Review of Mr. Sardonicus (1961) by Cindy I — 14 Mar 2010

William Castle strikes again with this tale of a Baron whose face is frozen into a monstrous toothy smile out of a fear response to seeing the decaying corpse of his dead father (while robbing his grave of a winning lottery ticket). He hires a doctor to cure him of his affliction. The Baron has of course turned into a psychopath because of his condition. It doesn't help matters that the Baron's wife was previously involved with the doctor, Sir Robert. All kinds of nasty things could have happened. After all, the doctor had a torture chamber in his house. But DID it happen? NOPE.

Any potential this film could have had to be spooky or creepy ala Eyes Without a Face is totally wasted here. There's a bit of build-up to the big reveal that makes you think "hmmm...I wonder how creepy he's going to look?" Don't wonder. The reveal is a complete letdown. The climax is anti-climactic, and the twist ending comes across as a bad episode of Twilight Zone. The main thing this film accomplished was to make me want to see Conrad Veidt in the original film of this story -- "The Man Who Laughed". I normally don't expect a lot out of Castle's films except to be entertained in a cheezy silly kind of way. This wasn't even that good.....zzzzzzz.