Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rediscover a real horror gem., June 1, 2004
"Mill Of The Stone Women" is one of those strange movies that has been hailed by critics and yet hardly seen by anybody. This is a real shame because it deserves to be seen and appreciated by anybody with an interest in horror cinema. The plot treads well-worn ground with the story of a man driven to murder young women as the only way keep his beautiful (but afflicted with a rare and deadly medical condition) daughter alive. The resulting dead bodies are disguised as statues, a plot-device that has been done many times, but here the setting that the action unfolds within takes a further step into the bizarre. Instead of a wax museum, the crazed father owns a windmill which powers a moving "carousel" of statues of famous murderesses and tragic historical heroines. When the attraction is open and the windmill sails are turning, the statues career unstably around a little stage as a melancholy tune cranks out of a music box (also powered by the sails). The effect is startling, even today, and quite surreal. The action of the film follows a handsome young researcher who takes a job at the windmill, and unwittingly attracts the amorous attention of the daughter (the stunning Scilla Gabel). Sadly, the young man already has a fiancee...so guess who's soon destined for a place on the carousel? Of course the action id predictable, but the presentation of it is wonderful. Colours are deep and rich, and the lighting makes wonderful work of the many elaborate sets, populated as they often are with many sculptures and statues in various states of completion. The acting is mostly effective, although it depends on which soundtrack you are watching (Mondo Macabre have given three options here), especially in the case of the mad mill-owner, whose voice makes him almost a different character in each dub! Unfortunately for those of us wanting it in English, it is the French dub that looks the most effective (it looks like the actors were speaking their original lines in French, and the UK and US dubs end up very poorly lip-synched). Still, it's great to see the film at all, and in this condition, you really can't complain. It appears to be fully uncut, even better than previous "full" editions I have seen. The process of curing the sick daughter and what happens to the bodies of the victims is shown at great length, and some of the sequences are quite surprising given the time the film was made (1960). Equally effective is the rousing climax, which you'll have to see for yourself, but look out for some amazing final shots of the carousel statues as the film comes to a close. This has been a very hard to find film for a long time, but thanks to Mondo Macabro it has at last been revived in a gorgeous new transfer that really brings the movie to life. Plus you even get extra scenes and a massive photo gallery. Throw away those old video copies and previous DVD releases, they don't stand a chance against this one.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant-- a real classic..., October 10, 2004
I had seen this some 20+ years ago (at least) and had never forgotten it-- except I didn't know it's NAME. I'd seen it on TV eons ago and loved the "wax museum"-like chamber of horrors carousel. I'd always associated it with wax-museum movies in my memory and explored them all never able to find this movie. Ultimately I realized it was probably an obscure foreign film (I'm in the US) that would be pretty hard to locate. But then I came across some reviews of other Mondo Macabro titles (the publisher) and read the synopsis of Mill of the Stone Women. Not realizing it was this old classic I had been seeking, I ordered it and was pleased to find out it was the movie I had long been looking for.
And, I realized some things about it I had not known or forgotten-- one, it was in COLOR-- I saw it on a B&W TV originally, and it was even better than I remembered-- I had forgotten most everything but the "carousel."
The quality of this release by Mondo Macabro is excellent considering the movie's age, with perhaps some slight color fading or shift but not enough to detract. They also included three audio tracks, a UK english dub, a US english dub and the original French (it's an Italian-French co-op). English subtitles as well, though I haven't compared them with the various tracks to see how good they are...
This disc is a real gem, I'm sure glad I finally found this movie. Never would have guessed the name though-- the original French was Le Moulin des Supplices, and "supplices" doesn't really seem to translate to "stone women," the term "torture" comes up most often in the online translating dictionaries.
