The scenes where the latest wife was encouraged by the devil to enter the forbidden room and submitted to this temptation were more successfully realised. Both gave Melies an opportunity to show off his special effects. The discovery of the previous wives\u2019 hanging bodies was suitably striking.<\/p>\n
\n We were surprised by the fact this was undercut in the next few scenes as, after a short period of panic and struggle with her husband, the rescue occurred quickly and all<\/em> Bluebeard\u2019s wives were brought back to life.\u00a0 While this last action fitted Melies\u2019 reputation for screening the fantastical, it affects the film\u2019s impact, especially as all the women are given a final scene happy ending in which they marry noblemen.<\/p>\n Despite this non-traditional ending to the story, Ulmer\u2019s film was even less true the traditional Bluebeard tale than Melies\u2019. The film focuses on puppet-maker and painter Gaston Morrell – a serial killer of women in Paris. In a warning poster the killer is referred to as a \u2018Bluebeard\u2019.\u00a0 But Morrell is not married to these women, which made us ponder the use of the term \u2013 especially as the film\u2019s title. \u00a0It certainly draws on the horror so important to the Bluebeard tale, however, potentially signalling that this was important to audiences of the time.<\/p>\n Ulmer\u2019s film contained more horror than Melies\u2019 \u2013 as befits the director of spine-chilling The Black Cat <\/em>(1934) starring horror stalwarts Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. There was Ulmer was especially known for his talent for mise en scene \u2013 indeed American film critic Andrew Sarris assessed that this was the one notable aspect of his work (Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema, <\/em>New York, Dutton, 1968, p. 143). \u00a0We were struck by Our definition of the Gothic involving the Woman in Peril had obviously played an important part in Melies\u2019 film though, as mentioned earlier, this was relatively short-lived in the silent. Here the tension is ratcheted up, as Lucille continually places herself in danger. Firstly, she declares herself not to be scared of Bluebeard, then she visits Morrell alone in his apartment, later confronting him here, again alone, even once she suspects the truth.<\/p>\n There is another Woman in Peril \u2013 Lucille\u2019s sister Francine (Teala Loring) \u2013 who appears part-way through the film. It is suggested that she is an undercover agent, We noted that the film was rather odd tonally. This includes its shaky grasp of its historical and geographic setting \u2013 not all that unusual in Hollywood productions. While the costumes (women\u2019s dresses with bustles) broadly suggest the 19th<\/sup> century, the amount of ankle on show was deemed inaccurate.\u00a0 Although set in Paris, the only European accent was contributed by Swedish actor Nils Asther as Police Inspector Lefevre.<\/p>\n The uneven tone is especially notable in the film\u2019s mix of comedy and horror. When in court trying to ascertain the painter of a particular picture, the questioning of artists\u2019 models \u2013 one of whom replies in a thick Brooklyn accent \u2013 leads to responses of hilarity The pacing of the film was also patchy. We especially wondered why so much time was spent on the enacting of the puppet opera near the film\u2019s beginning. This does, however, give the film audience time to ponder the significance of the fact that Morrell is playing (and singing) the part of Faust in the production, while an older man plays the film\u2019s hero.\u00a0 This disjuncture further helps suggest the fact Morrell is the serial killer at large. Non-diegetic music was also effectively used to punctuate melodramatic moments.<\/p>\n The extended musical scenes also caused us to further compare Ulmer\u2019s sound and Melies\u2019 silent films. In both, the killer got his comeuppance, with Morrell in the later film throwing himself into the Seine. Happy endings are also suggested in both.\u00a0 This occurs more forcefully in the earlier production when all the previously dead wives come back to life and are married off. In Ulmer\u2019s film the relationship between Lucille and the Police Inspector appears to grow.<\/p>\n You can find an English translation of Perrault\u2019s tale here:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.pitt.edu\/~dash\/perrault03.html<\/a><\/p>\n Both\u00a0films\u00a0are viewable on archive.org:<\/p>\n https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/Barbe-bleue<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/Bluebeard<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do log in to comment, or email me on sp458@kent.ac.uk<\/u><\/a> to add your thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Watching these two very different films gave us much food for thought. In addition to tracing elements of the Gothic and Bluebeard fable across two texts, it afforded the opportunity to compare silent and sound films, as well as French … Continue reading ![\"bluebeard-wives\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/melodramaresearchgroup\/files\/2016\/10\/bluebeard-wives.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> little suspense in terms of the killer though. \u00a0After initial scenes of melodramatic moral panic, and the lengthy puppet opera, the confirmation of the identity of \u2018Bluebeard\u2019 was fairly swift.\u00a0 This was first implied by Gaston Morrell\u2019s (John Carradine) emergence from the fog to make acquaintance with the heroine of the story \u2013 Lucille (Jean Parker). As well as echoing similar scenes in Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s The Lodger <\/em>(1927), the detail of the framing was significant: the meeting occurred in front of the warning poster. Not long after, Morrell\u2019s murder of his lover, Renee (Sonia Sorel), takes place on screen.<\/p>\n<\/a>some of the backgrounds of Morrell\u2019s paintings. We were also impressed by Ulmer\u2019s use of chiaroscuro to emphasise the gothic spaces of Morrell\u2019s apartment as well as the scenes in the sewers below. Despite the latter being somewhat derivative of Gaston Leroux\u2019s The Phantom of the Opera <\/em>(1909), <\/em>elsewhere another echo \u2013 this time of Melies\u2019 film when the most recent wife discovered the previous ones\u2013 proved especially effective as dangling shadowy puppets eerily appear on the walls of Morrell\u2019s apartment.\u00a0 It is also notable that the film uses Killer point-of-view as <\/a>shots of Morrell\u2019s eyes spying through a hole prior to the puppet show as he searches for Lucille. We\u2019ve previously discussed Killer POV in relation to The Spiral Staircase <\/em>(1945, Robert Siodmak: see https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/melodramaresearchgroup\/2015\/12\/02\/summary-of-discussion-on-the-spiral-staircase\/<\/u><\/a>), and it is interesting that Ulmer\u2019s use occurred first and that he had previously worked with Siodmak.<\/p>\n<\/a>working with the police, though this is not made clear. She too places herself in danger (presumably often a part of her job), by luring Morrell into a trap \u2013 both are women who actively investigate. When Francine appeared it almost seemed she had usurped Lucille, but with former\u2019s death at hands of Morrell, Lucille was once more the heroine. \u00a0While both women investigate, only Francine \u2013 who is actually employed as a detective (especially surprising in the 19th<\/sup> century) is punished by death though.<\/p>\n<\/a>by those attending. Much of this revolved around suggestions of prostitution \u2013 references also found elsewhere in the film, including as Morrell\u2019s justification of his crimes. In addition, the killing scenes, whether an eye-bulging arms-raised action or a protracted and ineffective fight, were a bit comical. We noted these comedy elements in a horror film contrasted to Carry on Screaming\u2019s <\/em>(1966, Gerald Thomas) mostly comic, but occasionally, frightening tone.<\/p>\n