House of 1,000 Dolls

Here in UK among the swelling amount of potty TV stations , there is one labeled Horror. It is very good at showing missing films from the 60s that are not as yet on DVD. This is not a horror film, waste of great title, just an action crime mystery.18 cert is odd too. A very bored looking Vincent Price along with equally bored all purpose actress Martha Hyer plays a famous magician who calls up pretty girls from the audience on stage to have them disappear completely, as they end up in the White Slave trade in Morocco run by a mystery mastermind.

The best thing by far in this, is lead George Nader, gay beefcake pin up of the 50s. Looking very smart in good suits as the investigator,this actor had moved to West Germany in the 60s.Here he found stardom again in a series of thrillers as Jerry Cotton. He would return to USA,to find he had been left a large money legacy from old friend Rock Hudson.He turned to being a successful author, dying at 80. No I didn't guess the mastermind, but it was so improbable like the rest of this movie. Low brow fun.

If you like Price, this is an offbeat roll for him as this is not straight classic horror, but a mystery thriller with some sexed up 60's kittens and a brothel.. The film takes place in Tangiers and it is basically a clever and tame way to present a plot involving the white slavery trade. The films promo makes one think this is a very prevalent and serious issue, and perhaps it ws then? who knows? Price is a magician of sorts who gets beautiful women to get into his live stage act and then they disappear to the house of 1000 dolls. No one close to them ever sees them again, until a couple gets curious about this phenomena. The ending is a twist that you would not expect.. Perhaps the most memorable thing about this film is the theme song which gets cut off in the VHS version but exemplifies 60's groove with some cheesy pop rifts.. I mean when my ex husband an I saw this in like 1990, we laughed and sang this song for years! Then we recently turned on a few friends to it who were equally amused! don't take it so seriously, get a Pizza on a rainy weekend night and cuddle up for some excitement and intrigue with House Of 1000 DollS!

White slavery is not a topic that gets much play nowadays, but it gets a full writeup in this film. And I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing.

The film has a very strange setup. Garcia plays a man looking for his wife, who has been abducted in Tangiers. He finds that she has been forced to work in a brothel, The House of Dolls. He's discovered and killed. His friend Nader then takes it upon himself to figure out what happened to Garcia. What he uncovers is a white slavery ring run by magician Price, who uses the female volunteers from his magic act to stock The House.

The odd thing about this movie is that everything is presented rather matter-of-factly. There's no surprise to anything. We find out in the first five minutes what Price is doing. We already know what happened to Garcia and his wife. It's a suspense movie with no suspense. They throw in a twist at the end, but who cares? It has so little to do with the movie that it's completely irrelevant. There's other problems. Price is billed first, but has only about 20 mins of screen time (in the second half mostly), and he doesn't appear to be having any fun. All of the actors in the movie appear to be speaking English, yet it sounds as though the whole soundtrack (which is in English) has been looped. It's never boring, but there's no action, no excitement, no nothing. Price fans may not even enjoy this one.

House of a Thousand Dolls (1967)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Stephen Armstrong (George Nader) and his wife are on vacation in Tangiers when he runs into a friend who is searching for his wife who went missing. Before long the friend is dead and Stephen is caught up in what happened to him, which leads to a magician (Vincent Price) and his wife (Martha Hyer) as well as a house with a bunch of beautiful ladies.

HOUSE OF A THOUSAND DOLLS (its on screen title) is a film that I pretty much avoided for a couple decades because I had heard so many bad things about it. I guess if you go into it expecting some sort of horror movie then you'll be disappointed because it's certainly not that. The film is basically a mystery with some James Bond like action thrown in as the Stephen Armstrong character must outwit several bad guys that he encounters as he tries to solve the mystery.

For the most part the story itself is a rather interesting one and it's certainly entertaining enough to keep you entertained throughout the running time. The locations were a major plus and I thought the film had some nice cinematography. The film benefits from some nice direction that at least keeps the moving going at a nice pace. The weakest aspect of the film is the fact that you can tell it was rather cheaply made and there are times where I think a bit more sexuality would have helped things. There are girls running around in skimpy clothes at times but I think a tad bit more would have improved the film.

Price gets top-billing but he actually just plays a supporting player here. I thought he was fine in the part as he plays it pretty much straight and doesn't try to add any humor or camp. Nader is the real star and for the most part he is strong enough and has no problem carrying the picture. Hyer and Ann Smyrner are both good as well and you've got a nice comic performance by Herbert Fux. Maria Rohm as well as some other familiar Euro faces appear throughout.

HOUSE OF A THOUSAND DOLLS certainly isn't a masterpiece or even a good film. It doesn't even really work as a Price film since he just plays a supporting part. With that said, I thought it was entertaining enough even with its flaws.

I'm actually not sure what to make of House of a Thousand Dolls. I didn't hate it, but I wasn't crazy about it either. The best thing about it is easily Vincent Price, he is not in the film much but when he is on screen he completely commands it with a durable elegance and a touch of menace. Martha Hyer and George Nader do give reasonable performances as well, but not on Price's level. There is a good score and opening credits song and some of the photography does give some effective atmosphere. On the other hand, there are a number of failings, such as the sluggish fist-fights, mind-numbing dialogue and the fact that the characters just seem to be there but with nothing to make them particularly interesting. The story never really engaged me either, the basic thrust of the story, the more mystery/thriller-like stuff, is very dull, while the deaths and floggings are bloody and nasty but with little subtlety and taste. They like the characters seem to be there but again other than for shock value little is interesting about them. The twist is irrelevant and adds nothing to the film, so overall while I have seen far worse House of A Thousand Dolls for me was a very odd film. 5/10 Bethany Cox