University of Virginia Library

CINEMA

All Body But No Soul

By DAVE NOZIGLIA

A theory. Some producer
must have found himself with
eight actresses under contract
and nothing decent for them to
do. So he decided to show
their skin. Nothing else could
explain the making of this
terrible travesty of a film.

The plot in Bluebeard is
transparent only when it's not
totally ridiculous. It's a series of
flashbacks connected by Baron
Von Sepper (Richard Burton)
telling his new bride (Joey
Heatherton) how he killed the
last six wives, plus a whore, in
preparation for killing her.
Along the way we are treated
to incidents so idiotic we
wonder whether the movie is a
tragedy or a farce. Whatever,
it's so poorly done that we
can't decide.

Why Richard Burton agreed
to play the title role in such a
bad film is a mystery. Surely
his talents are beyond
something so weak. He is
reduced to a strutting,
bumbling fool, not at all an
object of any terror at all.
None of the women (Raquel
Welch, Virna Lisi, Karen
Shubert, Marilu Tolo, Sybil
Danning, Nathalie Delon,
Agostina Belli, and–of course–
Miss Heatherton) have ever been
known for their acting ability,
if they have ever been known
at all. In this setting, all attain
new lows of performance, each
mouthing words with all the
meaning their poor souls can
muster–meaning which is
always absent from the words
themselves. Rank amateur.

Then of course there are the
shock shots we are treated to
whenever Burton kills one of
the women. Always a nice little
close-up of the effects of
Bluebeard's handiwork, and
always so very obviously faked.

So we are finally left with
the plain fact that this is a
formula piece of Hollywood
stock. From the Playboy-style
pornography to the big names
to put on the marquee without
performances to match,
Bluebeard marks itself plainly
as merely a potboiler. Not
worth the money you waste to
see it.

(Now at Barracks Road)