Two on a Guillotine

Two on a Guillotine

is based on a story by Slesar.

Plot synopsis

A prologue introduces the audience to John Harley Duquesne, a psychotic magician who accidentally beheads his wife Melinda with a guillotine during a performance. Twenty years later he dies, and his will requires his daughter Cassie (the mirror image of her mother) to spend seven nights in his apparently haunted mansion in order to inherit his estate. Reporter Val Henderson offers to stay with her when he learns Duquesne promised to return in spirit form during Cassie's week-long vigil. As the days pass, the two encounter a number of spooky happenings, leading to a climax in which the not-really-dead Duquesne attempts a recreation of his guillotine trick, this time with his daughter as an unwilling assistant who hopefully won't lose her head.

Principal cast

*Connie Stevens ..... Cassie/Melinda Duquesne
*Dean Jones ..... Val Henderson
*Cesar Romero ..... John Harley Duquesne
*Parley Baer ..... Buzzy Sheridan
*Virginia Gregg ..... Dolly Bast
*John Hoyt ..... Carl Vickers

Principal production credits

*Original Music ..... Max Steiner
*Cinematography ..... Sam Leavitt
*Art Direction ..... Art Loel

Critical reception

In his review in the "New York Times", Howard Thompson called the film "a dull, silly, tedious clinker" and "an old-fashioned, haunted-house spooker." [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A07E4D91F3FE03ABC4C52DFB766838E679EDE "New York Times" review] ]

"TV Guide" rates it two out of a possible four stars, calling it "a standard haunted house thriller." [ [http://www.tvguide.com/movies/guillotine/review/121524 "TV Guide" review] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059837/ "Two on a Guillotine" at the Internet Movie Database]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Guillotine (game) — Guillotine is a card game created by Wizards of the Coast and designed by Paul Peterson. The game is set during the French Revolution, and was released on Bastille Day in 1998. The goal is to collect the heads of Nobles, accumulating points.… …   Wikipedia

  • guillotine — [gil′ə tēn΄, gē′ətēn; ] for v., also [ gil΄ə tēn′, gē΄ətēn′] n. [Fr, after J. I. Guillotin (1738 1814), Fr physician who advocated its use during the French Revolution in preference to less humane methods] 1. an instrument for beheading by means… …   English World dictionary

  • Guillotine — The guillotine ( ] Although Guillotin did not actually contribute to the machine’s design, it was his name that it would carry throughout history, thanks to a comic song about Guillotin and his proposal which appeared in the Royalist periodical,… …   Wikipedia

  • guillotine — /gil euh teen , gee euh /; esp. for v. /gil euh teen , gee euh /, n., v., guillotined, guillotining. n. 1. a device for beheading a person by means of a heavy blade that is dropped between two posts serving as guides: widely used during the… …   Universalium

  • Guillotine (magic trick) — This trick makes it seem that a blade of a guillotine passes through a person s neck without harming him/her.MethodThis trick involves two blades. The blades are positioned at 90 degree angles, perpendicular to each other. The blade that falls… …   Wikipedia

  • guillotine — guil•lo•tine art at guild [[t]ˈgɪl əˌtin, ˈgi ə [/t]] esp. for v. [[t]ˌgɪl əˈtin, ˌgi ə [/t]] n. v. tined, tin•ing 1) a device for beheading a person, consisting of a heavy blade that drops between two posts serving to guide its fall 2) pri any… …   From formal English to slang

  • guillotine — noun /ˈgɪlətin / (say giluhteen) 1. a machine for beheading persons by means of a heavy blade falling in two grooved posts. 2. a surgical instrument for cutting the tonsils. 3. a device incorporating a long blade for trimming paper. 4.… …  

  • Guillotine —    , LOUISETTE    The niceties of putting a person to death became an important topic of discussion during the French Revolution, a time when the frequency and number of persons put to death made the topic not only current but crucial. The two… …   Dictionary of eponyms

  • guillotine —    (GHEE oh teen) [French] An instrument of capital punishment introduced in France in 1792 and used to excess during the French Revolution: a heavy blade that drops down between two vertical posts and beheads the victim. A similar device for… …   Dictionary of foreign words and phrases

  • guillotine — A bench tool for cutting sheet metal. The sheet is pulled in by two adjustable rollers (one above and the other below) as the tool cuts the metal in either a straight line or a curve as desired …   Dictionary of automotive terms

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”