Mr. Sardonicus

Mr. Sardonicus
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	William Castle
Produced by	William Castle
Written by	Ray Russell
Starring	Oskar Homolka Ronald Lewis Audrey Dalton Guy Rolfe Vladimir Sokoloff Erika Peters Lorna Hanson
Music by	Von Dexter
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	October 18, 1961[1]
Running time	89 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Mr. Sardonicus is a 1961 horror film produced and directed by William Castle. It tells the story of Sardonicus, a man whose face becomes frozen in a horrifying grin while robbing his father's grave to obtain a winning lottery ticket. He tries to force a doctor to cure him, but eventually dies when he can no longer eat or drink. Castle cites the film in his memoir as one of his favorites to make.^[2]

Plot summary

In 1880 in the fictional central European country of Gorslava, prominent London physician Sir Robert Cargrave (Ronald Lewis) has come to the mysterious Baron Sardonicus (Guy Rolfe) at the urgent request of his one-time love, Maude (Audrey Dalton), now the Baron's wife. Sir Robert becomes apprehensive when his enquiries about Sardonicus are met with fear. When Sir Robert arrives at Castle Sardonicus, his fears are quickly justified: one of his first sights is that of Sardonicus' servant Krull (Oskar Homolka, credited as "Oscar Homolka") torturing one of the Baron's servants by placing leeches on her face.

Maude herself is fearful of what will happen if Sir Robert is not willing to do as Sardonicus asks of him. Even Krull is not immune to the Baron's cruelty as he is missing an eye, thanks to Sardonicus' anger.

Sardonicus tells Sir Robert his story. Once he was Marek Toleslawski, a farmer like his father Henryk (Vladimir Sokoloff). Marek and his wife Elenka (Erika Peters) live a humble life, but Elenka and Henryk want more: he buys a ticket for the national lottery. Henryk dies in his sleep that night. Marek and Elenka learn that the ticket is a winner but can only claim the prize if they have the ticket, which was buried with Henryk. Elenka presses Marek to retrieve the ticket so he can, as she says, prove his love to her. Marek opens the grave and is horrified to see his father's skull seemingly grinning at him but, after screaming, running away, and coming back, retrieves the ticket. When he returns home, he and Elenka realize something is wrong: Marek cannot speak. Elenka lights a candle and sees Marek's face contorted into a fixed terrifying grin, similar to Henryk's skull. The prize money allows Marek to buy a title and castle; but Elenka commits suicide soon after seeing his face for the first time, so she cannot share the riches with him. Marek renames himself "Sardonicus" (after the medical term Risus sardonicus, Latin for "sardonic smile", used for tetanus victims) and learns to speak all over again with the help of some of the greatest diction experts in the world. His own experiments on young women were to find a cure for his condition, but he has had no success. Since Maude had mentioned Sir Robert as a great doctor specializing in paralysis, he had hoped Sir Robert would help restore his face. (He had tried several other great doctors before, to no success). Sir Robert agrees to try.

Sir Robert's efforts at restoring Sardonicus's face have no effect. Sardonicus demands he try new and experimental treatments and, when Sir Robert refuses, threatens to mutilate Maude's face to match his own. Sir Robert sends for equipment and supplies, including a deadly South American plant which he uses to experiment on dogs. When Sardonicus then has Maude and Sir Robert see the open upright coffin of Henryk Toleslawski which he'd had brought to the castle, Sir Robert conceives an idea: he will inject Sardonicus with a diluted plant extract, then recreate the event that led to Sardonicus' condition. Though Sardonicus is skeptical, he agrees. The injection is made, the room darkened, and a light shined on the skull. Sardonicus screams in agony, imagining Henryk's flesh has been restored. Sir Robert comes into the room to find Sardonicus' face is back to normal, though Sir Robert advises him to not speak until his facial muscles have had time to adjust. The Baron writes a note to Maude granting her a divorce, and a request to Sir Robert, asking his price. Sir Robert tells Sardonicus, "You owe me nothing", and Sardonicus lets them both go.

At the train station for the trip back to London, Sir Robert and Maude are confronted by a frightened Krull, who tells them Sardonicus not only cannot speak, he cannot open his jaw or lips at all. They must return and help him. But Sir Robert tells Krull that the injection was only water, thst the plant extract would have been lethal even in a small dose. What happened was all psychological, and once Sardonicus realizes that, he will be all right.

