Alain Delon, Brigitte Bardot, Jane Fonda

An irresistible and guilty pleasure, this anthology based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe is a rare opportunity to see three of the biggest names in 1960s European film direction working in the short fo...( read more  read more... )rm. The results are uneven, but so what? They're also plain outrageous. Roger Vadim's Metzengerstein stars real-life siblings Jane and Peter Fonda perversely cast as lovers. When the latter dies, Jane's character turns to a mysterious black stallion for companionship, the suggestion being that the dead man's spirit is within the horse. Both corny and vaguely lurid, this ghost tale is Vadim all the way. Louis Malle's William Wilson is an in-your-face take on Poe's classic doppelgänger fable, starring Alain Delon as a blackguard who gets his comeuppance from a nicer variation of himself. More craftsman-like than cinematically bold, the film displays the kind of crisp wit Malle didn't display often enough. Finally, Federico Fellini's Toby Dammit proves to be the most interesting piece in the trio, featuring Terence Stamp in a terrific performance as an actor at the end of his rope (the equivalent of Mastroianni's burned-out director in Fellini's ), who has come to Rome to star as Christ in a New Testament Western. Dense with Fellini's dreamy textures and iconic clutter, Toby Dammit is a fun experience. --Tom Keogh

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66% liked it

309 ratings

R, 117 min.

Directed by: Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, Roger Vadim

Release Date: December 31, 1968

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DVD Release Date: February 4, 1999

Stats: 98 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (98)


  • August 12, 2007
    european filmmakers paid homage to the great Edgar Allan Poe. Fellini's Toby Dammit, with a great performance by a deranged Terence Stamp, is the best of them all. excellent feminine presence by the two sexy Jane Fonda and Brigitte Bardot.
  • May 1, 2006
    Despite the excellent screen play (Poe's influence no doubt) and intriguing plot from each of these established individuals, it still remains a mediocre contribution to cinema - though as far as I'm concerned, Stamp delivers one of his best performances.
  • January 25, 2009
    3 Edgar Allen Poe tales, I haven't read any of them:

    Roger Vadim's entry which he also scripted seems like it was sourced from a twelve-page tale and extended to forty minutes. Easily the least of the series, but features Jane Fonda during her hottie '60s era. ...( read more)Luridly interesting/uncomfortable to see her in a couple three-way scenes since she recently revealed that her then-husband (the very same Roger Vadim) would force her into such trysts. They always say to write what you know.

    Louie Malle's tale is the best, and quite disturbing with Alain Delon as a completely evil sadistic bastard - even as a child, he would tear up letters from his mother unread and dangle schoolmates into a barrel of rats. Yikes. However, his evilest plans are constantly thwarted by a strange alter-ego.

    Fellini's tale is the weirdest, and a segment I found very entertaining until the last 15 minutes which seems aimless and padded. Still, the Italian Oscars sendup is a marvelous mix of satire and surrealism. Even the title character's name is funny: Toby Dammit.

    All told, an entertaining and visually stimulating waltz of the macabre.
  • July 5, 2009
    I will NOT see a Movie that has this Commie, Traitor, BITCH in it.
    They don't have a LOW enough rating for her.
    She can rot in the Hanoi Hilton, for what she did to Our troops during Vietnam.

    BURN BITCH, BURN
  • December 20, 2008
    This is strange collection of Poe tales I got to catch on TCM. All the writing is in English, with English actors, speaking in English, but is dubbed in French. OK. The doppelganger story was the most interesting to me, followed by the Fonda one, who is just breathtakingly al...( read more)luring. Funny, all the reviews I read of this laud the Terance Stamp story, by I just couldn't take it after 20 or so minutes, and this final one did run particularly long. I guess I'd find it interesting if I was as high as the surreal atmosphere was. I as just as uninterested as Stamp was at the awards. I just fast forwarded through it.
  • October 30, 2008
    amazing directors movie just ok
  • October 17, 2008
    I confess to owning this but not having watched Vadim's or Malle's segments. I'm giving five stars to 'Toby Dammit'. Such a playful little short horror film
  • July 4, 2008
    stories by E. ALLAN POE , directed by three directors , the two of the are great , and the third { Vadim } who also is big director , but takes always the easy path ..
    a rare meeting ...
  • February 29, 2008
    It's hard to rate a film of three shorts shot by different directors. I feel Vadim's is the weakest of the bunch; Fellini's is definitely the most bizarre, abstract, and dreamlike; and Malle's is the clear winner and closer to a Poe tale--lots of intrigue, doppelgangers, Alain De...( read more)lon, and desperation. All in all, it is a nice twist from the Corman/Price Poe adaptations.
  • December 28, 2007
    Intrigantes representações de contos do escritor Allan Poe.

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