classicsoncall The quote in my summary line was spoken by the 'good' Wilson to the 'bad' Wilson (Alain Delon portrayed both) in the second chapter of this Poe based trilogy, so if you saw it you know what it means. It was the single sentiment that had application to each of the stories presented here because death was involved in each one. Reading a handful of other reviews for the picture here, it appears that many of them simply dismiss the first two segments and favor the 'Toby Dammit' piece directed by Federico Fellini. For myself, I found all three chapters to be about equally worthy.With the piece on 'Metzengerstein' however, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have had those flagrant, colorful costumes in whatever era the story represented. They're primarily used to augment Jane Fonda's physical assets, who a couple of times provides her own interpretation of riding bareback. No surprise there, as this was directed by Fonda's husband at the time, Roger Vadim, who utilized a similar soft porn technique in the same year's "Barbarella", also starring Fonda. If I had been in charge of the story, my twist ending would have had Peter Fonda's character emerge once again after the Countess (Jane) perishes. I'm sure they could have worked that out.The piece on William Wilson (Delon) and his doppelganger who kept showing up during stages of his life was an interesting concept. I don't know about Brigitte Bardot as a dark haired beauty though, that was a distraction. Keep an eye on that final card game when Giuseppina (Bardot) loses it all, Wilson deals himself two cards in a row during the final hand. Why wouldn't she call him on it? The 'Toby Dammit' chapter was based on Poe's novel 'Don't Wager Your Head to the Devil" which makes every bit of sense at the final scene. What I was more concerned about was they never got around to filming that Catholic Western Toby (Terrence Stamp) traveled to Rome for. I thought there was some potential there. Toby himself is an arrogant, spiteful, condescending and neurotic actor who hates his audience, making me wonder why he was treated like such a super star. Served him right at the end of the story when he crashed his Ferrari off the bridge at the behest of his friendly and joyful devil. It wouldn't be the first time a guy lost his head over a pretty young thing.

esteban1747 The stories differ in their messages. The first one,"Metzengerstein", from Roger Vadim, is quite simple and it has plenty of erotic scenes. Jane Fonda showed her beauty at that time when she was married to Vadim. I did not find anything interesting in this story, except that selfish always wants what is denied to them. The second is "William Wilson" with Briggite Bardot vs Alain Delon, who played two roles in this segment. The director Louis Malle probably wanted to show that each person has two faces or characters, one bad and another one good. The problem is that the good one dies normally before the bad. The scenes of this story are very much revolting. Fellini's "Toby Dammit" was the last one, which I saw with some skepticism of being able to understand it. Sometimes you should be inside Fellini's brains to understand what he really wants to say, but incredibly this was understood. An actor already tired of not having his own life and invited to receive an award suddenly he is becoming himself and doing some unpleasant declarations and gestures. The end of his life is his happiness, i.e. when he is able to do what he wanted.

Michael_Elliott Spirits of the Dead (1968) *** (out of 4) Three directors come together to tell three different stories from the work of Edgar Allan Poe but the end results are quite mixed. The first film, "Metzengerstein", has Jane Fonda playing an evil countess who spends her life for orgies and various cruelties. She comes across her cousin (Peter Fonda) who eventually dies in a barn fire that she had set and soon afterwards her whole personality begins to change. The second film, "William Wilson", by Louis Malle, tells the story of a soldier (Alain Delon) who is being stalked by a man who looks just like him and has the same name. The final film, "Toby Dammit" from Federico Fellini, features Terence Stamp as a drunken actor who arrives in Italy to do the story of Christ as a Western. His drunken and drug fueled state leads to him seeing all sorts of strange things including the Devil who might be posing as a little girl.The first film is certainly the weakest of the three as there's very little European flavor to it let along anything else. Vadim's direction is also all over the place as the entire film never seems to know where it's going. One second the film seems like a drama then it mixes to a more Gothic tale and by the end I wasn't really sure what to think. The film, clocking in at forty-minutes, runs way too long as it becomes very boring early on and doesn't get any better. Peter is wasted in his small role and Jane doesn't come off too well either. She walks around in tight clothing the entire time so at least she treats us to that.The second film is a very strong one and manages to be quite eerie in a low key way. The movie travels along pretty slowly but that's not a put down but instead a major praise because Malle handles the story so well that the slowness just builds up a lot of atmosphere and that there brings a certain eerieness to the story. I loved the way the film tries to show the good and dark side of a human and Delon does a wonderful job at bringing this through his character. I think one could debate what was actually happening in the story but it's examples of good and evil were done very well on both the visual and storytelling levels. Having Brigitte Bardot playing the central female character is never a bad thing. Her beauty certainly shines through on top of her very strong performance, which requires her to do a lot with just her eyes.This third film is certainly a bizarre and surreal one and on that level the movie works, although anyone could come up with a different idea of what the director is trying to do with the material. I can only imagine what Poe himself would have thought sitting through something as wild and over the top as this thing. Stamp's wild performance matches the wild direction perfectly and it's was a lot of fun seeing what the two men would come up with next. The spoof of the awards show was certainly the highlight of the film but those seeking anything from Poe's story will probably be lost until the very end.

