Legend of Horror

Legend of Horror (1972)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

When OBRAS MAESTRAS DEL TERROR was released in America, one of its four stories was edited out so that the movie was shorter. That one story that was cut out was a version of The Tell-Tale Heart and it was turned into a feature length movie in LEGEND OF HORROR, a low-budget film from 1972.

This film basically takes the story cut from OBRAS MAESTRAS DEL TERROR and adds a wrap-around story dealing with a man who was caught in the Mayor's daughter's bedroom and he is sentenced to fifteen-years in prison. From here he is thrown into a cell with an old man and the two plan their escape.

When I first heard about this film I was expecting some sort of Jerry Warren hack job. If you don't know who Warren is, he's basically one of the worst director's in the history of cinema who would buy foreign movies, cut them down and then add new scenes to them. That's not really what happens here since the original story was never released and apparently there's nothing missing from it. What this film did was release that as well as add some new scenes to it to make the running time 75-minutes.

I'm not going to say this is a lost masterpiece or anything like that but I thought it was entertaining enough to make it worth watching. The original story is The Tell-Tale Heart and for the most part it was a good version. I liked the performances from the two actors and thought it was entertaining in its own way. The wrap-around story is also mildly interesting and especially since there are some stop-motion death scenes. These scenes look quite fake but at the same time they pretty much come out of nowhere and they are effective for what they are.

LEGEND OF HORROR is a film that horror fans will want to check out. It's history is rather interesting and the job to make this a complete movie succeeds for the most part.

The Argentinian segment was one of the three stories, from works by Edgar Allan Poe, which formed the movie "Obras Maestras del Terror" (litterally: Masterworks of Terror), directed by Enrique Carreras and released in Argentina in July 1960. When this film was released in the United States by Jack H. Harris, this segment was cut from the movie, which was reduced to 61 minutes (from 115 !!!) and its well-known American title is "Master of Horror".

Famous Argentinian actor Narciso Ibanez Menta appeared in all three segments in different roles (and is, of course, although uncredited, in the Argentinian footage of "Legend of Horror". The "young man" is his son, Narciso Ibanez Serrador, which became a famous director in Spain. It was rumored that Narciso Ibanez Menta was in fact the true director of the movie, as Enrique Carreras never made something similar in his other works. The three Poe-adapted stories were "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Truth About the Case of Mr. Valdemar" (both in "Master of Horror", and "The Tell-Tale Heart" (recycled in "Legend of Horror'.

As this film mixes Argentinian and US footage, I was expecting something in the Jerry Warren vein; however, the Argentinian scenes are dubbed and presented whole, and the US scenes are far more than just framing devices. In fact, I'd say the majority of the film is US-shot. The Arg. footage is taken from an adaptation of Poe's TELL-TALE HEART, which is then used as a dream sequence and a haunted memory of an old man serving time in a prison in the US footage. The US footage is very low budget using only a few actors and a few small sets, and some limited location work, but it is effective in creating a mysterious atmosphere. The older prisoner, Sidney, and his younger cellmate, Pierre, are well-played, although I don't know who plays who in the film...sorry. As for the "magicmation" aspect of the film, it only appears twice, and for about 5 seconds total, and it's the only part of the film in color, although the black and white photography in both the US and Argentinian footage is quite good and atmospheric. If you consider HOUSE OF THE BLACK DEATH or TERROR OF THE BLOODHUNTERS classics, as I do, then this film is worth seeking out. There is no doubt an interesting production history to Legend of Horror. I don't see any other IMDB credits for US director Bill Davies, but he does a lot with very little here and I would be interested to know what else he has done. It's hard to believe this didn't play theatrically until 1972, as is claimed. The Argentinian footage looks circa 1961 or so, and the US footage looks circa 1965. Perhaps some intrepid cult-film researcher can track down Bill Davies or someone else who worked on the film and do an interview.