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Category:    Home > Reviews > Horror > Thriller > Fantasy > Action > Drama > French > Literature > Lisa & The Devil (1972) + The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936) + Son Of Monte Cristo (1940/Cheezy Flicks DVDs)

Lisa & The Devil (1972) + The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936) + Son Of Monte Cristo (1940/Cheezy Flicks DVDs)

 

Picture: C-     Sound: C-/C-/D     Extras: C-     Films: C-/C-/B-

 

 

Three interesting films with big names attached seemed like a good grouping since the efforts are not totally successful despite the talent involved.  Mario Bava’s Lisa & The Devil (1972) has Telly Savalas haunting Elke Sommer, but it never adds up to as much as I wanted it to, no matter how stylish.  Bava tries to restylize the woman trapped in the haunted, corrupt house in his look and feel, but cannot escape the usual clichés despite his ambitious efforts.  It can look good, but it is like overproducing the same old story and suspense is more limited than expected.  Sylva Koscina and Alessio Orano also star.

 

The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936) was the first film Director Lothar Mendes made after finishing the first version of the highly anti-Semitic Jew Suss in 1934 (the remake was even more vile and supported/produced by the Nazis!) and was based on a story and final screenplay by no less than H.G. Wells himself.  However, its silly story about male angels from heaven giving a man powers to manipulate reality and material things, which is fine until others want to exploit him for it.  Playing like a bad Twilight Zone imitator, legendary Alexander Korda produced it, but it simply is not Wells best work and is more of a comedy than anything else.  Ralph Richardson co-stars.

 

I previously looked at Son Of Monte Cristo in an older DVD with a slightly better transfer at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/375/Son+Of+Monte+Cristo+(1940)

 

It did not hold up for me as well this time around, but in the Blu-ray era, I should see it in HD before considering how good it holds up as this copy is very weak.

 

 

The 1.33 X 1 image in both cases is soft and color poor, while the PCM 16/48 2.0 Mono is very low, rough and compressed on Cristo, so be very careful of playback levels and volume switching, while the other films fare a little better than expected in clarity.  Trailers and Intermission shorts are the only extras in all cases.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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