El secreto del Dr. Orloff (1964)

Director:

Jesus Franco

Writers:

Jesus Franco (screenplay)
Jesus Franco (story)
(more)

Release Date:

1964 (Spain)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A mad scientist creates a hideous monster to carry out his murderous plans. |

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Mad Scientist | Stripper | Female Nudity | Nudity

Cast

Hugo Blanco	...	Andros (as Hugh White)
Agnès Spaak	...	Melissa
Perla Cristal	...	Rosa
Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui	...	Dr. Conrad Jekyll
Pepe Rubio	...	Juan Manuel (as José Rubio)
Pastor Serrador	...	Inspector Klein
Marta Reves
Daniel Blumer
Luisa Sala	...	Ingrid Fisherman
Manuel Guitián	...	Ciceron
Mer Casas
Rafael Hernández
José Truchado
Juan Antonio Soler
Javier de Rivera		(as Javier Rivera)
Julio Infiesta
Ramón Lillo	...	Emilio, the inspector's assistant
Julia Toboso
Maribel Hidalgo
Jesus Franco	...	Piano Player
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Magda Maldonado		(as Magda MacDonald)

Directed by
Jesus Franco		(as Jess Franck)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jesus Franco		screenplay and dialogue
Jesus Franco		story (as David Kühne)
Nicole Guettard		writer (as David Coll)
A. Norévo		adaptation

Produced by
Marius Lesoeur	....	producer

Original Music by
Fernando García Morcillo
Daniel White

Cinematography by
Alfonso Nieva

Film Editing by
Ángel Serrano

Production Design by
Fernando Somoza

Sound Department
R. St. Martin	....	sound engineer

Other crew
Julio Parra	....	production supervisor

Production Companies

• Eurocineac
• Leo Films

Distributors

• CCB (1964) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• American-International Television (AIP-TV)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Nueva Films S.A.
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (video)

Also Known As:

Brides of Dr. Jekyll
Die Geliebten des Dr. Jekyll (Austria)
Dr. Jekyll's Mistresses (UK)
Dr. Orloff's Monster
El secreto del doctor Orloff
Les maîtresses du Docteur Jekyll (France)
Les maîtresses du Dr. Jekyll
The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll (USA)
The Secret of Dr. Orloff (USA)

Runtime:

90 min | Spain:99 min

Country:

Spain | Austria | France

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:12 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Eurocineac

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Son of Svengoolie: Dr. Orloff's Monster (1964) (#1.100)" (1981)

Now, THIS is the Franco we admire!

It's sometimes hard to keep your faith in Jess Franco when you've seen so much of his by-the-numbers horror and sleaze crap like I have... This notorious Spanish director made over 180 films in approximately 40 years. That's an average of more than four films each year, so it shouldn't be a surprise that really a lot of his movies are carelessly filmed and poorly edited routine jobs. However, his older films (let's say, everything released before 1972) are definite cinema classics and particularly the black & white Gothic horror try-outs of the early 60's are highly listed among my personal favorites. "Dr. Jekyll's Mistresses" is some sort of sequel to Franco's biggest success "The Awful Dr. Orloff", even though it mainly introduces new characters and an entirely different storyline. The uncanny castle setting was maintained, however, and so were the sinister atmosphere and inventive camera angles. Beautiful young orphan Melissa spends Christmas with her drunk aunt and scientist uncle up in their old, ramshackle castle. The uncle, Dr. Conrad Jekyll, can't dedicate much time to her as he inherited the secret formula of his tutor Dr. Orloff, which causes the dead to walk again and their actions can by controlled by ultrasonic noises. Jekyll resurrects his own dead brother (whom he killed for having an affair with his wife) and uses him to strangle random strip-bar dancers and prostitutes. Deceased Andros slowly begins to develop his own will again when he finds out that his poor and defenseless daughter stays at the castle. The script leaves too many questions unanswered (does Jekyll has anything against strippers or are they just test cases for his experiments?) but it's more coherent than most of Franco's other movies and there's a constant tension surrounding the film. Many sequences are stunningly beautiful and almost poetic, like when the "zombie" visits his own final resting place at the graveyard or when he pays nightly visits to his daughter's bedroom to look at her. The sound effects during the murder sequences are quite disturbing and the acting performances are overall very adequate. Even the dialogues are professionally written and that truly proves that "Dr. Jekyll's Mistresses" is one of Jess Franco's absolute finest achievements. Recommended!