(At this point, director Castle gives his "punishment poll", resulting in Sardonicus getting more punishment.)

The continuity resumes with Krull returning to the castle, and lying to the Baron that he just missed Sir Robert. This dooms Sardonicus to death by starvation, while Krull cruelly sits down to eat in front of the Baron.

Production

Guy Rolfe displays the torturous make-up used to transform him into Mr. Sardonicus.

The film is based on a short story called "Sardonicus" that was originally published in Playboy. Castle purchased the rights and hired its author, Ray Russell, to write the screenplay.^[3]

To achieve Sardonicus's terrible grin, actor Guy Rolfe was subjected to five separate facial appliance fittings. He could not physically stand to wear the piece for more than an hour at a time.^[3]

Castle claimed that, at the behest of Columbia Pictures, he shot a second ending for the film in which Sardonicus is cured and survives (although co-star Audrey Dalton claims no such ending was ever shot^[4]). Castle, with his reputation as the "king of gimmicks" to market his films, built the marketing for the film around the idea of the two possible endings.^[2] Audiences were given the opportunity to participate in the "Punishment Poll". Each movie patron was given a glow-in-the-dark card featuring a hand with the thumb out. At the appropriate time they voted by holding up the card with either the thumb up or down as to whether Sardonicus would live or die. Legend has it no audience ever offered mercy so the alternate ending–if in fact one existed–was never screened.^[5]

The "poll" scene, as presented in the film, is hosted by Castle himself, and he is shown pretending to address the audience, jovially egging them on to choose punishment, and "tallying" the poll results with no break in continuity as the "punishment" ending is pronounced the winner. The "punishment" ending occupies only three minutes of film after the "poll", and was the ending of the original Ray Russell short story. Given that Turner Classic Movies was unable to locate any cut of the film which included the "merciful" ending, the suggestion of alternative endings itself appears to have been an elaborate conceit on the part of Castle in service of the "gimmick".

Cast

• Oskar Homolka as Krull
• Ronald Lewis as Sir Robert Cargrave
• Audrey Dalton as Maude Sardonicus
• Guy Rolfe as Baron Sardonicus
• Vladimir Sokoloff as Henryk Toleslawski
• Erika Peters as Elenka
• Lorna Hanson as Anna

Critical response

The PTA Magazine described Mr. Sardonicus as an "elaborately produced [film]... that evokes disgust as well as macabre thrills".^[6] The New York Times sharply disagreed. While praising Lewis's performance, the Times stated that Castle "is not Edgar Allan Poe. Anybody naive enough to attend...will find painful proof".^[1]

Cultural impact

The US television series Wiseguy incorporated the film into a story arc about a rich factory owner in Washington State who was fixated on the film and had comparable emotional issues. He was cured by re-enacting the film's ending. Noted film critic Jeffrey Lyons played himself explaining the film's psychological subtext to FBI agents on the case.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Thompson, Howard (1961-10-19). "'Five Golden Hours' and 'Mr. Sardonicus' in Multiple Openings". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9402E2D6113DE733A2575AC1A9669D946091D6CF&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-01-24. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Castle, p. 164
3. ^ ^{a b} Castle, p. 163
4. ^ Weaver, p. 54
5. ^ Waters, p. 20
6. ^ National Congress of Parents and Teachers (1961). "Mr. Sardonicus". The PTA Magazine: p. 40. 

References

• Castle, William (1976). Step Right Up! I'm Gonna Scare the Pants Off America: Memoirs of a B-Movie Mogul. New York, Putnam. ISBN 0-88687-657-5 (Pharos edition 1992). Includes introduction by John Waters.
• Waters, John (1983). Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters. New York, Macmillan Publishing Company. Chapter 2, "Whatever Happened to Showmanship?", was originally published in American Film December 1983 in a slightly different form.
• Weaver, Tom (2002). Science Fiction Confidential: Interviews with 23 Monster Stars and Filmmakers. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1175-9.

External links

• Mr. Sardonicus on the Internet Movie Database
• Mr. Sardonicus at AllRovi