Barbara Steele Movies
Exotic, voluptuous, nostril-flaring British actress Barbara Steele originally aspired to be a painter. At 20, she was sidetracked into acting, and within a year she made her film bow in a one-line bit as a student in Bachelor of Hearts (1958). Most of her roles were nondescript until she moved to Italy and launched her horror-film cycle with her performance as a resuscitated witch in Black Sunday (1961). Throughout the next fifteen years, Steele thrived as an internationally popular "scream queen," undergoing the usual ordeals of being whipped, strangled, dismembered and set ablaze, but also dishing it out as well as taking it -- especially in the role of a demonic woman's prison warden in Caged Heat (1974). Steele attracted the attention of the movie cognoscenti when she answered an open call posted by director Federico Fellini, who promptly cast her in a flashy role in 8 1/2 (1963); fourteen years later, she appeared as Violet in director Louis Malle's controversial Pretty Baby (1977). For many years, Steele was the wife of screenwriter James Poe, who wrote a good part for her in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), only to see the role whittled into oblivion by director Sydney Pollack. Steele remained close to Poe even after their divorce, retiring from the screen when Poe died in 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This World War II epic drama, based on the book by Herman Wouk, follows the life and trials of a career naval officer (Robert Mitchum) sent to Germany during Hitler's rise to power, who witnesses the gradual escalation of the war. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Marie (Annie Girardot) teaches high school and has a 16-year-old daughter in her class. Divorced some years previously, she has some vague egalitarian notions about friendship with her students and leaves her door open to them. One of her protégés is found beaten up just outside her door, and an emergency physician comes by to treat her. When her daughter starts seeing someone she doesn't much like, and she begins having a brief affair (her first since the divorce) with the ER doctor, she begins to reconsider her policy. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Patrick Dewaere, (more)
- 1969
Filmed in Spain, this TV movie stars Janet Leigh as an American woman honeymooning with her new husband. She awakens after the wedding night, only to be confronted with a stranger who insists that he's her husband. Leigh goes to the authorities, who unfortunately believe the ersatz husband's story. Or perhaps it's not as unfortunate as it seems...because Leigh herself is not all she seems. The central plot twist in Honeymoon With a Stranger was reworked into several subsequent TV-movies, until overuse robbed the twist of any surprise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
In this spooky thriller, an evil sorcerer invites an innocent young man and his girl friend to his dark and scary mansion. The two have no idea that the black magician is planning to sacrifice the young man to atone for the evil misdeeds of his ancestors who 200 years ago burned the wizard's relative, a witch, at the stake. A crazy party precedes the gruesome ritual. Fortunately for the young couple the sage Professor March (80-year-old Boris Karloff in one of his final films) is also a skilled magic maker and is there to save them. The film is also titled Curse of the Crimson Altar and The Crimson Altar. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, (more)
- 1966
One of the last and most interesting Italian horror productions featuring the alluring Barbara Steele, this obscure feature from Crypt of the Vampire director Camillo Mastrocinque apparently never found distribution in English, and dubbed or subtitled prints are all but nonexistent. Steele's character in the film is haunted by a decrepit statue submerged in a lake, whose features look disturbingly like her own. Upon complete restoration of the statue, Steele begins to take on the psychotic traits of the woman upon whom the sculpture was based -- a woman the townspeople believe was a much-feared sorceress of local legend. Curious fans of the sultry horror star will find much to enjoy, even in the Italian-language version -- Steele's magnetic performance and the strong visuals propel the story with or without the minimal dialogue. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Robert Musil's novel Die Verwirrungen des Zoglings Torless was the source for this allegorical German film. Mathieu Carriere plays Torless, a student in a costly boarding school during the glory days of the Hapsburg empire. While at school, Carriere is a bystander to the sadistic behavior of fellow students Alfred Dietz and Bernd Tischer. Carriere watches with fascination, but does nothing to intervene or to help his classmates' hapless victims. When Carriere finally does blow the whistle on his friends, it is he who is "invited" to leave the school. If you miss the parallels in Young Torless to the Nazi years, then you aren't watching very carefully...or perhaps you're not watching at all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathieu Carrière
- 1966
Brancaleone (Vittorio Gassman) leads an inept group of Crusaders to the sea in this offbeat war comedy. The Crusaders hope to find a ship that will take them to the Holy Land to reclaim the area for Christianity. The situation allows for plenty of sight gags and ribald humor. Catherine Spaak co-stars with Gassmann in this amusing effort from director Mario Monicelli. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Gassman, Catherine Spaak, (more)
- 1966
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An unfaithful wife is visited by medieval plague victims, who were summoned from their graves by her occult-expert husband. ~ All Movie Guide
Known in U.S. distribution as Nightmare Castle, this eerie Gothic thriller offers two Barbara Steeles for the price of one. Steele first portrays the wife of a deranged scientist (Paul Muller) whose latest experiments involve electro-stimulation of human blood. When the mad doctor discovers his wife is having an affair, he tortures, disfigures and kills her alongside her lover, then removes and preserves the hearts of the victims, using their blood to restore youth and beauty to his own lover. When the madman discovers that his late wife left all her wealth to her mentally unstable sister (Steele again, a blonde this time), he quickly sets about courting and marrying the poor girl, then proceeds to drive her completely mad in order to inherit her fortune. It may be an easier task than he predicted -- too easy for comfort, in fact -- since the honeymoon is attended by the spectral presence of the murdered lovers who have risen from their own ashes to avenge their deaths. This film's pervasive feeling of impending doom is aided by shadowy, low-contrast cinematography and a robust score from Ennio Morricone, and features a riveting performance from Steele, whose large eyes pierce the screen with dangerous beauty. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
