Here's a film from Richard Gordon, who also produced THE FIRST MAN INTO SPACE and THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE. In today's wild tale, The Great Vorelli is a ventriloquist & hypnotist, he has an act featuring his dummy, Hugo. Vorelli meets and pursues a beautiful heiress, Marianne, by mesmerizing her and inducing her into a puzzling coma. His mistress and assistant, Magda, fears the great one will dump her for the younger woman, and threatens to expose him. So, Vorelli tricks Hugo (what is actually alive!) into killing Magda while he's safely elsewhere, giving him an alibi. Marianne's boyfriend Mark English investigates Vorelli, he goes to Germany and discovers another murder in Vorelli's past, of a man named Hugo!!.. Marianne then awakens from her coma and announces that she will marry the hypnotist... Say what?! Vorelli tells Hugo his plans for Marianne and that he has a new female dummy, but, Hugo isn't going for it!
This is the recently found 'HOT' Euro version not seen in the US...
This one stars Bryant Haliday who was also in VOODOO BLOOD DEATH, THE PROJECTED MAN and HORROR ON SNAPE ISLAND, William Sylvester who also starred in GORGO, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, and Yvonne Romain who was in CORRIDORS OF BLOOD, CIRCUS OF HORRORS and THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF.
Well, here's The Great Vorelli, he's a hypnotist, a ventriloquist and mystic. As you can see, this, like many other shows, is sold out...
He's a sadistic little bitch, here, he has this man believe that he's going to be executed, with a bullet just ready to smash through the back of his skull. Cruel shit, dude gots some issues!!
Then he brings out Hugo, who says he wants a drink of liquor. He gets a drink but he must tell the audience 'thank you.' Hugo gets up and walks to the front of the stage and says the magic words. The audience cannot believe what they are seeing and hearing!
Mark wants to get to the bottom of the weirdness and goes into Vorelli's room back stage during the show. He finds Hugo and pulls the head off to make sure there's not a small person inside the costume. He's totally baffled now!
Vorelli hypnotizes a mousy gal in unattractive clothing in the audience and has her become a stripper. The audience gets aroused when she drops her dress to the floor!
Shocking to see this timid little bird shake her stuff like a pro in front of an audience. And, Vorelli is such a perv, he's enjoying it more than anyone else!
And so... Viola!
Now it's time for Magda to be silenced. Vorelli goes to a charity event and leaves Hugo with the task of stabbing the older woman... No one will ever know Vorelli's behind the vile act, ha ha.
While Hugo is stabbing Magda, they show this demon mask from Sri Lanka hanging on the wall as she screams bloody murder!
Welp, here's Vorelli's new mistress and stage assistant, Magda'a replacement of course.
Mark gets a lead and goes to Germany on a Pan Am flight in a Boeing 707 (the first jet airliner flights began in 1958). Anyway, Mark talks with a woman that used to work with Vorelli, and oh yeah, a man named Hugo!!
Vorelli had studied the mystical arts in India and Asia, and, gained the knowledge of how to transfer a man's soul into an inanimate object, in this case, a wooden dummy... Mark returns back to England after getting the information he wanted.
Vorelli tells Hugo all his plans with Marianne and the new female dummy. But then, what would become of poor Hugo?..
Vorelli gets distracted by someone at the door so Hugo climbs out of his cage and throws the girl dummy on the floor. The evil master threatens Hugo not to hurt the dummy but he smashes its face in with a big old foot stomp! Vorelli attacks Hugo but the little guy fights back...
Then, as Vorelli puts Hugo back in his cage, Hugo turns the tables on him. He uses the same mind transfer trick and guess what happens?..
Mark comes in at an opportune moment, he sees and can't believe what he's hearing...
Hugo speaks from Vorelli's mouth, he says that he is now Hugo, and he's transferred Vorelli's soul into the dummy, and that Marianne will be fine now, not being under his influence.
Vorelli always called Mark.. Mr. English. So, the dummy's in the cage, saying repeatedly, please Mr. English, I will give you anything, just please get me out of this predicament (I created). So, join us on Wednesday when Eegah!! gets his ball a rollin' along in March, here at The Dungeon!
Fantastic! It's on YouTube!
ReplyDeleteGreat flick! I love the fact that the hero really didn't save the day!
ReplyDeleteIt took me forever to realize that Mark English's old friend (the one he goes to Germany with) is played by the same actor who plays Frank's father in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (on that "Happy Birthday" recording).
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