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Spirits Of The Dead [Blu-ray] [1968]

Terence Stamp (Actor), Salvo Randone (Actor), Federico Fellini (Director) Rated: Suitable for 18 years and over Format: Blu-ray
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 96 ratings
£12.47
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Blu-ray
15 Nov. 2010 		—
1
£12.47
£49.89 £11.22
Blu-ray —
1
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— —
Format PAL
Contributor Brigitte Bardot, Federico Fellini, Peter Fonda, Terence Stamp, Jane Fonda, Salvo Randone, Marina Yaru See more
Language Italian, English, French
Runtime 1 hour and 57 minutes
Studio Arrow Films

Product description

Product Description

Fellini's film is an adaptation set in contemporary Rome of Poe's Never Bet the Devil Your Head published in 1841. Poe's work is a brief comic satire of the transcendentalist movements that were then popular in Europe and America. Fellini's work takes two elements from Poe's story: First the plot of a drunk who confronts a mysterious stranger on a bridge and bets him his head; the man fails to see that the stranger is the devil who subsequently wins the bet. Second Fellini takes the name Toby Dammit, Toby being an English slang term for ass in Poe's time. (1) In short Toby Dammit is a dammed ass.

Included is the 2008, Toby Dammit cinema version restored under the personal supervision of its renowned cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno. Screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it was widely acclaimed by the press as a lost Fellini masterpiece.

Special Features:

  • Brand new transfer of Spirits of the Dead from a new HD restoration of the original negative
  • Alternative English audio for Metzengerstein and William Wilson, English and Italian audio for Toby Dammit as well the French dubbed version
  • Brand new English subtitle translation on all versions
  • Rare Vincent Price voice over narration used for the US theatrical version

Review

A Masterpiece --Empire

Marvellous: a short film but a major one --The New York Times

Marvellous: a short film but a major one --The New York Times

Marvellous: a short film but a major one --The New York Times

Marvellous: a short film but a major one --The New York Times

Product details

  • Is discontinued by manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Language ‏ : ‎ Italian, English, French
  • Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 17.4 x 13.8 x 1.8 cm; 158.76 g
  • Manufacturer reference ‏ : ‎ 5027035006017
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Federico Fellini
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ PAL
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 57 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ 15 Nov. 2010
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Terence Stamp, Salvo Randone, Marina Yaru, Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English (Dolby Digital 2.0), Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0), French (Dolby Digital 2.0)
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Arrow Academy
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0038AL7M4
  • Country of origin ‏ : ‎ United Kingdom
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 96 ratings

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4.1 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Paul WJM
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hands down the best release of Histoires Extraordinaire (Arrow Blu-ray)
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2010
    Verified Purchase
    Spirits of the Dead (as AIP re-titled it) is quite an unusual anthology horror movie from the later 60s, featuring three, almost experimental, adaptations of Poe stories from three well known European directors (Vadim, Malle, Fellini respectively). They're not particularly horrifying but there is an air of mystery about them, and they're particularly artistic explorations of Poe's tales of the weird and supernatural. Vadim's story is sexy (featuring Jane Fonda in an array of rather amazing costumes) but somewhat wayward, disjointed and long; Malle's segment is an intriguing look at a sadistic man with an apparent doppelganger that appears whenever his cruel nature reaches excessive heights; Fellini's final piece is a tale about a man who loses his head to the devil (famously showcasing Terence Stamp's convincingly deranged performance as a lost, cynical drunk).

    An important film such as this is embellished with a superb transfer for the Arrow Blu-ray Disc - periodically grainy, often exhibiting fantastic clarity. There are a couple of audio language options for each segment and you may wish to flip between these depending on the tale (the first and third tales I believe work better in English due to the fact that the main characters are portrayed by English speaking actors who dubbed their own voices). The fact that Arrow has provided such an array of options is incredibly thoughtful and as a result this release blows the previous video/DVD/laserdisc editions away. The entire French language version is available as a separate entity (can be chosen from the brilliantly designed main menu) but the picture quality is not up the standard of the main presentation (though still probably better than DVD quality), plus the colours are very different. The AIP commissioned Vincent Price voiceover is available as a short extra too.

