Le Spectre du professeur Hichcock

I remember getting my drivers' license. It allowed me to travel to towns a few miles from mine and see movies (only one was shown at a time in those days) at small local theaters. In the sixties we had Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Sebastian Cabot, and others entertaining us with lightweight, scary little films. Many were based loosely on the works of Poe. Though I never saw this until a few minutes ago, it fits in with that genre. It has wonderful atmosphere. The heroine is not blameless, but has a case for murdering the old meany. Of course, she's going to pay a price, as is her doctor lover, when the old guy comes back to haunt her. There's a little Rebecca and Gaslight here, but it all works nicely to a satisfying conclusion. He who laughs last, of course. The performances are good and the atmosphere of the castle and its bleak goings on is a lot of fun. There is an intensity at work here that build, till people become paranoid and suspicious. See this. It's not a bad ghost story.

This film perhaps holds up better than the first Dr. Hitchcock film and can be seen with or without that film. It stands on its own. A good film for people to be introduced to director Freda's work with. It gets better with repeated viewings and the music score is very good. This is not, just as none of his films are, a supernatural movie. So just know that going in. The film still has a good Gothic feel to it. Sadly there is no really good DVD release version of the film. There is a key and very graphic murder scene that is either cut down or cut completely out of several versions available. Without that being intact the impact of the later part of the film is really reduced. Think about Psycho if you basically cut out the shower scene. Not that this is in Psycho's league but this scene I'm talking about really makes this film work. It would be nice if Freda's films got a box set release of proper versions of his film. He started Mario Bava's career and Argento says Freda had more of an influence on him than Bava was. For now you have to really look hard and watch pretty lousy versions of his films to try to discover him as a director. It's worth the effort but would be nice for him to get some decent releases.

Official/unofficial sequel to "The Horrible Dr. Hichcock" with the captivating Barbara Steele now playing the doctor's wife Margaret instead of Cynthia and Elio Jotta taking in the role of Dr. Hichcock himself. Titled simply "The Ghost" on my DVD collection the Dr. is now confined to a wheelchair and is administered small doses of a poison in order to dilute whatever is ailing him. Assisting him in his matters of health is the handsome Dr. Charles Livingstone who also is having an affair with Margaret. Late one night after a séance Margaret confides in Charles that she cannot take being around him anymore and that maybe he can administer a deadly dose of the poison to her husband in order for her to claim his inheritance and live together in the Gothic Scottish castle as the lovers they were meant to be. When Dr. Livingstone agrees and murders Dr. Hichcock the castle becomes haunted by the corpse with ghastly reminders of the dastardly deed. Complicating things even more is Dr. Hichcock's faithful housekeeper Catherine who seems to keep an attentive eye on Margaret and Charles' suspicious actions. When the Hichcock fortune turns up missing Margaret begins to wonder if her husband's ghost has hidden it or perhaps her beau hasn't been as truthful as she thinks he is. Dr. Livingstone I presume? Maybe.

Not much that hasn't been done before here though it is a pretty decent effort with a rather graphic scene for a movie made in the early sixties. Without a doubt this movie was augmented greatly by the performance of the large-eyed "Queen of Gothic Horror" Barbara Steele. Her portrayal of a wife with so much disgust for her crippled husband which is trumped only by her greed is powerfully done. The climax actually proves that Margaret and Dr. Hichcock were cut from the same cloth concerning the lack of morality and how they treat others to gain what they think should be theirs. Can become a little plodding during the 95 minute running time though the ending will keep you glued to the screen. The print of "The Ghost" unfortunately was taken from a degraded copy as some of the scenes jump from frame to frame which gets rather annoying from time to time. The dubbing at times are suspect as well. Funny how the setting was supposed to be in Scotland yet only one person spoke with a Scottish brogue and rather poorly at that. Not the greatest work I've seen from the Gothic horror genre though I believe fans of Barbara Steele would enjoy this.

