The setting is Scotland. The young Susan Blackhouse (Barbara Nelli) is an heiress who is expected to marry Sir Harold Morgan (Paul Muller). That’s what Harold believes and that’s what Susan’s uncle and guardian Sir Neville Blackhouse (Carlo Kechler) believes. Susan however has fallen hopelessly in love with architect Pierre Brissac (Michel Forain). Susan explains her predicament to Harold and to her uncle. They are understanding and they are willing for her to marry Pierre. Everything has worked out for the best.
Fate however intervenes and Susan ends up marrying Harold. Susan is sent off on a trip to give her time to reconcile herself to these changed circumstance. When she arrives home she is disturbed to discover that all her trusted household servants have been dismissed. She is also disturbed by the presence of the beautiful young Lillian (Erika Blanc) in the household. The two women are immediately at daggers drawn. There’s mutual suspicion and jealousy.
Odd things seem to happen. Susan imagines she sees things and hears voices. She is increasingly unsettled and nervous. She fears she might be going mad. A doctor is called in. He is puzzled and becomes increasingly concerned. He wonders if perhaps Susan would be better off in a rest home.
The audience will have no doubts whatever about what is going on. We know some things that Susan doesn’t know. In fact what is going on is very very obvious indeed.
For much of its running time the viewer will wonder whether this is really a gothic horror movie. It has much more of the feel of an overheated gothic melodrama or a Victorian sensation novel. Whether it will in fact become a true gothic horror film remains to be seen.
I’m being very vague about the way the story unfolds although every other online review and the IMDb synopsis reveal every single detail of the plot. Which is unfortunate since the second half of the movie is clearly expected to come as a surprise.
The audience will certainly suspect that some gaslighting is going on. Interestingly it’s a woman taking the lead in doing the gaslighting. This is a movie featuring women as both victims and villainesses. And it features men as both heroes and villains. It’s an equal opportunity movie.
The title makes it clear that there’s going to be a revenge plot and that does turn out to be the case.
The movie relies heavily on the performances of Barbara Nelli as Susan and Erika Blanc as Lillian and they’re both terrific. Nelli is convincing as a confused frightened young woman and she conveys the necessary sense of vulnerability which puts the audience on her side. Erika Blanc is nicely but subtly menacing. We feel that Lillian is probably up to no good and may turn out to be very sinister indeed even though she appears to be sympathetic towards Susan.
Paul Muller is solid as Harold and Gordon Mitchell is excellent as the rather intimidating butler Roger.
Of course in order to qualify as gothic a movie has to include scenes of young women wandering about the grounds of a forbidding castle in a diaphanous nightgown and more importantly must include scenes of that young woman descending spooky staircases carrying a candle and wearing the essential filmy nightgown. Happily this movie includes fine examples of such scenes.
Dungeon scenes are equally necessary and they’re here as well. Along with other beloved gothic clichés. Lots of dark and stormy nights.
This film was nicely shot in black-and-white. The special effects are a problem. They’re very crude indeed, and very uninteresting.
Lady Morgan’s Vengeance is typically Italian in its unwillingness to box itself into a single genre and its unwillingness to conform to any genre rules at all. It also employs a slightly odd indirect narrative technique in its second half. It’s an enjoyable enough movie but this is definitely not a neglected gem. It’s worth a look.
This film is part of Arrow’s Gothic Fantastico Blu-Ray boxed set which also includes the excellent The Witch (La strega in amore, 1966). Lady Morgan’s Vengeance gets a lovely transfer and there are bountiful extras. Unfortunately the extras are not worth bothering with unless you really enjoy tedious political ranting.
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