Two on a Guillotine
| Two on a Guillotine | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | William Conrad |
| Produced by | William Conrad |
| Written by |
John Kneubuhl Henry Slesar |
| Starring |
Connie Stevens Dean Jones Cesar Romero Parley Baer Virginia Gregg John Hoyt |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | Sam Leavitt |
| Edited by | William H. Ziegler |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
Release dates | 1965 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Two on a Guillotine is a 1965 American horror/thriller film starring Connie Stevens, produced and directed by William Conrad. The screenplay by John Kneubuhl and Henry Slesar is based on a story by Slesar.[1]
Plot
A prologue introduces the audience to John Harley Duquesne, a psychotic magician who accidentally beheads his wife Melinda with a guillotine during a performance. Twenty years later he dies, and his will requires his daughter Cassie (the mirror image of her mother) to spend seven nights in his apparently haunted mansion in order to inherit his estate.
Reporter Val Henderson offers to stay with her when he learns Duquesne promised to return in spirit form during Cassie's week-long vigil. As the days pass, the two encounter a number of spooky happenings, leading to a climax in which the not-really-dead Duquesne attempts a recreation of his guillotine trick, this time with his daughter as an unwilling assistant who hopefully won't lose her head.
In a climactic fight, Henderson tries to prevent Duquesne from activating the guillotine, but himself accidentally releases the catch; a dummy's head falls from the guillotine causing Duquesne to go insane thinking his daughter has been killed. Henderson rescues Cassie as the police come to arrest Duquesne.
Principal cast
- Connie Stevens as Cassie/Melinda Duquesne
- Dean Jones as Val Henderson
- Cesar Romero as John Harley Duquesne
- Parley Baer as Buzzy Sheridan
- Virginia Gregg as Dolly Bast
- John Hoyt as Carl Vickers
Principal production credits
- Original Music by Max Steiner
- Cinematography by Sam Leavitt
- Art Direction by Art Loel
Critical reception
In his review in The New York Times, Howard Thompson called the film "a dull, silly, tedious clinker" and "an old-fashioned, haunted-house spooker."[2]
TV Guide rates it two out of a possible four stars, calling it "a standard haunted house thriller."[3]
Release
The film was released via DVD on 22 June 2010.[4]