Riccardo Freda's "Lo Spettro" aka. "The Ghost" of 1963 is yet another delightfully uncanny Italian Gothic Horror film starring the wonderful Barbara Steele (my favorite actress), and while it cannot possibly compare to the absolute highlights in Steele's career, such as Mario Bava's masterpiece "La Maschera Del Demonio" ("Black Sunday", 1960), Roger Corman's "Pit and the Pendulum" (1961, also starring the great Vincent Price) or Antonio Margheriti's "Danza Macabra" ("Castle of Blood", 1964), this is another mesmerizing experience that no lover of Gothic greatness can afford to miss. "Lo Spettro" is a sequel to Freda's earlier Gothic Horror film, "L'Orribile Segreto Del Dr. Hichcock" ("The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock", 1962; they obviously left out a "t" in order to avoid legal difficulties), also starring Steele, which I haven't yet seen. Her character is named 'Margaret' in this film whereas the name was 'Cynthia' in "Dr. Hichcock. This film doesn't require having seen "Dr. Hichcock" , however.

Scotland, 1910: The brilliant, but critically ill, wheelchair-bound Dr. Hichcock (Elio Jotta), who needs to take lots of medications against his mysterious disease, is working on a serum to cure paralysis. His beautiful young wife Margaret (Barbara Steele) is having an affair with his assistant/colleague Dr. Livingstone (Peter Baldwin), however, and the two do not intend to wait for the old Doctor to pass away by natural reasons. Shortly after his funeral, creepy things begin to happen in the uncanny mansion...

As mentioned above, the ravishing Barbara Steele, is my favorite actress, and she is once again great here. In my humble opinion, no other actress was ever capable of blending incomparable beauty with a genius for the uncanny as it is the case with this unchallenged Goddess of Gothic Horror, and no other actress ever will. Under the solid direction of Riccardo Freda, Miss Steele plays yet another typical role with typical greatness. As the credited director of the first (post-WW2) Italian Horror film, "I Vampiri" of 1957, Freda deserves praise as one of the pioneers of Italian Horror, though it must be said that it was actually the great Mario Bava (my choice for the greatest Horror director of all-time) who completed that gem and who is arguably responsible for its greatness. Besides our beloved Barbara, the rest of the cast is also very good, especially Elio Jotta is great as the sinister Dr. Hichcock. William Baldwin is good enough as Dr. Livingstone, as is Harriet Medin as the housekeeper, and the cast furthermore includes Umberto Raho, whom Italian Horror fans might recognize as a regular supporting actor in many films (including Margheriti's "Castle of Blood", Bava's "Baron Blood" and Ubaldo Ragona's "The Last Man on Earth" starring Vincent Price).

The film is almost entirely set inside Dr. Hichcocks eerie, castle-like mansion, which is a terrific setting for old-fashioned Goth-Horror indeed. Franco Mannino's score, which mainly consists of an eerily beautiful theme that is replayed throughout the film, greatly increases the film's rich atmosphere. Overall, "Lo Spettro" is not one of the greatest films in Barbara Steele's filmography, but it still is a very good and creepy Gothic Horror film that none of her fans could possibly afford to miss. Barbara Steele is once again stunningly beautiful, and brilliantly sinister - I simply cannot find enough words to adequately praise this wonderful lady. Barbara, we worship you!

Barbara Steele is great as the conniving wife of Dr. Hitchcock in this, Freda's sequel to The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock. She conspires with Dr. Hitchcock's physician (who is also her lover) to do away with her old, sick and wealthy husband, which leads to the old revenge-from-beyond-the-grave storyline. While clichéd and (mostly) predictable, this film remains a must-see for fans of atmospheric horror and, in particular, Italian horror films of the 1960's. Riccardo Freda's excellent work combining lighting, sound and camera movement creates an eerie and foreboding atmosphere which overcomes the films weaknesses and gives healthy punctuation to the films shocks. This movie is well worth tracking down, and is certainly deserving of wider recognition than it has thus far received.