Two on a Guillotine *** (1965, Connie Stevens, Dean Jones, Cesar Romero) – Classic Movie Review 12,251

‘Two on a Guillotine – or 7 nights in a house of terror – or the unkindest cut of all.’

Producer/ director William Conrad’s 1965 Warner Bros American horror film Two on a Guillotine stars Connie Stevens, Dean Jones, and Cesar Romero.

It is a great title for a daft horror-mystery suspense thriller, in which Cassie Duquesne (Connie Stevens) has to spend seven nights in an apparently haunted house to gain the inheritance of her father John Harley Duquesne (Cesar Romero), a magician who was guillotined along with her mother when his stage act went wrong. Reporter Val Henderson (Dean Jones) discovers that Duquesne promised to return in spirit form and offers to stay with Cassie.

It is enjoyable throughout, and director Conrad manages to raise a few genuine scares. Surprisingly it is a big studio production, so there is top work behind the cameras: particularly Max Steiner’s fine music and Max Leavitt’s fine black and white Panavision cinematography.

Henry Slesar and John Kneubuhl write the screenplay from the story by Henry Slesar.

Also in the cast are Parley Baer, Virginia Gregg, Connie Gilchrist, John Hoyt, and Russell Thorson.

It runs 107 minutes.

It was released on January 13, 1965 (US).

Two on a Guillotine is one of three suspense thrillers directed by Conrad for Warner Bros in 1965, the others being Brainstorm and My Blood Runs Cold.

Max Steiner, composing his last score here, was somewhat unimpressed: ‘It wasn’t a picture, it was an abortion. The guillotine was placed in the wrong place. They should have cut off William Conrad’s head for producing the thing.’ It is his last film for Warner Bros after nearly 30 years with them.

It stars Connie Stevens as Cassie and Melinda Duquesne, Dean Jones as Val Henderson, Cesar Romero as John Harley Duquesne, Parley Baer as Buzzy Sheridan, Virginia Gregg as Dolly Bast, John Hoyt as Carl Vickers, Connie Gilchrist, and Russell Thorson.

The amusement park where the heroine and hero spend an afternoon was Pacific Ocean Park, some of which still exists as part of Southern California’s Santa Monica Pier. It was also filmed at Benedict Castle in Riverside, California.

Conrad has a director cameo in the amusement park scene.

Sets from My Fair Lady (1964) are reused.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,251

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