The scenes are mostly shot inside a Dutch windmill building (octagonal?) so there are huge wooden cranking gears and no square corners and perhaps a bit claustrophobic etc... Nice ambiance, dated spooky flick that holds up well over time-- though you can pretty much disregard the comments on the cover about "notorious" topless shots of one of the stars, as it's a bit of a stretch-- a corner of a nipple shows a little in one scene that you'll miss if you blink. Apparently what was notorious about it was it was used as a still image on a poster for the Japanese market and caused some controversy. Apparently over the years this movie has had several bad alternate soundtracks made, this one appears to be the original and I see no reason to have messed with it, I thought it was pretty good. Extras-- there are a couple of interesting alternate scenes-- not set up so you can watch it in total with them in as they are single-language-- a short French language-only scene that was cut and a US version of the "hallucination" sequence which was made cheesier with some out-of-focus transfers apparently to make it easier for the US audience to figure out it was supposed to be hallucinatory...
Great flick--, if you like dated spooky and mysterious ambiance, this one should rank rather high on your list, IMHO...
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Aesthetically wrought gothic saga., February 16, 2006
Without question an inappropriate, inane, or pulpy comic book style title has waylaid many a significant and otherwise worthy terror film. "Curse of the Cat People," remains affixed to a story of child psychology, "Kill Baby Kill," remains affixed to a wondrous 19th century European ghost story, and here, perhaps worst of all, "Mill of the Stone Women," is the awkward moniker stuck to this artistically accomplished film.
With a clunky title like "Mill of the Stone Women," it is scarcely any wonder that the film has remained largely unknown,unremarked upon, and unavailable for nearly 50 years ! What a pity, for here is a story produced with such an aesthetically accomplished loving care that each frame breathes a compositional beauty of the highest standard.
The felicitous combination of Arrigo Equini's art direction and Pier Ludovico Pavoni's photography in this picture, recalls the best of Jack Asher, Floyd Crosby, Mario Bava, Bernard Robinson, and Daniel Haller and has, in not a few of the tableaux rendered here, even surpassed these masters. Even Mario Praz would probably approve!
From the opening shot of the windmill on the lake under a leaden sky, to its shadowy, beautifully appointed interior parlors, complete with the anti-heroine, Scilla Gabel, peaking mournfully through the portieres--while the soundtrack gives forth with a disquieting numinous wail--the film rarely fails to sound the genuine Gothic note.
Add to that one of the most disturbing, (far more so than "House of Wax") use of a waxworks yet seen on the screen. For here we have, not merely figures of unsettling visage, but figures that mechanically encircle a stage--Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, Mary Queen of Scots, sallying threateningly towards the camera in a nightmarish parade--all to the accompaniment of a tune that might have been composed by Truman Capote! There are many exquisite scenes to savor: Miss Scabra's blood red boudoir, a scene of her beneath the lid of a dusty glass coffin holding yellow roses against her very dead, old ivory like complexion, a laboratory sequence that pulls out all the stops, a charming stop at a beer garden type pub, complete with accordions and pretzel stands, a climactic fire with the dummies melting in grotesque close-ups, not to mention a beautifully costumed, very accomplished, and handsome cast of players.
Miss Gabel seems very much in the Gina Lollobrigida mold, but manages facial expressions of such uncanny yearning that is easy to imagine Mr. Brice falling under her spell. In this sense, she joins company with Barbara Steele, as one of the very few women able to combine beauty and eeriness in equal measure.
Pierre Brice approaches his assignment with convincing earnestness and looks very much like a cross between Stephen Boyd and Horst Buchold.
A special compliment should be paid to the Technicolor here, which never shrieks, but delivers cold blues and unearthly reds in a fashion that favorably recalls Pressburger's "Tales of Hoffmann." And take a good look at the hutch in the ante-room of Mr. Brice's bedroom; it is the same one featured in Jacqueline Pierreux's parlor in Bava's "Black Sabbath"--the one she keeps her liquor in. Perhaps Mr. Brice had a yard sale! In any case, to fans of the genre, this film is highly recommended.
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