Malpertuis (film)

Malpertuis

Film poster
Directed by Harry Kümel
Produced by Paul Laffargue
Ritta Laffargue
Pierre Levie
Written by Jean Ferry (adaptation)
Jean Ray (original novel)
Starring Orson Welles
Susan Hampshire
Michel Bouquet
Mathieu Carrière
Jean-Pierre Cassel
Daniel Pilon
Walter Rilla
Dora van der Groen
Charles Janssens
Sylvie Vartan
Music by Georges Delerue
Cinematography Gerry Fisher
Edited by Richard Marden
Release date
  • 1971 (1971)
Running time
 119 minutes
Country Belgium
Language Dutch

Malpertuis — released in the US as The Legend of Doom House — is a 1971 Belgian fantasy-horror directed by Harry Kümel, based on the 1943 novel of the same name. It was selected for the official selection and was presented "in competition" at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. A Flemish "director's cut" version of it was released in 1973.[1][2]

Plot

Jan (Mathieu Carrière), who is a young seaman, returns to land, and while searching for his childhood home, is mysteriously abducted. He awakens in an isolated old mansion called Malpertuis, where he find himself among various relatives, including his sister Nancy (Susan Hampshire), as well as a strange taxidermist and a resident madman called Lampernisse. The mansion turns out to be a labyrinth of corridors, staircases, and secret chambers, belonging to his family.

His bedridden occultist uncle Cassavius (Orson Welles) is about to divide the estate to his heirs, but, as it turns out, only if they commit themselves never to leave the premisses. They find themselves trapped in a mystery where they enact gods from Greek mythology, which Cassavius believes them to be, while anyone who tries to escape is found horribly murdered. The plot remains obscure to the end, as Jan tries to unravel the mystery and seems to spiral into a dreamlike madness.[3][4][5]

Cast

Versions

The English language version of the film that premiered at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, had been edited off the original 1971 one by the American distributor. Its English title is The Legend of Doom House, and it was subsequently further edited by other distributors. The Royal Belgian Film Archive together with director Harry Kümel worked to restore the uncut original Flemish version of the film, which was released in 1973 as "the director's cut". This version is 20 minutes longer, containing some of the best scenes of the film that had been edited off. Although this version is more complete, the original voice of Orson Welles is missing from it.[5][3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: Malpertuis". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "25ème Festival International du Film - Cannes". cinema-francais.fr (in French). Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Movies - Malpertuis (1971)". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  4. ↑ "Malpertuis - Editorial reviews". amazon.com. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Wild Realm Reviews: Malpertuis". weirdwildrealm.com. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
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