SPIRITS OF THE DEAD RISE AGAIN

Spirits of the Dead

by Edgar Allan Poe

I.

Thy soul shall find itself alone

’Mid dark thoughts of the gray tombstone—

Not one, of all the crowd, to pry

Into thine hour of secrecy.

II.

Be silent in that solitude,

   Which is not loneliness—for then

The spirits of the dead who stood

   In life before thee are again

In death around thee—and their will

Shall overshadow thee: be still.

III.

The night, tho’ clear, shall frown—

And the stars shall look not down

From their high thrones in the heaven,

With light like Hope to mortals given—

But their red orbs, without beam,

To thy weariness shall seem

As a burning and a fever

Which would cling to thee for ever.

IV.

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,

Now are visions ne’er to vanish;

From thy spirit shall they pass

No more—like dew-drop from the grass.

V.

The breeze—the breath of God—is still—

And the mist upon the hill,

Shadowy—shadowy—yet unbroken,

Is a symbol and a token—

How it hangs upon the trees,

A mystery of mysteries!

U.S. theatrical poster.

Today we are returning again to the Spirits of the Dead, inaugurated in verse by the immortal Edgar Allan Poe and used as the title of an anthology film released in the U.S. by American International Pictures on July 23, 1969.

The film (alternately known as TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION) is comprised of three segments, each loosely adapted from a short story by Poe:

(English version narrated by Vincent Price)

"Metzengerstein"

Directed by: Roger Vadim

Starring: Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda

"William Wilson"

Directed by: Louis Malle

Starring: Alain Delon, Brigitte Bardot

"Toby Dammit" ("Never Bet the Devil Your Head"/"Don't Wager Your Head to the Devil", U.S./"Three Steps into Delirium")

Directed by Frederico Fellini

Starring: Terence Stamp, Marina Yaru

French theatrical poster.

Review by Kevin Thomas (LOS ANGELES TIMES):

Review (TIME MAGAZINE):

Fellini's "Three Steps Into Delirium" (CONTINENTAL FILM REVIEW, April 1968):

SPIRITS OF THE DEAD LOBBY CARDS

SPIRITS OF THE DEAD PHOTO ALBUM

Brigitte Bardot

Alain Delon

Jane Fonda

Terence Stamp

Misc.

Marina Yaru.

Peter Fonda.

GOODBYE, BÉBÉ.

In the summer of 1969, my Dad took me to see SPIRITS OF THE DEAD. I had been watching the very seductive ads in the local paper that promised "Edgar Allan Poe's Ultimate Orgy of Evil". EAP and an orgy? What was there not to look forward to?

It was playing the Art Theater at Topanga and Ventura boulevards. In those days, there were tons of movie theaters in the San Fernando Valley: The Topanga, Baronet, Holiday, Valley Circle, etc., all gave way to multiplex's in the 1970's.

The Art Theater was scoffed at by us young teens because it was a dingy, tiny thing squeezed between other shops and had the reputation that nothing but "artsy-fartsy" movies played there. After watching it, I thought: it's was no wonder that SPIRITS OF THE DEAD was one of them.

Being the die-hard monster kid that I was, I cajoled my Dad (the same Good Ol' Dad that let me buy my first monster magazine off the newsstand rack outside the Owl Rexall Drug Store on Van Nuys Blvd. just a few years before) to take me to this R-rated movie.

Well, we sat there with our box of popcorn and cup of soda and got through the whole thing. Talk about disappointed! I wanted this to be a good movie, but instead I was bored to tears. Where were the monsters? Where were the spooks? Where was Poe? And, fer chrissakes, where was the friggin' orgy of evil?

I'm sure my Dad wondered why the hell I wanted to see this movie in the first place. Well, with a cast of high-brow actors like Jane and Peter Fonda, Alain Delon, Brigitte Bardot and Terence Stamp, and lensed by directors, Frederico Fellini, Roger Vadim and Louis Malle, SPIRITS OF THE DEAD certainly was a movie that deserved to be played at the "artsy-fartsy" Art Theater! [see the rest of this post HERE.]

What made this film watchable were the two gorgeous actresses that played in it. One was Jane Fonda, who would star as Barbarella the same year, and she never looked better during this period. The other was a French actress named Brigitte Bardot, that left me panting (and maybe even drooling a little, too) she was so strikingly beautiful.

Brigitte Bardot in Spirits of the Dead "William Wilson" segment.

Bardot and co-star Alain Delon on the set of Spirits of the Dead.

The foregoing all came back when I heard the sad news that Brigitte Bébé (a nickname derived from her initials) Bardot had passed away yesterday at the age of 91 from an undisclosed illness in Saint-Tropez, France.

Born Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot on September 28, 1934 in Paris, she originally aspired to be a ballerina, but turned instead to modeling and acting in a possible act of rebellion against her strict and sometimes abusive Catholic parents. Her breakout role was as an 18 year old libertine in AND GOD CREATED WOMAN (1956) directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim. For years, she wowed the public with her seductive charm, sexuality and provocative lifestyle, earning the nickname, "sex kitten".

But all that came at a price; battling depression she attempted to end her life on more than one occasion. She was also convicted and fined five times in France for inciting racial hatred as a result of her very vocal objection to the Muslim method of slaughtering sheep without sedation during religious holidays.

Tiring of living up to the rigors of international fame, relentless media attention and "sick of being beautiful every day", in a move that shocked millions, she retired from acting in 1973 and devoted the rest of her life to her real passion: animal rights. Ultimately, I'm sure that was much more rewarding for her than looking sexy in front of a camera 24/7.

The 60s was the decade of the sex goddess and while there were a lot of candidates, it's hard to name any of them before Brigitte Bardot.

Rest in peace, Bébé.

Brigitte Bardot Gallery:

Brigitte Bardot in the April 1969 issue of PLAYBOY: