gray, drab bit of English fare about an evil ventriloquist(are there any other kind?) and his dummy Hugo, who's toting around the disembodied soul of a German guy.
The storyline wasn't bad, but unfortunately it was burdened with long sequences of no action interspersed with some interesting bits. Also, there were some truly repulsive moments, like when the ventriloquist Verelli gets it on with his aging, cigarette smoking assistant who lets her butt hang out all the time. Which of them is more repulsive is a question left to the ages. Also, the scene where Verelli hypnotizes a pretty young English girl into going to bed with him(the only way he could ever get her to touch him, obviously)is totally shudder worthy, and the German guy Hugo(when he was still alive)walking around in tights so tight you can tell what religion he is was a scene to make you close your eyes in horror.
The basic story, which is only about thirty minutes long(the other hour and a half is dedicated to long scenes of people talking and smoking), is that Verelli used ancient Tibetan techniques to separate his German assistant's soul from his body. He then killed the body, and stuffed the soul in his puppet. Why he did this is anyone's guess, since him fighting with the dummy doesn't really liven up the act. Well, it's been ten years or so, and he's doing his show in England. He hypnotizes a young heiress, meaning to marry her, steal her money, and kill her. He'll then put her soul into a doll as well, apparently because he thought that Hugo needed a wife or something. His only opponent is an ineffectual American journalist, a man so stupid that he thinks the heiress(who he's engaged to) would really fall for a man with a creepy stare, a crepe beard, and an ugly pock marked face, not to mention an oily, sinister manner.
This chump realizes that the doll spoke to him, telling him to go to Germany and find out what happened in the past. He does so, speaking to Verelli's other ex-assistant, a truly depressed looking German woman. Then he flies back to England to confront Verelli and break his hold over the heiress. But he's too late as usual, as Hugo takes care of the whole thing by himself. Outacted by a puppet..that is very, very sad. And the puppet saves the day, as well, while you're fiddling around with your cigarettes. Who's got the wooden head here? You decide..
The storyline wasn't bad, but unfortunately it was burdened with long sequences of no action interspersed with some interesting bits. Also, there were some truly repulsive moments, like when the ventriloquist Verelli gets it on with his aging, cigarette smoking assistant who lets her butt hang out all the time. Which of them is more repulsive is a question left to the ages. Also, the scene where Verelli hypnotizes a pretty young English girl into going to bed with him(the only way he could ever get her to touch him, obviously)is totally shudder worthy, and the German guy Hugo(when he was still alive)walking around in tights so tight you can tell what religion he is was a scene to make you close your eyes in horror.
The basic story, which is only about thirty minutes long(the other hour and a half is dedicated to long scenes of people talking and smoking), is that Verelli used ancient Tibetan techniques to separate his German assistant's soul from his body. He then killed the body, and stuffed the soul in his puppet. Why he did this is anyone's guess, since him fighting with the dummy doesn't really liven up the act. Well, it's been ten years or so, and he's doing his show in England. He hypnotizes a young heiress, meaning to marry her, steal her money, and kill her. He'll then put her soul into a doll as well, apparently because he thought that Hugo needed a wife or something. His only opponent is an ineffectual American journalist, a man so stupid that he thinks the heiress(who he's engaged to) would really fall for a man with a creepy stare, a crepe beard, and an ugly pock marked face, not to mention an oily, sinister manner.
This chump realizes that the doll spoke to him, telling him to go to Germany and find out what happened in the past. He does so, speaking to Verelli's other ex-assistant, a truly depressed looking German woman. Then he flies back to England to confront Verelli and break his hold over the heiress. But he's too late as usual, as Hugo takes care of the whole thing by himself. Outacted by a puppet..that is very, very sad. And the puppet saves the day, as well, while you're fiddling around with your cigarettes. Who's got the wooden head here? You decide..