The creepy Mr. Sardonicus
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The creepy Mr. Sardonicus |
| Original title | Mr. Sardonicus |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1961 |
| length | 87 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | William Castle |
| script | Ray Russell |
| production | William Castle |
| music | From Dexter |
| camera | Burnett Guffey |
| cut | Edwin H. Bryant |
| occupation | |
| |
The Creepy Mr. Sardonicus is an American horror film directed by William Castle with Guy Rolfe in the title role and Oskar Homolka as his sinister house servant.
action
Marek Toleslawski alias Baron Sardonicus is a poor pig. Once he had looked in his father's grave for a lottery ticket that promised a high profit, when for some inexplicable reason his face was mutilated into a terrifying grin that resembled an infinitely wide grin. Years later - it is written in the year 1880 - Sardonicus wants to persuade the renowned London doctor and surgeon Sir Robert Cargrave to help him and to correct his disfigured face. When Cargrave receives a letter from his former girlfriend, Baroness Maude Sardonicus, the Briton initially believes that it was just a social invitation to the baron's manor in distant Gorslava. Soon after his arrival, Sir Robert realizes that the Baron's ugly grimace has also affected his character. He terrorizes his fellow human beings and terrifies the citizens of Gorslava. Krull, the despot's servant, with his left eye, once mutilated by Sardonicus and now overgrown, looks like a creepy figure himself, and he behaves like that: On arrival the Englishman has to watch Krull watch a maid with leeches in an inhuman Experiment tortures.
Cargrave finds his old friend Maude changed, her husband Baron Sardonicus only shows himself behind a mask. In a conversation with the nobleman, Sir Robert learns of the background that led to his distortion. Sardonicus was once the simple farmer Marek Toleslawski, who lived under one roof with his wife Elenka and father Henryk Toleslawski. When the old man died, Elenka left a lottery ticket. A little later, Marek and Elenka found out that they had won the lottery with this ticket, but the ticket was in the grave of the dead father. As a token of her love, Elenka asked Marek to go down to her dead father's grave and get the lottery ticket. When Marek opened the grave and climbed into it, he saw his father's face, which had been disfigured by the process of decay. Then his face froze into an ugly grimace, and from then on he could hardly speak intelligibly. Elenka was so horrified by her husband's new appearance that she immediately committed suicide. Thanks to the lottery win, Henryk became the mysterious Baron Sardonicus, who now asks Robert to restore his old face.
The horrific crimes the baron committed to regain his old face soon become apparent. Like the valet Krull now, he experimented with young women to find a solution to his disfigurement. Finally, his new wife, Maude, told him about Sir Roberts' skills. Cargrave undertakes an initial intervention, but remains unsuccessful. Sardonicus asks him to carry out experiments on human subjects himself, which in turn contradicts the ethics of the British society doctor. The surgeon refuses. Sardonicus now gloomily threatens to disfigure Maude's face terribly if Sir Robert doesn't want to help him. Cargrave then organizes a dangerous South American plant and begins to experiment on dogs. When Baron Sardonicus shows Cargrave the open coffin of his decayed father, the British come up with an idea. He injects Sardonicus with the plant extract and then wants to recreate Marek's traumatic experience at the opening of the grave, in the hope of being able to reverse the grimacing process. In fact, this absurd experiment succeeds, and the language center is no longer disturbed either. Gradually the features of Mr. Sardonicus relax, but Sir Robert advises him not to speak for the time being so that his facial muscles can adapt to the new situation.
The stay is over and Mr. Sardonicus lets his wife go with Sir Robert, who generously renounces any payment. At the train station, the two of them are caught by Krull, who asks the British to come back. The baron had lost his ability to speak again and could neither open his lips nor move his jaw. The Briton admits that he only injected water, as the plant extract would have been fatal even in the smallest dose. Sardonicus' disfigurement was always based only on the shock suffered at the sight of the disintegrating father and was therefore of a purely psychosomatic nature. The day Baron Sardonicus himself recognized this, he would be healed again. Krull rushes back to his master's mansion and tells him with relish that he has not reached the British. Since the despot lacks this knowledge, Baron Sardonicus is doomed to never be able to open his mouth again and to starve. Now the moment of revenge has come for Krull for the torments suffered under Mr. Sardoncius: He sits down in front of his master and with the greatest pleasure eats his delicious dishes.
Production notes
The Creepy Mr. Sardonicus premiered on October 8, 1961. The German premiere was on June 29, 1962.
The film structures were designed by Cary Odell . Ronald Lewis , who plays Doctor Sir Robert Cargrave, sings the English folk song Foggy, Foggy Dew .
useful information
As usual with William Castle's horror film productions of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the producer and director worked with a few gimmicks to keep the tension high and to get the audience to "cooperate". Shortly before the end of this film, Castle this time addressed the moviegoers directly from the screen and asked them to take part in a punishment poll, the so-called "Punishment Poll". With a card that showed a thumb down or up, depending on how you hold it, the viewer should have a say in the end of the film. In fact, however, only the fatal end of Mr. Sardonicus was filmed, a gracefully conciliatory conclusion in which he would have been cured was never intended and was never filmed.
The name Mr. Sardonicus is derived from the term sardonism , the grim-broad, vicious-painful laugh such as Richard Widmarks in the role of the killer Tommy Udo in 1947 in The Kiss of Death .
Faces that have been disfigured into absurdly laughing grimaces have been used as an effective horror element several times in American film and television productions:
- Conrad Veidt as The Man Who Laughs
- Jack Nicholson as the Joker in Batman
- the "gentlemen" in the Buffy episode Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Great Silence
- Lon Chaney senior in a mask at midnight
Reviews
The Movie & Video Guide said "Insignificant fare despite a good ending".
Halliwell's Film Guide found: "Discreetly dealt with, boring semi-horror".
“Atmospherically dense B-horror film, which knows how to use cinematic tricks - and also some ugliness - and combines tangible horror movie with some suggestive hints. Impressive: Oscar Homolka, who offers an intensive study as a one-eyed valet. "
Paimann's film lists summed up: "Atrocities given by grimaces and torture, neatly packaged in regielicher smoothness with serious representation."
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Kay Less : The large personal dictionary of films , Volume 8, entry Richard Widmark, p. 369, Berlin 2001
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 886
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 686
- ↑ The creepy Mr. Sardonicus. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 20, 2018 .
- ↑ The creepy Mr. Sardonicus in Paimann's film lists ( memento of the original from July 20, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- The sinister Mr. Sardonicus in the Internet Movie Database (English)