    The main bonus is a 60 page booklet containing reprints of the three Poe stories that make up the film, plus two essays, one of which is the excellent Tim Lucas study of the film (originally from Video Watchdog in the late 90s). The presentation of this book is very professional and grants a great backdrop with which to understand the film. The Blu-ray Disc is encased in a thin Blu-ray case adorned with poster artwork on every side, and the book plus case are housed in a sturdy cardboard outer case making the whole package supremely attractive. Something I'd give 4.5 stars (though the film does take more effort than your average horror), this is an essential buy for fans of historical horror and foreign cinema and Arrow are to be congratulated - hopefully this, along with their other releases this year, is a sign of things to come.
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  • Movie Rambler
    4.0 out of 5 stars Histoires Extraordinaires
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 September 2013
    Verified Purchase
    This French/Italian co-production is a portmanteau movie with three short films based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe, an American author best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. An outstanding European director directs each one.

    In Tim Lucas notes that accompany the 2011 release of the film on Blu-ray he opines that Histoires Extraordinaires (1968) ‘reinvented the cinema’s approach to Poe, and ultimately, the boundaries of the horror genre itself. Vincent Price was nowhere in sight; instead the films creators used the opportunity to reach back to an older, European tradition of using Poe as the basis of delirious, experimental, confessional cinema’ . He also argues that the three should be seen as a whole and not as individual films, and I would concur that the three films are certainly better enjoyed as a whole.

    Roger Vadim’s (And God Created Woman 1956) Metzengerstein is the mesmerising first segment not set in any particular time span and stars his wife of the time Jane Fonda in a part that reinforces the fact that she was a strikingly beautiful and desirable actress. In this wonderfully costumed drama Jane plays a character that Poe had cast as a 18 year old male in his original story but in Vadim’s screenplay she is a young women, the Countesse Frederique von Metzengerstain who has inherited the family estate and lives a life of promiscuity and debauchery, a sort of existence that Caligula would have been proud of. Her ancestors have always been rivals with another part of family called the Berlifitzings and who still it impossible to even talk with each other. One day while out in the forest hunting Frederique’s leg gets caught in a bear trap and fortunately her cousin Baron Wilhelm Berlifitzing is also out riding and frees her. The Countesse craves an incestuous relationship with the good-looking young Baron, who is played by Jane’s brother Peter, which does add an edge to the screen portrayal, but he rejects her. Frederique decides to extract revenge on the man that had the audacity to turn down her advances. Her actions lead to a death, a reincarnation and a mystifying incident with a black horse and a damaged tapestry. Partly spoken partly narrated the movie is lushly photographed by Claude Renoir especially the opening scene where we see the Countesse and her entourage riding on the cliffs above Kerouzere Castle in Brittany and I’ve already mentioned the fabulous futuristic costumes designed by Jacques Fonteray. Is your fate predetermined?

    The penultimate segment is an intriguing piece of work directed by the French director Louis Malle (Lift to the Scaffold 1958) and is set in 19th century France and told in flashback. Atheist William Wilson, played by French heartthrob Alain Delon, enters a church and forces his way into the confessional demanding that the priest take his confession. The Malle co-scripted film tells the story of a cold-hearted sadist who claims he is being pursued by a doppelgänger who goes by the same name, William Wilson! One of his flashbacks involves a card game with a beautiful cigar smoking woman Giuseppina, a man in Poe's original story, but there's no mistaking Brigitte Bardot even with black hair. After an all night card session she eventually looses to Wilson who ends up whipping her after the other Wilson has appeared and accused him of cheating at cards. The ultimate nightmare is indeed a nightmare about a nightmare?

    Like William Wilson in the previous segment Toby Dammit is a gambling man but unlike Wilson his bet is always with the devil with whom he wagers his head! Inspired by Mario Bava's devil in Kill Baby Kill (1966) the apparition takes the form of a young girl with white blond hair wearing a simple white dress holding a luminous ball that she bounces towards him in slow motion. This final segment was originally to be directed by Orson Wells who pulled out at the last minute to direct an uncompleted project in Yugoslavia. Instead Federico Fellini was asked to direct in his place. Fellini decided on a Poe story called Never Bet the Devil Your Head, set it in a contemporary setting, which as Tim Lucas points out was transformed into 'a bizarre, acid tinged, three ringed circus - the closest the cinema has come to bring Peter Blake's amazing Sgt Peppers album cover to life' And who better to play a bizarre acid tinged character than Terence Stamp. Dammit is a famous actor who is loosing his career to the ravages of alcohol and drugs but is still convinced of his own celebrity status and agrees to travel to Rome to appear in a film where his fee is to be a brand new Ferrari. A guest of honor at a film award evening he drinks too much and has visions of a young girl holding a large luminous ball that ultimately leads to him completely loosing his head. He blew his mind out in a car .

