Amazon.com video review:
An irresistible and guilty pleasure, this anthology based on
stories by Edgar Allan Poe is a rare opportunity to see three of the
biggest names
in 1960s European film direction working in the short form. The results are
uneven, but so what? They're also plain outrageous. Roger Vadim's
Metzengerstein stars real-life siblings Jane and Peter Fonda
perversely cast as lovers. When the latter dies, Jane's character turns
to a mysterious black stallion for companionship, the suggestion being that
the dead man's spirit is within the horse. Both corny and vaguely lurid,
this ghost tale is Vadim all the way. Louis Malle's William Wilson
is
an in-your-face take on Poe's classic doppelgänger fable, starring Alain
Delon as a blackguard who gets his comeuppance from a nicer variation of
himself. More craftsman-like than cinematically bold, the film displays the
kind
of crisp wit Malle didn't display often enough. Finally, Federico
Fellini's Toby Dammit proves to be the most interesting piece in
the trio, featuring Terence Stamp in a terrific performance as an actor at
the end of his rope (the equivalent of Mastroianni's burned-out director in
Fellini's 8½), who has come to Rome to star as Christ in a New
Testament Western. Dense with Fellini's dreamy textures and iconic clutter,
Toby Dammit is a fun experience. --Tom Keogh
