Has anyone seen this film? - The Mephisto Waltz (1971) Discussion

[–] basket_cas 19 years ago

Anyone?

(red)...And she told me to go to Hell as if she knew the way.(/red)

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[–] mamamiasweetpeaches 19 years ago

It was on TV recently. The film, not terrible altogether, had a really bad ending I think. Well, anyway, you are aware that the old man killed Alan Alda and took over his body , right?
Th wife, when she realizes that its really the old guy in Alan Alda's body decides she doesnt care she wants her husband any way she can get him...(even if it isnt TECHNICALLY her husband)

She teaches herself a quickie course in black magic and gets the old guys daughter to the houe where she does a body switch with her. Got that?

NOW...we in the audience suspect she is going to go to "the old man in ALan Aldas body" and kill him, right? No! She goes, now in the body of the guys daughter, and they ...really Alan Alda's wife and the old guy...embrace. He says she smells like the wifes perfume "Shalamar" and the woman says "Dont you like that smell?" and he says "No", clueless to the fact that she is really Alan Alda's wife and not his daughter.

They embrace. Film ends. We are to believe that Alan Alda's wife spends the rest of her days pretending to be the guys daughter just so they can stay together and have their incestous love affair.

Oh..and by the way....

When the old guy was in Alan Alda's body and made love to Alan Alda's wife it was the best sex she ever had. This may explain why she wants to be with him even though he's not really Alan Alda anymore.

Hope this helps.

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[–] Devans00 19 years ago

Thanks mamamiasweetpeaches. That's quite an icky explanation (the movie story, not your description of it.) I think I missed the part where the Roxanne Delancey character was the old guy's daughter.

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[–] mamamiasweetpeaches 19 years ago

My 7 year old was in the room yapping through the first few minutes of the movie so I thought "The Old Guy"'s daughter was just a trophy wife too. It seems later in the story they tell us the whole reason they started black magic was so they could carry on their affair.

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http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6spdi/index.html

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[–] MartyMoose1977 (225) 2 years ago

Wow, you asked this question 17 years ago! This Website feels like a time machine!

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[–] MartyMoose1977 (225) 2 years ago

Wow, you asked this question 17 years ago! This Website feels like a time machine!

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[–] thebigdarksecret 17 years ago

The ending was Paula's way of getting revenge. She decided to make a deal with Satan allowing her to switch bodies at the end which would be the ultimate revenge as she knew she had lost everything, her husband and daughter etc. The rest is up to the viewer to decide what happens.

I think many people dislike the ending because they just don't get it or were expecting Paula to die.

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[–] GoddessOfGlove 17 years ago

I just saw it and I didn't get it either. But now that it's been explained I get it. It's a light went off. LOL

I didn't dislike this movie at all. I thought it was really good. I like those early 70's horror movies. They really make you think. Even if what you think is wrong. LOL

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[–] eliz7212-1 17 years ago

I just saw it for the 30th time. Understood it the first time and the last time. What's not to get. Jacqueline Bisset knows that her number is up because of the oil on her forehead. She has to do something fast. She has to move into another body. So she moves into Barbara Parkins body. The twist was that everyone thought she would come down the stairs and plunge a knife or something into Alan Alda (actually Curt Jurgens). But she loved her husband so much she didn't do anything. It was quite obvious that she intends to spend the rest of her life in Barbara Parkin's body. Now here's the kicker. How the heck can she accomplish this. If the Curt Jurgens character (who is still alive in Alan Alda's Body), has any kind of conversation with her, he's going to realize that .....oops, this is really not my daughter. They should have definitely made a sequel. That would have been cool.

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[–] MystMoonstruck 17 years ago

I don't understand people saying that this is an obscure movie. I was a year into college when this was in the theaters, and everyone I knew had seen the film and purchased the novel. I still have my copy and even used the novel in a seminar thesis.

But, the ending is severely flawed because the author doesn't seem to understand female psychology.

She craves her husband because their bodies fit. But, at the end, all she has is his body and how it fits with another woman's body. Is that worth the sacrifice she made? It simply doesn't make sense to lose her soul simply to have her husband's body. Does it? Or, perhaps she doesn't want to admit that she likes the combination of Duncan and her husband?

I've seen this film more than 100 times I imagine since seeing it in 1971, and it always leaves me aggravated because I can't believe she would select that route. If she killed her rival in some secret way, it would be vengeance because she's taking the woman Duncan wants from him. That's getting revenge.

One thing: The missing mask must signal Duncan what has happened. What then? Either he will accept what has been done or... What?

It boils down to this woman being incredibly shallow. After all, she didn't seem too distraught about her daughter's death and hadn't even acted particularly motherly to her in the first place. She loves her husband for the way his body fits, not for the man he was. Obviously, she never encouraged him as a musician.

I'll continue watching this film, and I should simply videotape it. I'll keep puzzling over it and analyzing it. If not a completely satisfying film, it is addictive in its odd way.