    Although all three work very well, Fellini’s segment is the most surreal of the three films and probably the best known. Similarities between the three are purely coincidental but what we get is a great example of sixties European film making from some of the eras best directors and best known actors and actresses. The original film made its theatrical debut in Paris in 1968 but did not do remarkably well in the box office. American International Pictures bought the distribution rights for the US, changed its name to Spirits of the Dead and released it in July 1969,it was the first horror movie released in America to carry an ‘R’ rating. This collectively splendid piece of cinematic film history will not immediately appeal to every one but if, like me, you are prepared to give it a go you will be justifiably rewarded in this world if not the next! Movie Ramble Blog.
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  • LaFleur
    5.0 out of 5 stars Toby Dammit in English!
    Reviewed in the United States on 31 October 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I bought this for the Toby Dammit piece, which is fantastic - very ‘60s and very Fellini. Terence Stamp is excellent in the part of the burnt-out, boozed-up title character and the Ferrari is pretty nice, too.

    The original French title of the film, Histoires Extraordinaires (Extraordinary Stories), is more fitting. It is not a cohesive film, but three shorts (~30 mins.) loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe stories. I haven’t watched the first two shorts in their entirety, but what I did see did not impress me. The Fellini feature is the reason to buy this.

    A few other details - I purchased the “multi-format” version and received a UK blu ray. It is region ABC, however, and it played just fine in my North American blu ray player. There are a few different language & subtitle options, including dubbed English versions. In the case of Toby Dammit, Terence Stamp’s original English lines & voiceovers are restored. (This is not the default, however; the English dubbing option must be selected.)
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  • August B.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Increible
    Reviewed in Mexico on 4 June 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Me encanta que tenga la opción del audio en francés e italiano así se disfruta mejor de la ultima historia que es de Fellini, en italiano e inglés
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  • Alberto Camerotto
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ottimo
    Reviewed in Italy on 21 March 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Qualità eccellente, si vede che hanno fatto un buon lavoro con il restauro.
    Manca l'italiano, ma con i pochi dialoghi che ci sono non si sente il bisogno.
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  • Fango
    5.0 out of 5 stars Der Fellini Part...
    Reviewed in Germany on 30 July 2012
    Verified Purchase
    ...alleine ist ein Kauf absolut wert.
    Villeicht der beste Fellini überhaupt, dazu kaum bekannt.

    Bild sehr ordentlich, leider kein deutscher Ton - der eigentlich sehr gut ist/war! Ich kenne nämlich die deutsche Synchronisation einer Ausstrahlung im TV von vor ca. 15 Jahren, die ich auch mal auf VHS hatte...

    BITTE auch nocn mal mit deutscher Synch!
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  • titiouaf
    5.0 out of 5 stars Pour Brigitte !
    Reviewed in France on 7 February 2010
    Verified Purchase
    Voila une démonstration du talent de notre Grande BB !
    Elle a souvent joué des rôles d'espiègle et de drôlerie avec sa présence , son jeu mutin , son humour et sa beauté mais des cinéastes lui confiés de rôles plus émotionnels lui permirent d'étaler son talent de vrai comédienne : et sa vie n'est-elle pas un exemple de talent de respect et d'amour de la France à qui elle a tant donné !
    En plus , elle ne ruine pas la Sécu !
    La France (Pauvre France) perd ses valeurs (hein , Charles !)et la France aurait pu lui faire l'honneur d'une statue sur une Place de Paris , ce qui aurait été la moindre des choses après le pactole qu'elle a rapporté au pays qu'elle a toujours aimé pour autre chose que des subventions !
    titiouaf .
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