Bunuel1976 Review of Lady Morgan's Vengeance

Lady Morgan's Vengeance (1965)

THE VENGEANCE OF LADY MORGAN (Massimo Pupillo, 1965) ***

[7/10 · 3 March 2010]

I first became aware of this rare example of Gothic Horror all' Italiana last Summer, via a late-night program dealing with Italian genre cinema in which Erika Blanc and Rosalba Neri were the guests of honor; in fact, the poor-quality copy I acquired was culled from a probably 30-year old TV broadcast on some obscure Sicilian channel! To be honest, I found the film's initial half to be merely average – but it was considerably redeemed by the latter stages (depicting the titular event), which were quite splendid. Interestingly, the premise of a group of schemers after an innocent young girl's legacy would see ample service within the giallo genre a few years on; with this in mind, the trio of villains (Paul Muller, Erika Blanc and Gordon Mitchell) are more interesting than the romantic leads (though, in all fairness, the male protagonist spends much of the running-time in a foreign country as a bed-ridden amnesiac!). In fact, not too long after he is pushed overboard during an ocean voyage, the heroine accepts the seemingly devoted Muller's proposal of marriage but, later still, is hypnotized(!) by sinister housekeeper Blanc into throwing herself off the family castle's walls; meanwhile, brawny groom Mitchell has imprisoned the girl's uncle in the dungeons below. Soon, however, the tables are turned as not only does the hero recover but, when he finally turns up at the estate, is met by the ghost of his loved one who brings him up to date. The couple then proceed to disrupt the villains' premature triumph – this is done via numerous tricks (a few of them supernatural) intended to bewilder but also cause dissent within the group. One unexpected touch towards the end sees the lot (who all turn up dead eventually) being able to materialize upon drinking the blood of the living i.e. the heroine's poor chained uncle! Despite the general low-key nature of THE VENGEANCE OF LADY MORGAN, it proves a surprisingly satisfactory entry within a prolific yet most popular genre.