The Mephisto Waltz (1971)
When a call from a famous reclusive pianist, Duncan Ely (Curt Jergens), comes in, Myles Clarkson (Alan Alda), a musical journalist, jumps at the chance to interview him. This begins a friendship where the older Duncan Ely seems unusually interested in Myles and his family. And from that very first meeting with this piano virtuoso and his darkly seductive daughter, Roxanne (Barbara Parkins), Myles suddenly rediscovers his long buried talent to become a successful concert pianist too. His growing involvement with the wealthy family and their strange friends eventually comes between Myles and his loving wife, Paula (Jacqueline Bisset). As sinister events unravel, Paula is drawn deeper into a web of diabolic happenings until the threads come together in a surprising and oddly rewarding finale.
Based on Fred Mustard Stewart's novel of the same name and directed by Paul Wendkos, THE MEPHISTO WALTZ was an underappreciated early 70s gem that got lost into the shadow of other greater & renowned masterpieces of the same era. By the time Twentieth Century Fox gave it a theatrical release under the Quinn Martin Production, the audience already seen Roman Polanski's ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968); and mostly because of both the movies shared a familiar theme in the story that set around a satanic cult ran by a large group of high society people, THE MEPHISTO WALTZ criminally received negative responses from the critics & the moviegoers "for being just another Rosemary’s Baby-wannabe". But other than having the devil worshipers into the story, this movie actually delivers quite a different & superbly twisted tale of its own. This time the devil offers a different deal for his followers than physically invading the world in a human form (i.e. Rosemary’s Baby or THE OMEN). Although it wasn't as flawless as those popular horror classics were but still Mephisto Waltz was like many other Bava inspired late 60s & early 70s horror movies that strikingly done right in color & sunny surroundings with styles & designs, to make the atmosphere effectively work as the story progress frame by frame. There was this weird New Year's Eve party at the earlier phase of the movie where someone was walking around with a dog with an eerily accurate and realistic human head mask of William Shatner, that later worn by Michael Myers in the original, John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN (1978) [info source: IMDB trivia]. And not only that, the bizarre rituals and some psychedelic visuals at the nightmare sequences with chilling scores done by Jerry Goldsmith made it a fantastic experience that may remind you of some Fulci & Argento classics as well.
Like I said already, it wasn't entirely flawless…Alan Alda's performance was criticized as at times he indeed kind of felt like 'not so quite in there' mode in compare to admirable performances coming from the other end. Jacqueline Bisset on the lead carried the story as beautifully as she looked throughout the whole movie. Her stunning, gorgeous looks & the way she smartly portrayed the character made me think of she could be a great Bond girl for that memorable 007 era when it was shifting over from Sean Connery's legacy to Roger Moore's decades; even the wealthy pianist played by Curt Jergens later appeared as the main Bond villain for THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977). I think mainly because of the running time issue, the film noticeably rushed over a significant segment in the middle where the Clarkson couple losses a very important family member; their reactions regarding the loss & grief were downright questionable & kinda funny also.
But the strongest segment of this underrated occult, horror-thriller was its climax. The finale was a real shocker and went into an area that I didn't expect. All I can say without spoiling anything that you'd never see an ending like this today in a studio horror film for sure ;) It's an ending that may initially make you think why or how the hell he/she could make that choice but if you take a quick look back into the story then you'll surely find plenty of hints that surprisingly somehow makes everything sense and made it work in a weird way.
I think a remake by Darren Aronofsky would be interesting with Ben Affleck portraying Alan Alda's role, Emily Blunt reprising Paula (Jacqueline Bisset's character), Bill Nighy as Duncan Ely and Rosamund Pike as his daughter Roxanne.
>>: A-