Bluebeard (1972)

“He had a WAY with the world’s most beautiful, most seductive, most glamorous women . . . he did AWAY with them!”

A black comedy with nude scenes set in the 1930s as Richard Burton (playing Austrian aristocrat Baron von Sepper, noted for his blue-toned beard and his appetite for beautiful wives) kills six of his seven wives by various gruesome methods and keeps them preserved in a freezer.

His latest spouse, a beautiful American dancer named Anne (Joey Heatherton, pictured below), discovers a refrigerated vault in his castle that’s filled with the frozen bodies of several beautiful women.

When confronted, Bluebeard explains that he found an easier alternative to divorce when he grew bored with his previous wives.

In order to avoid being Bluebeard’s next frozen bride, Anne must find a way to outwit her murderous hubby.

This film is likely to offend almost everyone. The execution is so ham-fisted and the murders so exploitative that the film is oddly repugnant – the sort of movie Bluebeard himself might have liked.

Burton apparently took the role because he fancied a trip to Budapest, while his female victims – Raquel Welch, Virna Lisi, Nathalie Delon – are encouraged to strip and camp it up before they meet their untimely ends.

The musical score is by the inimitable Ennio Morricone.

Baron Von Sepper
Richard Burton
Magdalena
Raquel Welch
Anne
Joey Heatherton
Elga
Virna Lisi
Erika
Nathalie Delon
Brigitte
Marilu Tolo
Greta
Karin Schubert
Caroline
Agostina Belli

Director
Edward Dmytryk