zeroheadroom.com and Drive By Theater present the oddest film in Richard Burton's career Bluebeard A fairly obscure 1972 thriller starring Richard Burton, Raquel Welch, Joey Heatherton and Sybil Danning. It was filmed in Budapest, Hungary and directed by Edward Dmytryk. The Producers were the Salkinds, laterto make the original big budget Superman and Muskateers flicks. even the score is by the prolific Ennio Morricone. good pedigree indeed. The film is based on the classic story of Bluebeard by Charles Perrault of a wealthy aristocrat (Burton) who has murdered several previous wives. His latest spouse (Heatherton) discovers his late predecessors frozen in a freezer and tries to avoid their fate. Originally made as a film with John Carradine in the title role in 1944, Bluebeard was altered by setting the story in a totalitarian state, where Burton's character is honored as a kind of hero by others. In truth, he masks his true self and his intentions until the right moment, when his victims don't know his motives. The emphasis is on the title character's predatory nature and actions. The film opened in 1972 to mostly negative reviews as critics felt the film did not have a strong air of suspense as another maniac-on-the-loose film did, Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy. It would also be considered one of Burton's weakest efforts, with no real effort on his part to play the role. Baron von Sepper is an Austrian aristocrat noted for his blue-toned beard, and his appetite for ...
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