Search - Mr. Sardonicus on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1961 DVD Release: 03/12/2002 Format: DVD - Black and White,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Restored/Remastered Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 29 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 8 Genres: Horror, Costume Horror, Gothic Film

In this 1961 William Castle film based on Ray Russell's novel -Sardonicus, Guy Rolfe stars as the wicked Sardonicus, a wealthy count who wears a mask because his face is frozen in a horrifying death grimace. Ronald Lewis stars as Sir Robert Cargrave, a brilliant doctor who is at the top of his field in the early 20th century. A curious letter from his former love, Maude (Audrey Dalton), draws him to Europe where she lives in a remote castle with her brooding husband, his badly scarred, but dedicated man-servant, Krull (Oscar Homolka), and a frightened housekeeper whom Sir Robert finds tied up and covered with leeches. The good doctor soon discovers the truth behind the leeches...and the true nature of his visit when Sardonicus reveals his terrible story: He dug up his father's grave in search of a winning lottery ticket, and upon seeing the corpse, his face muscles froze leaving him looking like a living skull. Dangling Maude as his ransom, Sardonicus forces Sir Robert into attempting a radical treatment to make his face normal again, but even when it is a success, the evil Sardonicus can find no cure from the curse of his father's desecrated corpse. Castle appears in the climax to offer viewers an opportunity to afford additional punishment on Sardonicus which leads to a satisfying conclusion. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

Guy Rolfe - Sardonicus
Audrey Dalton - Maude Sardonicus
Oscar Homolka - Krull
Ronald Lewis - Sir Robert Cargrave
Vladimir Sokoloff - Father

Columbia's DVD of Mr. Sardonicus presents this lesser-known William Castle effort in a stylish, handsomely packaged edition. The anamorphic widescreen video transfer benefits from a solid remastering job and captures the film's moody black-and-white cinematography nicely. The audio is limited to a mono soundtrack, but it holds up nicely and delivers a reasonable amount of sonic punch. The Mr. Sardonicus DVD also offers a fun short documentary about the film that primarily focuses on the "Punishment Poll," a gimmick that supposedly allowed the viewers to choose from endings that either punished the villain or showed him mercy (of course, it was a typical William Castle ruse, as only the punishment ending was filmed). The disc is rounded out by trailers for Mr. Sardonicus, 13 Ghosts, and Strait-Jacket. All in all, =Mr. Sardonicus does a nice job of presenting its subject and is well-worth the time for William Castle fans. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide