| Spirits of the Dead | |
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 French film poster by Georges Allard[3] | |
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| Dialogue by | Daniel Boulanger[1] |
| Based on | "Metzengerstein" "William Wilson" "Never Bet the Devil Your Head"[b] by Edgar Allan Poe |
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Running time | 121 minutes[1][c] |
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Spirits of the Dead (French: Histoires extraordinaires, lit. 'Extraordinary Tales', Italian: Tre passi nel delirio, lit. 'Three Steps to Delirium'), also known as Tales of Mystery and Imagination and Tales of Mystery,[8] is a 1968 horror anthology film comprising three segments respectively directed by Roger Vadim, Louis Malle and Federico Fellini, based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe. A French-Italian international co-production, the film's French title is derived from a 1856 collection of Poe's short stories translated by French poet Charles Baudelaire; the English titles Spirits of the Dead and Tales of Mystery and Imagination are respectively taken from an 1827 poem by Poe and a 1902 British collection of his stories.
Vadim's segment, "Metzengerstein", tells the story of the debauched Countess Frédérique de Metzengerstein (Jane Fonda), who devotes herself to taming a wild horse that once belonged to her cousin, Baron Wilhelm Berlifitzing (Peter Fonda). Malle's entry, "William Wilson", follows Wilson (Alain Delon), who is hounded throughout his life of cruelty and deception by a doppelgänger, whom he challenges to a fatal duel. Fellini's short, "Toby Dammit", a loose adaptation of "Never Bet the Devil Your Head", deals with the title character (Terence Stamp), an alcoholic Shakespearean actor, whose trip to Rome to make a Spaghetti Western in exchange for a Ferrari is complicated by multiple encounters with the Devil, who appears as a little girl with a white ball.
Spirits of the Dead was released in the United States by American International Pictures in an English-language version featuring narration by Vincent Price.[9]
- ^ a b c d e f g h Curti 2015, p. 184.
- ^ Lucas 2018, p. 3.
- ^ "Histoires Extraordinaires (Spirits of the Dead) (47x63in)". Movie Posters Gallery. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
- ^ Lucas 2018, p. 148.
- ^ a b "Spirits of the Dead". UniFrance. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ^ Lucas 2018, p. 45, 98, 140.
- ^ French box office information for film at Box Office story
- ^ Lucas 2018, p. 4.
- ^ Hughes, p.92f
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