Film Review: "The Mephisto Waltz" (1971)

Paul Wendkos's early Seventies film, The Mephisto Waltz, is a minor classic that should be remade with better production values.

The Mephisto Waltz (1971), directed by Paul Wendkos; based on the book of the same title by Fred Mustard Stewart. Starring Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbara Parkins, Curt Jurgens, and Bradford Dillman.

This film rode the huge wave of Satanic Panic productions that swamped the film industry after the success of Rosemary’s Baby (1968). It’s a minor classic, but it never achieved the same status as others of its era and genre. Nevertheless, it’s a better film than, say, the much more famous Amityville Horror (1979). One of The Mephisto Waltz's most endearing features is the absolute devotion to the aesthetics of its era — the clothes, the interiors, the music, the style of filmmaking.

Expect to see lots of suede go-go boots, brass beds, hanging macrame plant holders, and velvet Austin Powers suits. As for filmmaking, the era’s typical horror-movie techniques are prominently on display — Vaseline-smudged lenses, fish-eye angles, slo-mo, low-angle distortionary shots. There are some genuinely creepy scenes thrown in with the early Seventies hokum, such as an "Eyes Wide Shut" type party where everyone wears a mask -- including a dog that wears the creepy mask of a man's head. All of which is accented by a moody score written by — who else? — Jerry Goldsmith.

Alan Alda (pre-MASH) plays a music journalist and failed classical pianist named Myles Clarkson, who is married to Paula (Jacqueline Bisset), a boutique owner. They have a ten-year-old daughter named Abby, played by Pamelyn Ferdin, who was one of the busiest child stars of the era (she also plays the poppet who kills Clint Eastwood with poisoned mushrooms in Don Siegel's The Beguiled, also from 1971.)

One day Myles interviews Duncan Ely for a magazine piece; Ely is a world-famous concert pianist who's ill and dying. Duncan becomes fascinated with Myles’s hands, and invites Myles into his inner circle of rich, decadent socialites and fashionable members of the creative class. The inner circle includes Duncan’s daughter Roxanne (Barbara Parkins, forever immortalized in the camp classic Valley of the Dolls - 1965) -- a mysterious, beautiful brunette with a suspicious past.

Roxanne convinces Myles to take part in an "art project" where his face is cast in plaster and he’s given some mind-altering drug. The art project is really a black magic ritual that transfers Duncan’s soul and consciousness into Myles’s body, and vice-versa. The real Myles essentially dies when Duncan’s physical body dies.

The “new” Myles (really Duncan) becomes an overnight success as a concert pianist. He also engineers the death of Abby from a mysterious virus, saying that it’s required by the deal he made with Satan for Myles's body.

The grieving Paula starts snooping around and learns the truth about Duncan and Roxanne from the latter’s doomed ex-husband Bill (Bradford Dillman, another super-familiar face from the 70s). She decides on a plan of wicked revenge against Roxanne and Duncan, which involves a little black magic of her own.

Wendkos was a competent director who later turned primarily to helming television “movies of the week” (The Legend of Lizzie Borden, Haunts of the Very Rich). But he wasn’t a top-tier director like William Friedkin (The Exorcist) or Richard Donner (The Omen), and it shows. The production values here are spotty and the script is weak in places, especially in the case of Myles, who is drawn as a spineless and unsympathetic character.) Bisset, Jurgens, and Parkins are great, however.

I’m not a fan of remakes in general, but in this case, I feel that The Mephisto Waltz is a great candidate for a quality remake; it could be a masterpiece in the hands of a top-tier director. The plot is cracking and the Goldsmith score could be reused. I could see Jessica Chastain as Paula and maybe Zoe Saldana as Roxanne, with Jason Clarke as Myles and Christopher Plummer as Duncan. Add in a top- tier camera guy like Roger Deakins (Oscar winner for Blade Runner 2049), and it would be fabulous.

On disc and streaming; there's a pretty good copy on YouTube at the moment that has Spanish subtitles but English vocals.