Spirits Of The Dead (1969)

Let three European art film directors each tackle an Edgar Allan Poe short story, because what could go wrong? Quite a bit if Histoires extraordinaires (1968) is the evidence. Despite siblings Peter and Jane Fonda as love interests, Roger Vadim's attempt at a medieval epic with Poe's "Metzengerstein" is no more convincing and far less fun than Andy Milligan's 1969 Torture Dungeon. Louis Malle likewise misses the mark with the dopey doppelganger drama "William Wilson" starring Alain Delon (Purple Noon) in a dual role with a cigar-smoking Brigitte Bardot (Naughty Girl) as a gambler who runs afoul of Delon's bad side. Cribbing from Mario Bava, Federico Fellini takes top honors by ignoring all but the basic premise of Poe's obscure satire "Never Bet The Devil Your Head," with a hysterical Terence Stamp (Modesty Blaise) as a cracked actor haunted by a "devilish" child (Marina Yaru in her only role). The following year American International added a prologue voiced by Vincent Price and issued the recut trilogy to U.S. audiences as Spirits Of The Dead.