Suddenly, he cant get enough of his new friend, and myles wife, paula, becomes suspicious of duncans intentions. If a horror movie is to be taken seriously, it has to pretend to take horror seriously. Oddly suppressed from public viewing for well over a decade after its 1975 tv premiere, the mephisto waltz turned up on vhs from fox in 1989 and then made its first appearance on dvd in 2006 as part of the labels coopted midnite movies line paired up with the house on skull mountain for some inexplicable reason. The theme of the mephisto waltz of franz liszt has nothing do do with the movie. Each mephisto waltz is a devilish, whirling dance, showing off franz liszts dazzling mastery of energy theyre named after the devil, mephisto, in the german faust legend. Suddenly, he cant get enough of his new friend, and myles wife, paula. He befriends an older piano player curt jurgens who, dying of cancer, makes a deal with the devil to have his soul take up occupancy in aldas young body, thereby enabling him to continue making musicand also so he can keep scoring hot chicks. The mephisto waltz 1971 could be viewed as a mainstream holywood studios game attempt to make a kind of hammer horror style feature film, probably prompted by the critical and box office success of polanskis rosemarys baby a couple of years earlier. Staring khigh dhiegh, lilyan chauvin, kathleen widdoes and curt lowens. Alan alda plays a classical piano player on the rise who befriends a famous player himself whos at deaths door. Alan alda, jacqueline bisset, barbara parkins, bradford dillman, william windom, kathleen widdoes director.
Directed by paul mendkos who did a lot more work in television than he did in the feature film business, though he was in the directors chair for guns of the magnificent seven and a few others, including three gidget movies. I dont want to give away the plot, but what i will say is read this book. Movie typography from the mephisto waltz 1971, directed by paul wendkos, starring alan alda, jacqueline bisset, barbara parkins, bradford dillman. Ron honthaner and paul wendkos fox home entertainment appropriating the midnite movies label from mgm, fox has begun to release a number of twodisc double feature sets, raiding their vaults to bring many horror, scifi, and exploitation films to dvd for the first time. The house on skull mountain 1974the mephisto waltz 1971 directors. Kino lorber, along with 20th centuryfox, has released on bluray the mephisto waltz, the 1971 satanic occult thriller from fox and tv producer quinn martin, based on author fred mustard stewarts bestselling paperback, directed by paul wendkos, scripted by ben maddow, scored sensationally by jerry.
The name of the movie is taken from the piano work by franz liszt of the same title see mephisto waltzes. Gallery of 14 movie poster and cover images for the mephisto waltz 1971. The elderly ely is a closet satanist, and performs a ritual in which his soul is transferred into myles at the moment of his death. Unknown to alda, the guy is a satanist, who arranges to have their souls switch places at his death, so that he can be young again and continue to play piano thus needing a skilled piano player like alda to switch bodies with.
An aging, devilworshipping pianist transfers his soul into the body of a young journalist in an evil plot to prolong his life. The mephisto waltzes are four waltzes composed by franz liszt from 1859 to 1862, from 1880 to 1881, and in 1883 and 1885. Although the movie was unnerving it doesnt capture the story in its entirety. The mephisto waltz is a 1971 american horror film about an occultmurder mystery. The mephisto waltz, which is inferior to rosemarys baby on all sorts of fundamental levels like direction, photography and acting, is fatally inferior in its understanding of the supernatural. The kl studio classics bluray of the mephisto waltz is a good scan of this upscale creepshow from a year when 20th fox was in dire straits, with production reduced to a trickle. The mephisto waltz 1971 paul wendkos christian annyas. The mephisto waltz 1971 paul wendkos releases allmovie. Jacqueline bisset as paula clarkson is even more beautiful without makeup. The mephisto waltz had to feel familiar by 1971, but its conventions are handled wonderfully by the creepy mood, tense score, beautiful and ambitious cinematography full of wide angles and deep focus and strong color contrast, excellent acting, especially by the leading women jacqueline bisset and barbara parkins, and a clever finale thats openended yet sly in its explicitness. Overview full credits full synopsis notes music screenplay info original print info genre keywords. The mephisto waltz 1971 a frustrated pianist himself, music journalist myles clarkson alan alda is thrilled to interview virtuoso duncan ely curt jurgens. Odin a wealthy and powerful man, duncan ely, makes a deal with the devil to preserve the incestuous relationship he has with his daughter. The mephisto waltz bluray disc details highdef digest.
Find release information for the mephisto waltz 1971 paul wendkos on allmovie. In the mephisto waltz 1971, alan alda portrays a concert pianist who abandoned music after debuting to brutal critical notices. Mephisto waltz, the soundtrack details home explore movies explore composers resource directory forums contact us about us search on. Interestingly enough, stewart was trained at julliard as a. This is a digitized version of an article from the timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To optimize your experience with your screen reading software, please use our website, which has the same tickets as our fandango. Provided to youtube by the orchard enterprises mephisto waltz w.
Duncan, however, is terminally ill and not much interested in myles until noticing that myles hands are ideally suited for piano. The mephisto waltz is a fairly quick read, but it was full of details, right to the very end. Usa a onetime pianist turned journalist is invited to meet a legendary classical pianist, who takes an instant liking to him. Closed captions cc refer to subtitles in the available language with the addition. The mephisto waltz 1971 stream and watch online moviefone. Adapted from a fred mustard stewart novel, this offbeat occult thriller stars alan alda just prior to his elevenyear stint on mash as journalist and burgeoning musician myles clarkson, whose. The mephisto waltz 1971 movie posters cinematerial. Mephisto waltz, the on bluray 738329207410 from kino lorber. Unknown to alda, the guy is a satanist, who arranges to have thier souls switch places at his death, so that he can be young again and continue to play piano thus needing a skilled piano player like alda to switch bodies with. The mephisto waltz 1971 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. A frustrated pianist himself, music journalist myles clarkson is thrilled to interview virtuoso duncan ely. Myles clarkson is a journalist and a rising young classical pianist, and is thrilled to be able to combine those pursuits in a longsoughtafter interview with the legendary and ailing concert pianist, duncan ely. Myles and paula clarkson alan alda and jacqueline bisset, a married couple, become unknowing participants in this ordeal where there is no happy ending. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, the times does.
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