976), who in real life died a tragic death by fire at the age of 36, also plays two roles in The Long Hair of Death: Helen's mother, who is burnt at the stake, and Helen's mother, Adele Karnstein, and Helen's sister, Lisabeth Karnstein/Humboldt.
Trailer to
The Long Hair of Death:
Mondo Digital, which thinks that "the film is a bit too timid and flatly executed to rank with the very best of the era, but it's still loaded with creepy ambiance and makes for a real treat for Steele fans", has the plot: "An insidious false accusation of witchcraft turns into tragedy for the Karnstein family, with the matriarch (Halina Zalewska [1940 – 19 August 1976] of War Between the Planets [1966 / trailer] & Snow Devils [1967 / trailer]) burned at the stake and her desperate daughter, Helen (Barbara Steele), murdered when she tries to stop the execution at the hands of the corrupt Count Humboldt (Giuliano Raffaelli of The Unnaturals [1969 / Italian trailer, with Joachim Fuchsberger] & Killer without a Face [1968 / full film, with Janine Reynaud]). In the aftermath years later, the younger surviving Karnstein daughter, Elizabeth (Zalewska again), has an arranged marriage to the Count's diabolical son, Kurt (George Ardisson [31 Dec 1931 – 11 Dec 2014] of Don't Look in the Attic [1982 / trailer], Human Cobras [1971 / music, with Janine Reynaud] and Die Weibchen [1970 / German trailer below]), who assumes his father's powerful position as a pestilence rages across the land. When a mysterious visitor named Mary (also Steele) appears and lures Kurt into a plot of seduction and murder, he doesn't realize the full extent of the supernatural forces closing around him."
Die Weibchen:
The story to The Long Hair of Death came from the twisted mind of Ernesto Gastaldi (credited as "Julian Berry", who some years earlier helped write a fun little film known as Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory (1961), just one of many great movies the man helped scribe. The actual script itself was from the pen of Tonino Valerii (20 May 1934 – 13 Oct 2016), credited as "Robert Bohr"; Valerii was soon to take up directing films, and one of his best projects is without doubt the spaghetti western My Name is Nobody (1973 / trailer). Indeed, supposedly Valerii had hoped to kick off his directorial career by directing this movie, but the producer decided for someone with experience, namely "Anthony Dawson". The castle of the movie is Massimo Castle in Arsoli, which dates from the 11th century.
A crappy but full version of
The Long Hair of Death:
"Structurally, The Long Hair of Death's narrative mirrors a symphony with its grand opening that announces itself only to slightly scale back into a slow-moving section that gives the characters time to establish who they are and what their motivations are. From there, the third movement in this four-movement symphony of terror is the one that sets the diabolical plan in motion, with the four-movement final act setting up a coda to all the events that have just transpired. [...] The Long Hair of Death does retain many of the qualities that one would expect when watching a Gothic horror film. Most notable are its stark imagery and meticulously framed compositions, which give The Long Hair of Death a tremendous amount of atmosphere. Another area where The Long Hair of Death often excels is its special effects, most specifically Helen's resurrection sequence. [10 K Bullets]"
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Over at mubi, msmichel raves, "This is a film that should be as well regarded in Italian horror history as Black Sunday (1960, see Part II) but seems to have been relegated to public domain death. Look for the original scope Italian print and be prepared for something special. Well directed and told tale that features the incomparable B. Steele and a strong turn by G. Ardisson. One can see the film's influence on 60s and 70s horror, especially The Wicker Man (1973 / trailer)."
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Coming eventually:
Barbara Steele, Pt. V (1965)
Barbara Steele, Pt. V (1965)
A public service announcement from a wasted life:
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