rooprect It's reassuring to see that other IMDb reviewers have had the good sense to pan this disappointing film, at the risk of blaspheming against the great Vadim, Malle and Fellini.These directors may be talented & artistic in their own right; however in attempting to pass off this hodgepodge of attempted eroticism and 60s chic as *in any way* related to Edgar Allen Poe's stories, they exposed themselves as frauds. Either (A) they didn't bother to read the Poe stories, or (B) they read them but were so transfixed by their own egotistical agenda that they didn't pay Poe any mind.Imagine if Metallica plugged in their guitars, cranked the amps up to 11 and moshed out 3 chords claiming it to be Beethoven's 9th Symphony. That's the feeling you'll get after sitting through this film. If you're a Vadim/Malle/Fellini fan (Metallica), you'll dig it. If you're a Beethoven fan (Poe), you'll puke.METZERGENSTEIN...Here we begin with a bizarre porno version of Poe. OK, "porno" may be a bit extreme haha, but at the very least you have to call it a Barbarella version (including, I don't doubt, some of Jane's outfits coming directly from the set of that scifi romp). Vadim falls into old clichés of his own: the girl lying on a bed being pleasured by some man whilst from the pillow-cam we see the apathy in her eyes; the general lassitude and ennui of a woman who finds no satisfaction in hedonism. Cute stuff, but "Metzergenstein" ain't the place for it. And in addition to the Barbarella outfits and irrelevant erotic themes, Jane Fonda's awful American accent and unconvincing performance as a European countess made this the worst casting since Julia Roberts in that lousy version of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.WILLIAM Wilson...Here's a great Poe story about the madness that claims a man when he realizes that he is no longer unique in the world. If you really want to see a fantastic visual interpretation of this theme, go watch Star Trek episode #27 "The Alternative Factor". But here, Malle glazes over that central theme and instead focuses on... any guesses...? yup, eroticism, sadism and debauchery. Ho hum. Brigitte Bardot's role is a complete fabrication to accomplish that end, and once again the director distorts a classic Poe story into a masturbatory catharsis of his own unrequited sexual issues. Do it on your own time, Malle. I thought we're here on Poe's dime.TOBY DAMMIT....The absolute worst of the three and possibly the worst film I've seen since "Staying Alive". At least Fellini showed some tact in changing the title, but his departure from the original plot, theme and humour of the story is so vast, I wonder if he just picked this reel out of his private collection of home movies, stamped "Edgar Allen Poe story" on it and submitted it to this collection. I strained very hard to find any thread of familiarity with Poe's works, but there was absolutely none.The original Poe story ("Never Bet the Devil Your Head") is a short and hilarious dark fable about a man who constantly exclaims "I'll bet the devil my head..." On a foggy morning, the devil takes him up on his offer. The result is the sickest and silliest thing you've ever read. This was Poe, the comedian, at his finest (yes, Poe wrote many comedies. Also check out "A Predicament" and "Devil in the Belfry" if you want a taste of his witty, satirical works).This Fellini version? It's bland, soulless, and not funny at all (unless you consider it funny to see a drunk stumbling over himself for 45 minutes). Here Fellini's egotistical rant is about an artist struggling with the hypocrisy, pretense and mediocrity of cinema. Most of it is set at an awards ceremony where Fellini beats us over the head with sarcasm, cynicism and that classic "sour grapes" attitude that we find in all Fellini films dealing with cinema. Note the sarcastic jabs at "the critics", a recurring theme in Fellini's films. For someone who considered himself above the critics, Fellini sure spent a lot of time talking about them. At any rate, I feel like Fellini just took some outtakes from 8 1/2, spliced them together and sold it as a Poe story. Worst "adaptation" ever.I think I put more effort into typing this review than any of the three directors put into making a Poe movie.