Product Details

• Actors: Jane Fonda, Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon, Terence Stamp, James Robertson Justice
• Directors: Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, Roger Vadim
• Writers: Federico Fellini, Bernardino Zapponi, Clement Biddle Wood, Daniel Boulanger, Edgar Allan Poe
• Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (PCM Mono), French (PCM Mono)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.75:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: May 20, 1998
• Run Time: 121 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305079250
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,978 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Spirits of the Dead" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

Product Description

Spirits of the Dead (a.k.a. "Histoires Extraordinaires") is an eerie film based on the grotesque and macabre stories of 19th century author Edgar Allan Poe. Three separate tales, each created with style and flair by three top directors--Federico Fellini, Louis Malle and Roger Vadim.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It Could Have Been Great, May 7, 2002

By 

James D Sigrist (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spirits of the Dead (DVD)

Janus Films participated in the restoration of this film and you would think that that alone would ensure high standards of quality. And for the most part it did. But unmentioned in all the reviews of this DVD is the fact that the best film of the three, Toby Dammit,does not have its English soundtrack included.
Terence Stamp is English and he spoke his part in English.(and what an amazing bit of verbal it was) It just ain't the same thing in dubbed French by another actor. An earlier release of this film delivered the English soundtrack as an option but did not allow you to turn off the English subtitles! (Some of the people that put these things together are really lacking in simple, common sense.) Also the image quality on the previous release is faded and not real sharp. Image quality on this current DVD is excellent. Rich color and very sharp. So the horror of it all is you are left with a very well done restoration with a rather important detail inexplicably left out. The English soundtrack exists and isn't this the whole point of DVD's? I took a chance buying this DVD hoping for an improved version that fixed some of the problems on the earlier release.
The frustrating thing is that it is so close to being there, but a French speaking Terence Stamp is just absurd. Janus Films was also involed in the Criterion Collection new version of Amarcord and they did it perfectly. Everything is there. Wish they used as much care on this one.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Butchered Masterwork, February 5, 2005

By 

Heavy Theta (Lorton, Va United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spirits of the Dead (DVD)

As originally conceived by Fellini, the Toby Dammitt segment was, imho, the greatest work he ever committed to film. Taut, lean, stylish and very effective. I saw the film when it was first released and am fortunate enough to have this segment on an old beta tape.

Beyond Terrence Stamp's wonderful delivery, is the crucial element of the english actor being alone and isolated in Italy by his language, slowly pushing him deeper into surrender and madness. All of this is lost in the current French dubbed edition.

(On the other hand, it must be a plus to have the first two segments, overdubbed into English for US release, back to their original French. However, these segments are competent, or somewhat interesting at best, compared to fantastic finale.)

Please let Janus know that they have broken trust by butchering a great artist's masterwork.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Toby Dammit, pourquoi parle francais?, January 8, 2005

By 

B. Taft "foreign film phile" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spirits of the Dead (DVD)

In response to the reviewer's query below concerning the French overdubbing of "Toby Dammit" - sorry, this DVD ALSO features a French actor's voice dubbed over that of Terrence Stamp. I, too, was greatly disappointed at this.

I do not know of any other version available that has Stamp's English dialogue, but I remember seeing it on television in the 80s and onscreen at the American Cinematheque in Hollywood in 2004. Maybe if there is enough demand they will remaster it and put out an English version of this delightful foray into subtle, 1960's-style psychological horror? One can hope.