A real film for the connoisseur. Welles agreed to play the main role of Cagliostro provided he could direct his own scenes himself. Extraordinarily, Ratoff agreed to this remarkable proposal and so we have one of the most astonishing films ever made. In fact, Welles directed only the actual shots and camera set-ups in which he personally appeared. Of course, as he had by far the biggest part in the film, there were a great many of these, but he did not necessarily direct whole scenes — where the camera was focused exclusively on other players within the scene, these shots were directed by Ratoff — an arrangement which must have given the film editors nightmares, as the two directors had totally different visual styles!
Things worked well when Welles had the camera glide after him as, dressed all in black, he wended his way through the crowded salons and antechambers of the palace, and the subsequent audience where Ratoff directed a few innocuous reaction shots of the king laughing; but in the trial scene where straightforward shots of the wigged judges are intercut with weirdly-lit reaction shots of Welles, things worked less well (the weird lighting on Welles seemed also to emanate from no natural source); though later on, the use of a subjective camera, during Mesmer's hypnosis, was more happily integrated. And as for the climax, Welles has directed this with typical passion and fury, topping the somewhat similar denouement in "The Stranger".
As usual, Welles the director is masterfully in command of Welles, the actor. His is rightly the most powerful and engrossing performance in the film. Welles' influence extended to the other players in his scenes. He has turned Nancy Guild into a sort of wax doll, which contrasts well with her spirited portrayal of the vicious Marie Antoinette in her Ratoff-directed scenes (as she plays a dual role, it was certainly a masterful touch having a different director for each!) Incidentally, it is pleasing to note that this film continues a not uncommon practice in European films of having the same actor play in disguise two entirely different and separate roles — a practice that is virtually unknown in Hollywood. Stephen Bekassy is at home in his role as the villain, Margot Grahame makes a realistic study of DuBarry. Just about all the roles, in fact, are judiciously cast.
The script abounds in nice realistic touches like Louis fixing his clocks. However, the film suffers from some unfortunate additional scenes and dialogue contributed by Richard Schayer. The most ridiculous of these is an absurdly-contrived framing Prologue in which young Alexander (sic) Dumas (played by Raymond Burr of all people — he seems excusably ill-at-ease in the part) visits his father. A casual reference to "Camille" is dropped into the conversation with as much subtlety as a bomb at a tea-party, while Dumas Senior (Berry Kroeger in an odd-looking wig) makes some equally clumsily-contrived allusions to "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Christo"! The direction here is as leaden and routine as we usually expect from Ratoff. However he does improve as the film progresses, though both he and actor Goldner can do little with the absurd contrivance of having Mesmer of all people volunteer as an advocate for the Crown in the final trial scenes.
It is obvious that Welles has prevailed upon Ratoff to let him direct some of the crowd scenes. These are directed with bite and fury and with a pictorial and editorial extravagance (some shots of enormous hordes of people are on screen for less than two seconds) rare to the American cinema. Also, there are some exciting montage routines using Cagliostro's luminous eyes as a focal point. Production values are exceptionally lavish, with atmospheric photography, vast, picturesque sets, attractive costumes and eye- catching use of natural locations.
Things worked well when Welles had the camera glide after him as, dressed all in black, he wended his way through the crowded salons and antechambers of the palace, and the subsequent audience where Ratoff directed a few innocuous reaction shots of the king laughing; but in the trial scene where straightforward shots of the wigged judges are intercut with weirdly-lit reaction shots of Welles, things worked less well (the weird lighting on Welles seemed also to emanate from no natural source); though later on, the use of a subjective camera, during Mesmer's hypnosis, was more happily integrated. And as for the climax, Welles has directed this with typical passion and fury, topping the somewhat similar denouement in "The Stranger".
As usual, Welles the director is masterfully in command of Welles, the actor. His is rightly the most powerful and engrossing performance in the film. Welles' influence extended to the other players in his scenes. He has turned Nancy Guild into a sort of wax doll, which contrasts well with her spirited portrayal of the vicious Marie Antoinette in her Ratoff-directed scenes (as she plays a dual role, it was certainly a masterful touch having a different director for each!) Incidentally, it is pleasing to note that this film continues a not uncommon practice in European films of having the same actor play in disguise two entirely different and separate roles — a practice that is virtually unknown in Hollywood. Stephen Bekassy is at home in his role as the villain, Margot Grahame makes a realistic study of DuBarry. Just about all the roles, in fact, are judiciously cast.
The script abounds in nice realistic touches like Louis fixing his clocks. However, the film suffers from some unfortunate additional scenes and dialogue contributed by Richard Schayer. The most ridiculous of these is an absurdly-contrived framing Prologue in which young Alexander (sic) Dumas (played by Raymond Burr of all people — he seems excusably ill-at-ease in the part) visits his father. A casual reference to "Camille" is dropped into the conversation with as much subtlety as a bomb at a tea-party, while Dumas Senior (Berry Kroeger in an odd-looking wig) makes some equally clumsily-contrived allusions to "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Christo"! The direction here is as leaden and routine as we usually expect from Ratoff. However he does improve as the film progresses, though both he and actor Goldner can do little with the absurd contrivance of having Mesmer of all people volunteer as an advocate for the Crown in the final trial scenes.
It is obvious that Welles has prevailed upon Ratoff to let him direct some of the crowd scenes. These are directed with bite and fury and with a pictorial and editorial extravagance (some shots of enormous hordes of people are on screen for less than two seconds) rare to the American cinema. Also, there are some exciting montage routines using Cagliostro's luminous eyes as a focal point. Production values are exceptionally lavish, with atmospheric photography, vast, picturesque sets, attractive costumes and eye- catching use of natural locations.