Robin Hood della contea nera

"The Hellfire Club" is an amiable swashbuckler. It's not among the best of its genre, but it's quite agreeable. It has a very fine pace, a respectable amount of energy, an appreciably high level of humor, and an extremely engaging cast.

The setting is England in the 1770s. Young Jason (Martin Stephens) and his mother (Jean Lodge) flee for their lives, from the tyranny of their cruel father / husband (Andrew Faulds). 15 years later, Jason is now a hunky, strapping adult (Keith Michell) living with a circus troupe. He receives word that his father has died, and decides to return to the family home to reclaim his birthright. But to do so, he will have to battle his sleazy and corrupt cousin Thomas (Peter Arne).

The action and the sword fights may indeed not be the slickest that you'll ever see, but they're still entertaining enough to watch. Lavishly photographed in widescreen by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman (who are also the producers and the directors), it's violent without ever being gory, and its sets and costumes are reasonably appealing. The music score by Clifton Parker is appropriate all the way through. As said before, the sense of humor helps a lot, especially during the sequence where Jason masquerades as a French Marquis (Bernard Hunter); Michell is hysterical in these scenes.

There are solid contributions from much of the cast: lovely Adrienne Corri as the grasping but honest Lady Isobel, ever delightful Peter Cushing as the lawyer Mr. Merryweather, David Lodge as Timothy, Miles Malleson as a judge, Francis Matthews as Sir Hugh Manning, and Skip Martin as Joey. Michell is a worthy hero, and Arne is an effectively slimy villain.

"The Hellfire Club" remains consistently diverting for its entire 93 minute run time.

Seven out of 10.

Being an 18thc fan, when a movie takes place in that era, I kind of like it already, though sometimes it falls below expectations. That wasn't the case with this film. Though it's a bit misleading from the title, as very little of it has to do with that infamous club, but nonetheless, I enjoyed the story of the hero fighting to reclaim his estate and title from his evil cousin, who inherited everything due to his supposed death, and intends to make that happen!

There was some comedy here, too, when our leading man waylays the Frenchman on route to the family mansion, steals his close and takes his place, going way over the top with his phony accent and effeminate style.

There's also some romance, as he's torn between two women. I'm happy to state that he makes the right choice!

Worth watching!

The early sixties was the period, the era for swashbucklers from Europe; mainly France with the adaptations of instance from Alexandre Dumas' novesl, and directed by the likes of Andre Hunnebelle and Bernard Borderie. And from Italia, there were hundreds of them. But from England, well, not that many of them and this one is one of the exceptions. It is inspired not from a novel, but from actual facts related to some kind of a sect which existed in eighteenth century Britain: the HELL FIRE CLUB, a topic also evoked in one season of THE AVENGERS series, starring Diana Rigg and Patrick McNee. Several years later, you also had another historical adventure, costume movie called WITCHFINDER GENERAL, not the same topic but the same kind of settings, period; though more disturbing. This movie is colorful, fun, never boring and the production design perfectly adequate for this kind of adventure film.

This cheap 'n' cheesy British swashbuckler is very much like the costume adventure films that Hammer were making during the same period, albeit on a much lower budget. There's a wobbly, fake look to the whole production; the costumes are anything but authentic, and nothing looks very believable when it comes down to it. It has the same authenticity as an episode of DOCTOR WHO around the time of Jon Pertwee, but that's not to say it isn't fun.

The plot is completely predictable, involving a guy who comes home to claim his inheritance, only to discover that a bad guy (his cousin) has taken his place. It's rather amusing to see Keith Michell (THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII) as the straight-laced lead, but the prevalence of familiar faces in the supporting cast helps to even things out a bit. Watch out for a small, fussy turn from Peter Cushing, Peter Arne and Francis Matthews as the suave villains, Adrienne Corri (VAMPIRE CIRCUS) as a potential love interest, Miles Malleson as a judge and Bill Owen (LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE's Compo!) as a circus performer (!).

The production is quite poorly staged and the fight choreography is all over the place, with punches thrown so badly that you can clearly see they never connect. There's a half-rousing sword fight at the climax but it still pales in comparison to other fare from the era. There's lots of titillation though, thrown in as if to make up for the other deficiencies. Nevertheless I love period films from this era, so I still enjoyed THE HELLFIRE CLUB despite the obvious shortcomings.

Having been aware of this film from its poster found in an old scrapbook of my father's as well as Leslie Halliwell's positive write-up in his film guide and given my own partiality to swashbucklers, I made it a point to catch this one during its sole TV screening in my neck of the woods which occurred in the mid-1990s. Somehow, I didn't tape it back then but, thankfully, I subsequently acquired it via Dark Sky's double-feature DVD where it was coupled with another vintage British genre film (albeit of the horror variety) BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE (1958; which I caught up with recently during this year's Halloween Challenge) produced by the same film-making duo behind THE HELLFIRE CLUB i.e. Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman. Swashbucklers had been Hollywood's most popular genres during the 1950s so it was almost inevitable that it should also flourish in Europe (Britain, France and Italy) as well. Other British examples were a handful of rather atypical Walt Disney productions and Hammer Films but also rare one-offs like THE MOONRAKER (1958) - another film whose poster graces that aforementioned scrapbook of my father's where he used to paste sundry posters and articles of movies released locally during the 1950s and early 1960s.

The plot line of a deposed aristocrat fighting to regain his rightful place is an age-old premise - think of Tyrone Power's South Seas adventure SON OF FURY (1942) for example - and this film follows in that fashion as well as Keith Michell is ousted by his villainous cousin (Peter Arne) who claims both his title and lands following the former's departure as a boy (played by the 1960 VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED's Martin Stephens) from under the clutches of his would-be Satanic father and his 'depraved' peers – hence the title which, incidentally, was an underground society that truly existed but, unsurprisingly, this is no historical account. Ironically enough, the flight of the child and his long-suffering (and ill-fated) saintly mother was precipitated by the boy's cousin goading him to witness the debaucheries of their elders being held in the basement! Needless to say, such wickedness is only mildly (in fact, too mildly if you ask me) depicted by the film-makers and these quaint orgies (relagated to the start and end of the film) are more prone to raise a smile than an eyebrow but, even so, there are three instances of censor-baiting where fetching females (including red-headed Adrienne Corri and Kai Fischer) are shown bare-backed!

The hero had been taken by his loyal guardian (David Lodge) to stay with a travelling circus troupe where he grew up a strong,agile man with a penchant for theatricality, qualities which he will be forced to rely on in his future run-ins with Arne and his men. Swordfights, floggings, prison escapes and impersonations (by Michell of a foppish French ally of Arne's) are the order of the day making for a pacy, full-blooded entertainment punctuated by Clifton Parker's rousing music score (not to mention an amiably goofy cameo from Peter Cushing as Michell's attorney) that, while perhaps falling short of more renowned entries in the genre, is reasonably representative of its British variant made during its time.