Hot Picks

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- Homesick 2015

- Exteriors 2023

- Brotherly Lies 2022

- Pandemonium 2024

- All the Fires 2023

- Isleen Pines 2023

- I Was a Soldier 2024

- The Seductress from Hell 2024

- Dreaming of the Unholy 2024

- Part-Time Killer 2022

- Ruby's Choice 2022

- 6 Hours Away 2024

- Burnt Flowers 2024

- Final Heat 2024

- Stargazer 2023

- Max Beyond 2024

- What Is Buried Must Remain 2022

- Protanopia 2024

- Final Wager 2024

- Dagr 2024

- Hunting for the Hag 2024

- The Company Called Glitch That Nobody and Everybody Wanted 2024

- Coyote Cage 2023

- Tower Rats 2020

- Script of the Dead 2024

- The Bell Affair 2023

- Easter Bloody Easter 2024

- Velma 2022

- Everwinter Night 2023

- Main Character Energy 2023

- Stupid Games 2024

- Bittertooth 2023

- 4 Minutes of Terror: Night Slasher 2024

- Apart 2024

- The Abandoned 2006

- Becky 2024

- The Evil Fairy Queen 2024

- The Black Guelph 2022

- Followers 2024

- Silence of the Prey 2024

- Battle for the Western Front 2024

- Beware the Boogeyman 2024

- Subject 101 2022

- Driftwood 2023

- The Legend of Lake Hollow 2024

- Black Mass 2023

- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 2023

- The Manifestation 2024

- Spirit Riser 2024

- Garden of Souls 2019

- It's a Wonderful Slice 2024

- Caleb & Sarah 2024

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Tales of the Unexpected - The Vorpal Blade

episode 6.8

UK 1982
produced by
Anglia Television
directed by John Jacobs
starring Peter Cushing, Anthony Higgins, Andrew Bicknell, Matthew Francis, Kirstie Pooley, John Bailey
based on a story by Edward D.Hoch

TV-series
Tales of the Unexpected

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

Available on DVD!

To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)

Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
2 German World War II veterans, Von Baden (Peter Cushing) & Winterluck (John Bailey) discuss memories of their youth as students in Heidelberg, when they belonged to the White Corps, & spent their time with heavy drinking & heavy fencing, & a scar was regarded as an honour. They also remember Cassan (Anthony Higgins), top fencer of the White Corps, but otherwise a detestable bully, who was madly in love with pretty barmaid Eva (Kirstie Pooley), while she had an affair with Gunnar (Andrew Bicknell) top fencer of the Red Corps.

To defend his honour, Cassan of course challenges Gunnar to a duel, but it is not him who will fight, but the then inexperienced Von Baden (in the flashback played by Matthew Francis). However, as Von Baden is no proper opponent for him, Gunnar mocks Cassan more & more, until, on the day of the duel, Cassan does indeed interfere before the fight can begin, grabbing Von Baden's sword & facing Gunnar himself. But the duel has hardly started when Cassan's sword breaks, the blade accidently scratching his own face.

This doesn't stop Cassan of course, who - once given a new sword - fights Gunnar with increasing fury & violence - until he breaks down, dead, poisoned as it turns out ... & though it is never proven, everybody is convinced Gunnar fought Cassan with a poisoned sword, & thus he was scorned for the rest of his days in Heidelberg.

But was it really Gunnar who poisoned his sword, the old Von Baden asks Winterluck. Why would he poison his sword as he thought he would fight an inexperienced newcomer ? He did not, of course, it was Von Baden himself, who, out of fear poisoned his own sword to at least have a small chance to defeat his superior opponent - but Von Baden was replaced by Cassan in the last moment, & it was Von Baden's sword that broke & scratched Cassan's face.

"Isn't it ironic," Von Beden muses as the camera pans backrevealing him & Winterluck to be inmates of a prison, "that I, a convicted war criminal, committed my first crime out of fear ?"

 

Of course, the story of this Tales of the Unexpected-episode is quite thought-provoking - even though some clues are given away too soon -, the twist ending is quite nice, & Peter Cushing's presence immediately gives the proceedings gravity - but unfortunately the flashback-scenes just fail to work properly, as the actor's uniformly fail to have any charisma which would be needed to elevate the story of the scorned lover fighting for his girl above soap opera level, leaving the audience rather indifferent about the story as a whole.

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find Tales of the Unexpected - The Vorpal Blade
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find Tales of the Unexpected - The Vorpal Blade here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty?
(Must be over 18 to go there!)

x-rated  find Tales of the Unexpected - The Vorpal Blade at adultvideouniverse.com


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!