~~MystMoonstruck~~

"Critics: Even when they're right, they're stupid."~~The Mephisto Waltz

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[–] Trilby2 17 years ago

I've seen this movie several times -- it never makes any sense.
My favorite part is Jacqueline Bisset's reaction (non-reaction) to her daughter's death. I mean what kind of direction did she (Bisset)
get? When her character is in Barbara Parkin's body she moves like Barbara Parkins.
Again, where's the director?
I guess it's OK that she ends up with her daughter's killer.
I wonder how long it would take dad to realize that his daughter seems very different and has no memory of their past together.
This is why I like this movie -- it's a horror in so many ways.

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[–] MystMoonstruck 17 years ago

I don't understand people saying that this is an obscure movie. I was a year into college when this was in the theaters, and everyone I knew had seen the film and purchased the novel. I still have my copy and even used the novel in a seminar thesis.

But, the ending is severely flawed because the author doesn't seem to understand female psychology.

She craves her husband because their bodies fit. But, at the end, all she has is his body and how it fits with another woman's body. Is that worth the sacrifice she made? It simply doesn't make sense to lose her soul simply to have her husband's body. Does it? Or, perhaps she doesn't want to admit that she likes the combination of Duncan and her husband?

I've seen this film more than 100 times I imagine since seeing it in 1971, and it always leaves me aggravated because I can't believe she would select that route. If she killed her rival in some secret way, it would be vengeance because she's taking the woman Duncan wants from him. That's getting revenge.

One thing: The missing mask must signal Duncan what has happened. What then? Either he will accept what has been done or... What?

It boils down to this woman being incredibly shallow. After all, she didn't seem too distraught about her daughter's death and hadn't even acted particularly motherly to her in the first place. She loves her husband for the way his body fits, not for the man he was. Obviously, she never encouraged him as a musician.

I'll continue watching this film, and I should simply videotape it. I'll keep puzzling over it and analyzing it. If not a completely satisfying film, it is addictive in its odd way.

~~MystMoonstruck~~

"Critics: Even when they're right, they're stupid."~~The Mephisto Waltz

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[–] AZINDN 16 years ago

What everyone seems to have missed in the ending is the explanation given by Bill DeLancy to Paula: to paraphrase, they say that once you have one of THEM, you never want to go back. Duncan Ely's sexual lust was what drew both daughter, Roxanne (Barbara Parkins) and housewife, Paula (Bisset) to him. Duncan is the mephisto and they, the paramours. Paula's body switch into Roxanne's body retains her access to the virile body and the "pretty" looks of her handsome, and now very rich husband, Miles (Alan Alda) who both she and Roxanne want, but, with Duncan Ely's sexual prowess. This is a film about murder, incest, and sexual lust with the badest girl ultimately winning in the end.

-- If Ewan McGregor were a lollipop I'd be a diabetic strumpet --

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[–] jabell 16 years ago

I was just looking at two other films that I love that almost no one else has seen--Serial and Young Doctors in Love. I love this movie because it's a really excellent horror movie without any gore, just like Rosemary's Baby. They don't make movies like this any more. The cast was amazing (although my choice for Miles was James Franciscus, not Alan Alda, whom I've never been particularly fond of). I love Bradford Dillman and would have chosen him over Alda as well. Incidentally, both Franciscus & Dillman went to Yale! I've also always liked William Windom and Pamelyn Ferdin. Three actors I liked in their (very) small parts are Antoinette Bower, Khigh Dhiegh (Hawaii Five-O's Wo Fat), and Joseph Campanella.

Everyone who said that Paula didn't seem to grieve enough over Abby's death was right. She lost her precious, precocious daughter. Didn't it matter?

The ending was ripe with irony. They each have the body they want but with the essence of someone they hate.

Yes, I read the book. It too was overlooked.

Boo Hoo! Let me wipe away the tears with my PLASTIC hand!--Lindsey McDonald (Angel)

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[–] SimplyClassic 15 years ago

Because of the body switching (see 'The Skeleton Key'), I just figured that Duncan Ely's "daughter" was actually a young woman's body with Ely's "real wife" inhabiting it....not his actual "daughter."

Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of fear.

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[–] freakseed 15 years ago

A-HA! I've been looking for someone else who thought this too. I was always under the impression that Duncan & Roxanne just put on the "cloak" of father and daughter because Roxanne had already transfered to her new, younger body and she was waiting for Duncan to do the same. This is why when Myles first arrives for the interview and Duncan sees his hands he immediately sends for Roxanne to come downstairs and look at them too.
I agree that Skeleton Key was very similar in this way, just in that it was the wife (Gena Rowlands) who was still looking for a new body. The husband already had the body of Peter Sarsgaard.

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[–] the lioness 14 years ago

Thank you for posting this. It makes sense in that respect. I often wondered if Paula was really his daughter. I wondered what really happened to soul of Mrs. Ely. So essence, like The Skeleton Key, what we're witnessing in this film is Duncan's transference since his wife already went through the process.

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[–] ElectricWarlock 10 years ago

Lots of people complain about the ending but I actually kind of like it. The whole film in general reminded me a bit of Rosemary's Baby and the ending was no exception with the whole evil winning over good aspect.

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