aka 'Il mulino delle donne di pietra'

In a small Dutch village in the late 1800s, handsome young art student Hans von Arnim (Pierre Brice) arrives to study a local windmill that is adorned with a chamber of horror-style carousel of macabre female sculptures. The uncanny, life-size figures show the grotesque tortures and deaths of historical figures such Joan of Arc at the stake and Mary Stuart on the chopping block. The artist behind these creepy figures is Professor Gregorius Wahl (Herbert Böhme), a renowned sculptor and art teacher, who also takes residence in the old mill. The professor gives Hans access to the research information he needs, and Hans also has a chance to spend time with his love Liselotte (Dany Carrel), who is one of Professor Wahl's art students.

But Hans also encounters Elfie (Scilla Gabel), the professor's stunning and mysterious young daughter who is suffering from a strange disease and is permitted from leaving the house or getting too worked up. Longing for love and a normal life, Elfie falls for Hans and manages to seduce him. But this one-nighter only serves to make Hans realize how much he really loves Liselotte. He rejects further advances from Elfie, who gets so upset she suffers a heart attack of sorts and slumps to the floor – dead. But not everything is quite what it seems. Hans soon starts to question his own sanity as the truth about Elfie's condition and Professor Wahl's sinister sculptures starts to unravel…

One of the earliest Italian horror films, MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN takes its cue from similarly themed European “mad professor movies” of the time such as Georges Franju's EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1959) and Anton Giulio Majano's ATOM AGE VAMPIRE (1960), and mixes it with a dash of the Vincent Price classic HOUSE OF WAX (1953). As such, most of the plot plays out rather predictably, with most viewers being able to guess the dark secret of the windmill long before it is revealed. However, that doesn't really matter because this is such an outstandingly atmospheric, good-looking and downright well-made film that you won't have time to think about familiar plot mechanisms.

As far as Italian gothic horror is concerned, MILL is one of the very best entries. It also separates itself from most of the other horrors of the time by substituting the usual black and white cinematography with breathtaking Technicolor. And, boy, does it look stunning! The richly detailed set design is gorgeous and Pier Ludovico Pavoni's cinematography is a joy to behold; expertly capturing striking images such the shadow-draped hallways, the creepy carousel sculptures, Hans' hallucination sequence and the fiery climax. The creepy score by Carlo Innocenzi is highly effective and accompanies the stylish visuals splendidly.

Another key ingredient to the film's success is its first-rate cast. The stunningly beautiful Scilla Gabel (the wife of FEMINA RIDENS director Piero Schivazappa) is a truly spellbinding screen presence, and with her striking raven hair, delicate porcelain skin and impressive hourglass figure she gives gothic horror queen Barbara Steele a good run for the money. But Gabel, who later figured in films like the krimi THE SECRET OF THE YELLOW MONKS and the cult item MODESTY BLAISE (both 1966), gets to do more than just stand around and look pretty. As the dark, mysterious beauty the entire film revolves around, she manages to shift between being sympathetic and threatening with great ease; delivering a very captivating and credible performance.

German actor Herbert Böhme is also in top form as the distinguished Professor Wahl, and looks like he had a lot of fun playing his part. And let's not forget the film's other German actor, the excellent Wolfgang Preiss, who is probably best known for his performance as the sinister Dr. Mabuse in Fritz Lang's classic THE THOUSAND EYES OF DR. MABUSE (1960) as well as in four of its sequels. Here, Preiss plays yet another sinister role; putting in a delightful performance as the suspicious, cigar-smoking scientist Dr. Bohlem, who lives together with Professor Wahl and Elfie.

Slightly less impressive but still very serviceable is our leading couple. Good-looking French actor Pierre Brice started his acting career with various roles in both French and Italian films such as this one and also Damiano Damiani's debut IL ROSSETTO (1960) and Max Pécas' SWEET ECSTASY (1962) but it was in Germany he was to become a superstar, thanks to his performance as the Indian hero Winnetou in a series of 1960s films based on the writings of Karl May. Here, Brice makes a pretty compelling and dedicated lead as young Hans. French beauty Dany Carrel, however, doesn't get all that much to do as the love interest, Liselotte, whose character is a bit of a boring, naïve do-gooder. In one of the film's most hilarious moments, Hans actually admits to her that he has slept with another woman but excuses himself by saying it has made him realize that Liselotte is the one he really loves. And what does Liselotte do? Oh, she just smiles cheerfully and dotingly forgives Hans – giving him a big kiss. She even looks like she's flattered! Ah, how the portrayal of female characters in films has changed since the early 1960s!

