Mr Sardonicus (1961)

‘Perhaps we might finish our discussion on ghouls some other time, Sir Robert?’

Recently knighted doctor Ronald Lewis travels to the small republic of Goslava to treat the Baron Sardonicus (Guy Rolfe). The unfortunate fellow has a permanent and horrifying grin stamped on his face after digging up his father’s corpse to claim a winning lottery ticket.

Producer-director William Castle was a showman. His movies were known more for their advertising gimmicks than their actual content. Patrons were insured from death by fright with Lloyds of London for ‘Macabre’ (1958) and ‘The House On Haunted Hill’ (1958) starring Vincent Price was shot in the revolutionary ‘Emergo’ process. Ok, so ‘Emergo’ actually just meant a plastic skeleton being suspended over the audience at a crucial moment but follow up ‘The Tingler’ (1959) was in ‘Percepto’, which was much better. In a brilliant and heroic disregard for Health and Safety, this involved some cinema seats being wired to give patrons minor electric shocks when ‘The Tingler’ was loose!

But Castle had progressed beyond such cheap shocks by the time he delivered ‘Mr Sardonicus’ (1961). Here he gave the world the first interactive movie experience with the ‘Punishment Poll’. The audience were handed cards, each featuring a ‘thumbs up’ and ‘thumbs down’ symbol. At a crucial moment in the narrative, Castle himself pops up on screen to ask the audience to vote on the fate of one of the main characters. After totting up the votes, he instructs the projectionist to put on the selected ending. It’s ground-breaking stuff. Way ahead of its time.

She wished she’d remembered to do under her arms that morning…

So, after all that, what’s the movie itself actually like? Well, quite good really. Sardonicus has tried everything he can to affect a cure, even letting his servant (Oscar Homolka) experiment on the housemaid with leeches! It is 1880, after all. There are hints of even more sinister goings on with a torture chamber and a regular ‘party’ with local maidens but most of that is left to our imagination. His wife is played by Audrey Dalton and to complicate matters further, she’s the only woman that the doctor has ever loved…

The film is relentlessly studio bound and some of the backdrops aren’t well realised but there’s a good, ethereal atmosphere and the plot gets points for being unusual. The performances help a lot too; Homolka is wonderful as the servant; sadistic and disturbed, yet conflicted all the same. The romantic leads are livelier than usual and Rolfe nails it as Sardonicus; mostly acting from behind a mask and showing an admirable restraint which gives the story a surprising credibility. On the big reveal, his makeup isn’t completely convincing but it’s certainly not easily forgotten. It all amounts to what is probably Castle’s best film and a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes.

Oh, and if the cynical among you are questioning how the ‘Punishment Poll’ could possibly have worked with the technology available in 1961 and whether more than one ending to the movie existed at all… well, you’d just better hush your mouth or I’ll get Oscar to come round with the leeches!

Buy ‘Mr. Sardonicus’ here and get acquainted…