BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

preppy-3 A deaf mute named Malcolm Shanks (Marcel Marceau) is a puppeteer. He lives in an abusive home with his alcoholic brother (Philippe Clay) and constantly complaining sister-in-law (Tsilla Chelton). He's also in love with sweet Celia (Cindy Eibacher). He goes to work with a scientist named Old Walker (also Marceau) who uses electricity to bring the dead back to life. Old Walker dies and Shanks decides to use his discovery to make his life better.A REAL weird film from William Castle--his last film as a director. This is almost impossible to see--I taped it off TCM where it played at around 3am! There's a reason for that--it's pretty terrible. It tries something different but doesn't succeed. You know you're in for something different when this starts off with a title card saying "William Castles presents A Grim Fairy Tale"! There's very little dialogue--most of the information is conveyed through title cards (like a silent movie). Marceau is very good in his two roles and manages to convey all his emotions by facial expressions and body language. The rest of the cast is just OK. It starts off pretty good but slows down half way through and (for some reason) Castle totally ignores the horrific aspects of the story and plays it more like a comedy. It completely derails at the end when a motorcycle gang pops up out of nowhere to wreck havoc! It's a odd movie alright but it's very slow, dreary and frankly just dull! It's commendable that Castle tried something different--but it just doesn't work. Castle himself does a cameo as a grocery clerk. I give this a 2.

Clay Loomis This ran on TCM last night after an evening of 1950's Sci-Fi films. It could be that I had just been burnt out by so many hours of mutants created by atomic bombs. Or, perhaps it's the fact that I just don't care for mimes. I must say I wasn't particularly entertained by seeing a frog electrocuted on a table either. In any case, this movie didn't make a huge impression on me.Fact is, about 80% of this film has no dialog and I got the distinct feeling it was just a vehicle for Marcel Marceau to do his "mime" thing once more for an audience that had pretty much moved on from "mimery", except maybe in France. Considering other comments here from people who have not seen the movie for years, I should add this; The TCM version of this film is very clean and bright, and their Web site has a number of video clips from the film that are a few minutes each.Shanks gets a 5 rating from me because it has some odd, interesting moments, but they are interspersed with some rather boring parts where the camera just goes to Marcel for the viewer to be blown away by his mime skills (I wasn't). It's like those guys that used to go on the Ed Sullivan Show and spin plates. Please, spare me.However, I have to admit that this is the best zombie mime movie I've ever seen.

ThomasJ101 I had never seen (or heard of) this flick before last night, when it aired on TCM. This movie is like a strange, experimental post-hippie-era bad dream. I'm not sure what to make of it, actually. 5 minutes into it, I knew it was going to be bad (or "bad") in a good way, and was resentful that I was gonna have to sit through the entire thing to let the Gnosis sink in. But by the end, I was glad I had. This flick is truly creepy, without (I think?) intending to be creepy (or as creepy as it actually wound up being, since the movie DID bill itself as a "grim fairy tale"). Some very surreal elements (perhaps "unlikely" or "poorly scripted" masquerading as "surreal"): ex.: the bikers carrying their dead companion, funeral-procession-like, into a house they've never been in. Other creepy elements: corpses being made to blow out birthday cake candles for a young girl (as if anyone would want a cake with corpse-breath all over it) and, shortly thereafter, the same corpse inadvertently cutting off its own finger while slicing the cake. Some of the "reanimation" scenes are truly amazing and freaky: bodies rising from the ground at the oddest angles, seemingly defying the law of gravity (part of the mime's craft in the film: kudos) with arms and legs askew- quite amazing to watch. I'll cut this short, but I was very glad I was able to accidentally catch this movie last night, and I would definitely recommend it to fans of oddball cinema, mimes, zombies, puppets, or William Castle. PS- the peculiar ending of the movie (suggested by the beginning) made me like it even more. And I would normally have given this movie an 8 on its own merits, but for being so absurdly original, I gave it an extra point. Ta.

sanjr1 When one thinks of Marcel Marceau they think of the world's most famous mime. A performer who has entertained millions of people throughout the years with his mastery of pantomime. You certainly don't think of him as a manipulator of dead bodies!! But that's what he is here in this very strange film. He plays Malcolm Shanks, a mime who loves to entertain the neighborhood children. He lives with his sister & brother-in-law who are a shrew & a drunk & abuse him constantly. He is hired by a scientist who has perfected the art of reanimating the dead. I must stop for a second and let anyone who is reading this know that the film, while it sounds intriguing, doesn't play out the way you would think. It is at heart a fairy tale. A morality story perhaps. But most definitely NOT a horror story. To continue, The scientist dies & having learned his secrets while working with him, Malcolm reanimates his corpse & becomes very proficient at it. I'm not gonna get any deeper into it at this point. Suffice it to say that more than a few people get their corpses reanimated by Malcolm and no good can come from that.....Marceau plays both Malcolm & The Scientist(Walker) & performs admirably in both roles. There is a scene where Malcolm learns to animate Walker's facial muscles that is very effective. He goes from slack-jawed to smiling so slowly & eerily that at first you think the film is frozen. Almost like time lapse photography. It really shows off Marceau's expertise. There is very little dialogue in the film. It plays like a silent film(It even has title cards)because it is 90% silent. The score by Alex North is therefore very important to the tone of the film, & it is very effective in conveying the mood that the filmmakers were trying to achieve. It was so effective it was nominated for an academy award.I enjoyed the film but there are VERY SLOW PASSAGES in it. So slow that it will turn many people off. It also ends very curiously. It is a very odd but lyrical film that is a great attempt at a Grim fairy tale. But ultimately it fails because of it's terrible pacing & low budget. You might dig it if you're willing to accept it's idiosyncracies. If not...well give it a try anyway. Who knows??