Smaller roles are filled by the always reliable Marco Guglielmi (later in stuff like CANDIDO EROTICO and THE CYNIC, THE RAT & THE FIST) as Hans and Liselotte's thoroughly sympathetic buddy, and the flame-haired knock-out Liana Orfei (one of Italy 's prime leading ladies of peplums and swashbuckers), in her only horror movie role as a sexy art class model. Liana makes the most of her limited screen time and lights up the screen by performing a sexy pub song at the local inn.

The director, Giorgio Ferroni, demonstrates a great flair for visual style and gothic imagery with this superlative effort, so it is a shame that he didn't make more horror films. Instead, Ferroni would go on to make lots of peplums and westerns, as well as the impressive WW2 flick THE BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN (1968). He made a single return to the horror genre with NIGHT OF THE DEVILS (1972), which is based on Leo Tolstoy's “The Wurdalak”, which was also adapted for the screen by Mario Bava in his anthology horror film BLACK SABBATH (1963).

NEW Entertainment World gives us a very nice DVD of this Italian horror classic. Presented anamorphically in its original 1.66:1 ratio, the image quality looks very satisfying throughout. There is some minor dirt and scratches here and there but nothing that ever gets distracting. Colors look fine and natural, with plenty of detail and nuance. There are a few scenes where the colors are a bit paler, though, and on a few occasions the colors switch to a more brownish tint for a brief second and then reverts back to normal but overall the disc looks very good. There is one scene, however, that is visibly inserted from a somewhat darker print source. This is the scene where a gagged Liselotte is strapped down and one of her nipples is partially visible. This sort of imagery was of course very risqué in the early 60s and was thus deleted from most prints, which accounts for the change in picture quality. In any case, it is wonderful to see this brief footage included here.

The DVD also comes with no less than five audio options! First up, we are given the choice between the English and the American dub. The English one is the original export dub prepared in Rome by the prolific Richard McNamara (who also provides the voice for Wolfgang Preiss' character, I believe). The American dub is pretty much identical, with the only noticeable difference being that Professor Wahl has been re-dubbed by a different actor who speaks with a more German accent. All the other voices remain the same, so which version to watch is really down to a matter of taste. Some may prefer the original dubbing job, while others will no doubt find the more exaggerated American re-voicing of Professor Wahl to be enjoyable. However, the real problem – pertaining to both versions – is the dubbing of Elfie – performed by Cecily Browne, who may be better known for voicing older female characters such as Laura Nucci in THE KILLER NUN (1978) and Adelaide Aste in CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980). In addition to being a bad match age-wise, Browne's voice is also much too harsh-sounding for the elegantly beautiful Scilla Gabel. That said, it's not that big of a problem – especially not for those of us who have long grown used to the pros and cons of the dubbing of Italian films.

On a technical level, the English dub is the superior one. It comes through nice and clearly whereas the American one is more muffled. Italian, French and German audio tracks are also included but since the only accompanying subtitles are in German, this isn't much help unless you are fluent in some of those three languages.

Then there are the extras. There's a deleted scene with Liselotte and her buddy on a bridge (presented in French with German subtitles only), which is nice to see but it doesn't really add anything to the film. An alternate version of Hans' hallucination scene (in English) is also included, as is a fun English-language trailer that does a wonderful job of selling the film. Scrolling liner notes by Michael Püttmann are also included but are in German only, which is a shame because other than an error about Mario Bava having finished the film, the liners are very informative and well-written.

Finally, there's an image gallery of various artwork for the film. In addition to this photo gallery, NEW's DVD treats us to a very welcome DVD-ROM supplement which contains a folder of images of various lobby cards and poster artwork for the film. Unlike the images in the DVD's still gallery, these ROM pictures are higher resolution TIFF files and you can zoom in on the images; giving you much better appreciation of details. Very, very cool! This is something more DVD companies should start doing!

Ultimately, MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN is one of the best Italian horror films from the early 1960s. It enthralls the viewers with its sumptuous visuals and dedicated cast; making us forget about the familiarity of the plot. NEW's DVD is a most welcome release, and I can heartily give my warmest recommendations of both the film and the DVD.

(Johan Melle)