Trouble began with a woman.
Hans Von Arnam (Pierre Brice) arrives in Veeze, a town The Netherlands, to write a story on a sculptor, Professor Gregorius Wahl (Herbert Bohme) and a tourist attraction called the Carousel of Stone Women. The eccentric Professor and his daughter Elfie (Scilla Gabel) live on an island in an old mill house. The locals call it the Mill of the Stone Women. Hans meets the professor's beautiful daughter and, although he has a girlfriend, he has a one night stand with the alluring Elfie. Hans learns that Elfie is under the care of a Dr. Bohlem (Wolfgang Preiss) for a mysterious medical condition.
Hans, feeling like a dog, (cause he is) confesses to his girlfriend Liselotte Kornheim (Dany Carrel). She forgives him. He asks her to marry him. All's well. Until Elfie tries to seduce him again. Hans refuses her. Elfie clutches her throat and dies. What does Hans do? He puts her in her bed and pretends he knows nothing. He runs away. When he finally returns to the mill Dr. Bohlem gives him a sedative and in a half waking half dreaming state Hans starts to hallucinate.
He roams the mill. Professor Wahl tells him Elfie is dead. He sees Elfie in her coffin. He hears screams. He sees a girl tied to a chair. Finally Hans is confronted by Dr Bolem and Professor Wahl. They cannot understand what Hans is ranting about. Then Elfie comes down the stairs, having been awakened by all the shouting. Hans is speechless. Wahl arranges for him to be taken by carriage back to town. Hans doesn’t know anymore what is real, and what is not. What has been going on in the mill? What experiments is Dr. Bohlem doing? What is wrong with Elfie? What happened to the missing local women?
The little known “The Mill of the Stone Women” is an Italian-French film released in 1960 (1963 in the states) and directed by Giorgio Ferroni. It’s a gothic/horror/terror set in The Netherlands. When a movie is a joint venture of French and Italian film makers based in The Netherlands with French, German and Italian actors add to that its part “House of Wax” part “I Vampiri” and part “Atom Age Vampire” the potential for disaster is possible. In this case, however, it works.
The film is a very artistic and creative venture. The acting is theatrical. The story is a little involved so you need to pay attention. The dubbing is bad, but we’re talking dubbing so… I don’t believe there is a version available with English subtitles. There are four versions Italian, French, German and International (mostly US and UK). There are small differences between them. Nothing major, mostly continuity issues due to language differences and the International version has one scene shortened because you could see part of a woman’s breast. That sort of thing. It also has a Hammer film flair to it. Lots of good visuals. My only complaint was that I found it a little slow in couple places. However, if you’re patient you will be well rewarded at the end.