La casa de las mil muñecas

This Spanish/British/German co-production was on AIP's back-burner for quite a while. Eventually, Vincent Price did the film as part of his contractual obligations to the company. Producer/Director Harry Allan Towers specialized in sleazy European thrillers and this one is no exception. When a vacationing couple (George Nader and Anne Smyrner) in Tangiers run into an old friend there, they discover that he is searching for his missing girlfriend (Maria Rohm, Tower's real-life wife) who has been kidnapped by an international gang of white slavers. Nader investigates but before he can come up with anything, his friend is murdered. Meanwhile, nightclub magician Price and his mentalist partner (Martha Hyer), continue their nefarious activities--they hypnotize and kidnap young women for the 'White Slavers', and spirit them to the "House of 1000 Dolls." Yep, that's the plot outline folks, at least in the American cut of the film. Price and Ms. Hyer (who had just married producer Hal Wallis) shared a great interest in art, and in their spare time, they visited local museums together. Years later, when asked about this film, Price had this to say: "What she (Ms. Hyer) and I didn't know was, at the same time, they were making a 'dirty' version of the film. Every day we had off, they'd make a 'dirty version'. We went visiting on the set one day, and there was everyone naked! and they weren't even the same girls!" This explains why the American print of the film runs 78 minutes and the one seen in Europe is various lengths, from 90 to 98 minutes. Thanks to some atmospheric photography,an attractive musical score by Charles Camilleri and good performances from Price, Hyer and Nader, the film is watchable, and the girls are beautiful. This movie played most places with another Towers/Nader potboiler, "The Million Eyes Of Su- Muru" which isn't even as entertaining as this one.

To begin with, this was yet another "Movies 4 Men" screening hampered by the usual garbled sound problems! It is also an example of a maligned Vincent Price film (Leonard Maltin says he "walks through it in a daze"!) which is actually not too bad. That said, the actor was not well served by "Euro-Cult" (this is a Spanish-German production, despite the British involvement of the writer-producer and director), as can also be gleaned from his sole Mario Bava collaboration DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS (1966)!

Price and co-star Martha Hyer are a couple engaged in a magic act (called Manderville, so that he is later mockingly dubbed "Mandrake"!) who are involved in the trafficking of women for the purposes of prostitution (they purposefully choose lonely girls to make them disappear both on stage and in real life but, of course, they are bound to slip sometime...because otherwise there would be no film!). Considering the subject matter and Towers' resume', this is remarkably chaste; in any case, the very first victim we see here (being transported in a coffin!) is none other than Maria Rohm aka Mrs. Towers. Her boyfriend sets on her trail, which leads him to Tangier, where he seeks the help of criminal pathologist George Nader (the hero inevitably played by an ageing Hollywood presence). Hindering their progress is local photographer Herbert Fux, while the proper Police investigation is carried out by Wolfgang Kieling (who had just been a villain, served with a memorable death scene, in Alfred Hitchcock's TORN CURTAIN {1966}).

Typically, the identity of the organization's head is a mystery to all; hence, the ultimate revelation proves quite a surprise...and, though it then transpires that Price was not as villainous as had been inferred, he still gets a melodramatic demise. By the way, I was surprised to notice the Maltese name of Charles Camilleri as the film's composer; actually, I had already heard his (only other film) work on Jess Franco's THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU (1968) and, interestingly enough, he died a couple of years back right in my home-town!

Dear Mr. Price, Vincent,

You are my favorite actor of all times. I was only 8 years old when I spotted you for the first time in "Edward Scissorhands". Back then, I didn't yet know that writer/director Tim Burton created the role of The Inventor especially for you as a tribute and to honor your entire life in the field of horror movies. By the time I was old enough to realize what a magnificent career you had throughout five full decades, you already passed away, but I spent the next 20 years seeking out and discovering your film classics one by one. Thank you for all the horror greatness! So many titles on your repertoire rank among my personal favorite films, like "The Witchfinder General", "House of Wax", "Laura", "The Abominable Dr. Phibes", "The Fly", "Tower of London", "The Mad Magician", "Last Man on Earth", "The House of Seven Gables" and every single installment in the Edgar Allan Poe cycle that you made with director Roger Corman. Some films were less amazing, like "The Monster Club" or "Madhouse", but I had never really encountered a terrible Vincent Price film... until now!

"House of a 1.000 Dolls" was truly an ordeal to struggle through! I sincerely cannot fathom how the producers managed to pull you aboard for this one. The basic premise, with you as a low-keyed magician in Tangiers operating a vicious network that kidnaps young women and trades them as white slaves, is potentially fascinating enough, but you must have noticed immediately - with all your intellect and experience - that the screenplay was horribly boring and inept? The pacing never properly picks up, and for each remotely interesting sequence (like when the random stranger menaces you outside of the theater) there is seemingly endless footage of people randomly talking. The mystery plot surrounding the "King of Hearts" is lame and predictable, none of your other colleagues gives a likable performance and there's zilch atmosphere or tension. I had to battle sleep during "House of 1.000 Dolls", which is something I never thought would happen during a Vincent Price movie. The finale is pitiable too, by the way. Evil geniuses aren't supposed to be defeated as stupidly as in this film. Still, even though you obviously perform on automatic pilot, you still are the best asset of this poor film, by far.

It was most interesting to find out that even geniuses like yourself occasionally made wrong starring choices, possibly driven by contractual obligations or attractive paychecks. I only still have a handful of your films to see, and it's quite comforting to know that none of them will be as dire and lifeless as this one. May you forever rest in peace!

i think vincent price was one of the greatest actors to ever live, but i have to admit that i don't understand why he degraded himself by starring in this boring, dull, and ultimately pointless bore. the only reason i can think of that they made it at all is that the idea of a whorehouse or female slaves must have been hot stuff on the screen in 1967. was it supposed to be scandalous or something? because otherwise this one is about as exciting and involving as reading a periodical on the cause of varicose veins. it doesn't even work as a goofy camp movie, because it's too solemn and dull. as always price gives an above average performance, but it does nothing for this clunker because the movie as a whole is so fundamentally bad and uninteresting. even if you're a price completist like myself, don't bother watching it, just buy it to fill the whole in your collection.

White slavery is not a topic that gets much play nowadays, but it gets a full writeup in this film. And I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing.

The film has a very strange setup. Garcia plays a man looking for his wife, who has been abducted in Tangiers. He finds that she has been forced to work in a brothel, The House of Dolls. He's discovered and killed. His friend Nader then takes it upon himself to figure out what happened to Garcia. What he uncovers is a white slavery ring run by magician Price, who uses the female volunteers from his magic act to stock The House.

The odd thing about this movie is that everything is presented rather matter-of-factly. There's no surprise to anything. We find out in the first five minutes what Price is doing. We already know what happened to Garcia and his wife. It's a suspense movie with no suspense. They throw in a twist at the end, but who cares? It has so little to do with the movie that it's completely irrelevant. There's other problems. Price is billed first, but has only about 20 mins of screen time (in the second half mostly), and he doesn't appear to be having any fun. All of the actors in the movie appear to be speaking English, yet it sounds as though the whole soundtrack (which is in English) has been looped. It's never boring, but there's no action, no excitement, no nothing. Price fans may not even enjoy this one.