IMDb RATING
4.8/10
2.7K
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An evil hyponotist/ventriloquist plots to gain a heiress' millions.An evil hyponotist/ventriloquist plots to gain a heiress' millions.An evil hyponotist/ventriloquist plots to gain a heiress' millions.
Francis De Wolff
- Dr. Keisling
- (as Francis de Wolff)
Redmond Bailey
- Backstage Crew
- (uncredited)
Anthony Baird
- Soldier
- (uncredited)
Tony Castleton
- Charity Ball Guest
- (uncredited)
David Charlesworth
- Hugo Novik
- (uncredited)
Lorenza Colville
- Mercedes
- (uncredited)
Sadie Corre
- Hugo the Dummy
- (uncredited)
Trixie Dallas
- Miss Penton
- (uncredited)
Keith Denny
- Audience Member
- (uncredited)
Margaret Durnell
- Countess
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Deadly Dolls and Terrifying Toys
Deadly Dolls and Terrifying Toys
From a simple wind-up monkey to the high-tech terrors of M3GAN, these disturbing playthings left us with nightmares.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to executive producer Richard Gordon, the theater in which The Great Vorelli performs was not open to the public at the time and was scheduled to be demolished. The film crew was able to shoot inside the theater for the show and backstage scenes before the deadline for the building's demolition.
- Quotes
Mark English: [on the telephone to Bob] Now get your tail out of bed and get to work.
Bob Garrett: Wilco, wilco, stay cool and all that jazz. Hey, how'd you know I was still in bed?
Mark English: It figures, boy, it figures.
- Alternate versionsThe international version is different from the original British version.
- The opening and closing credits are different.
- The international version replaces two scenes with topless women with alternate takes, featuring them clothed or covered.
- The international version contains a scene which explains the motivation for Magda's murder, while the British version replaces this with a stage performance in which a woman is hypnotized and strips, ending up topless.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Devil Doll (1997)
Featured review
The Image DVD of this film includes both the original release and an alternate Continental version. There are the following differences in the film.
(a) the initial opening credits are slightly different. The original print has a separate starring credit for Bryant Haliday "as the Great Vorelli" but the continental print credits William Sylvester above Bryant Halliday (sic). There are also some differences in the production company credits with an "Anglo-Amalgamated" credit missing from the Continental print.
(b) 41m14s to 44m40s
The scene between Haliday and Sandra Dorne in Haliday's dressing room (a fairly important scene in establishing Dorne's character and providing a motive for her later murder) which ends with them going into a side room for some (off-screen) sex is missing from the Continental print. Instead, an entirely new scene has been substituted (16s longer in total) which shows Haliday's stage act once more. In this new scene (which does not appear in the original version and was especially filmed for the Continental print) he invites a woman on stage and hypnotizes her into performing a striptease which continues at length until the woman is topless.
(c) 48m15s
A shot of Dorne turning in her sleep is filmed in an alternate cut in the Continental print to show more of her exposed breast.
(d) 48m54s
In the follow-up shot of Hugo approaching to stab Dorne the Continental print has an alternate take in which you see her exposed breast.
(e) 49m47s to 51m07s
Sylvester has a phone conversation with an American colleague in Berlin. This man is accompanied by a young woman who fiddles with her hair and sits on his bed. In the theatrical print she is wearing a bikini and a see-through negligee. The Continental print is an alternate take in which she (the same actress) is topless.
In my view the original cut is definitely superior because the deletion of the dressing room scene from the Continental print (and its replacement by the gratuitous striptease) makes Dorne's subsequent murder abrupt and seemingly arbitrary - the character had also been hanging around the periphery of the action waiting for an appropriate exposition scene to explain her that, in this version, never comes.
(a) the initial opening credits are slightly different. The original print has a separate starring credit for Bryant Haliday "as the Great Vorelli" but the continental print credits William Sylvester above Bryant Halliday (sic). There are also some differences in the production company credits with an "Anglo-Amalgamated" credit missing from the Continental print.
(b) 41m14s to 44m40s
The scene between Haliday and Sandra Dorne in Haliday's dressing room (a fairly important scene in establishing Dorne's character and providing a motive for her later murder) which ends with them going into a side room for some (off-screen) sex is missing from the Continental print. Instead, an entirely new scene has been substituted (16s longer in total) which shows Haliday's stage act once more. In this new scene (which does not appear in the original version and was especially filmed for the Continental print) he invites a woman on stage and hypnotizes her into performing a striptease which continues at length until the woman is topless.
(c) 48m15s
A shot of Dorne turning in her sleep is filmed in an alternate cut in the Continental print to show more of her exposed breast.
(d) 48m54s
In the follow-up shot of Hugo approaching to stab Dorne the Continental print has an alternate take in which you see her exposed breast.
(e) 49m47s to 51m07s
Sylvester has a phone conversation with an American colleague in Berlin. This man is accompanied by a young woman who fiddles with her hair and sits on his bed. In the theatrical print she is wearing a bikini and a see-through negligee. The Continental print is an alternate take in which she (the same actress) is topless.
In my view the original cut is definitely superior because the deletion of the dressing room scene from the Continental print (and its replacement by the gratuitous striptease) makes Dorne's subsequent murder abrupt and seemingly arbitrary - the character had also been hanging around the periphery of the action waiting for an appropriate exposition scene to explain her that, in this version, never comes.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- La Poupée Diabolique
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- £25,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 21 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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