I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I enjoyed this and am pretty sure I have never seen it before. This is rather surprising given my interest in horror films particularly of the satanic bent but then this film seems to have suffered general neglect, probably due to several other and possibly better such films at this time. I liked the stylish opening credits and the Jerry Goldsmith score immediately and was similarly held throughout. Director, Paul Wendkos worked mainly for television and there are scenes here that have that rather flat, studio bound look. In the main though, helped especially by great performances from Jacqueline Bisset and Barbara Parkins, not forgetting a splendid central role from Curt Jurgens, this has a certain majesty about it. One is drawn in by a string of nasty and mysterious happenings and certainly my attention was held throughout. There was a promise all the time of a big satanic scene which never really happens but then there is the most wonderful and scary party scene that could have been longer as I don't think I have ever seen the like.

***SPOILERS*** It's when music reporter Myles Clarkson, Alan Alda, interviews world's famous pianist Drunken Duncan Ely, Curd Jurgens,he didn't quite realize what he was getting into. At first treating Myles like a member of the great unwashed Duncan in noticing his hands, that looked like a pair of catchers mitts, suddenly changed his opinion about him. Seeing that he has the talent to replace him behind the piano and in not having long to live Duncan, a closet Satanist, decided to have Myles replace him after he died and met his master--The Big Man-in the world underneath. What Duncan planned to do it through the black arts have a body transplant by having Myles become him, In Myles body, after he passes away which wasn't that far in the future.It turns out that Myles wife Paula, Jackien Bisset, smells a rat in her husband becoming a world famous pianist after his "Mentor" Drunken Duncan passed away as well as getting very touchy feely with Duncan's daughter, also a closet Satanist, Roxanne,Barbara Perkins. It was Roxanne's ex-husband Bill Delancey, Bradford Dillman, who check out on her when he found out that the couples stillborn baby wasn't his! It soon becomes apparent to Paula that she's in deep trouble in that beside her husband leaving her for a career as a concert pianist he's also starting up a romantic relationship with Roxanne as well. The last straw was when Paula's 8 year old daughter Abby, Pamelyn Fredin, got deathly ill and died after Roxanne put a hex-blue dot-on her head while she was asleep.****SPOILERS****Paula getting the inside dope on both Roxanne as well as her deceased father Drunken Duncan from her ex-husband Bill is told to lay off if she knows what's good for her but doesn't. That in the end seals her-as well as Bill's- fate with Paula in trying to fight fire with fire or Satanism with Satanism and ends up getting burned in return. The ending is a bit too much to take with what looked like a dead Roxanne, after Paula brained her with a wrench, coming back from the dead and doing, or having her do herself, Paula in and ending up in Myles' or really her lecherous father's Drunken Duncan's arms. Trying to be a "Rosemary's Baby" wannabe it , the movie "The Mephisto Waltz", falls flat on its face replacing the baby with a piano or piniest but it did have it's lighter and funnier sides: That with a party thrown by Drunken Duncan having his pet devil dog Robin appear wearing a William Shatner Halloween mask to hide his identity from the party goers.

Hey, it was 1971, M*A*S*H was still in his future, and you gotta eat, right? So it seems this is Alan Alda's take on the situation, as he plays a character somewhat like Hawkeye Pierce, but this time a gifted pianist who had to take up journalism as a result of bad reviews. He meets ups with Duncan Mowbray Ely, an ageing pianist who is at the end of his life. He befriends Alda's Clarkson – but with a nefarious bent...You see, Duncan (a menacing Curd Jürgens) and his sister, Roxanne (a really twisted performance from Barbara Parkins) are Satanists, and are luring Clarkson in... in order to perform a "soul swap," letting Jürgens take over Alda's mind and body. Only problem, a whole bunch of people end up "having to die," and it's left in the hands of Clarkson's wife, Paula (a stirring, epic performance from Jacqueline Bisset) to try and make things right.For a 1970's "Quinn Martin Production," the ending quite surprised me. The only issue I have with the flick is that it looks (today anyway), like a made-for-TV movie in terms of production values. Story-wise and acting are actually pretty good, and it's a fun little flick to watch – if you want enter the mindset of the early 1970's in which it is made. It is a movie of it's time.

It is important in film-making not only create an impression but also to engender some sort of gut reaction from the audience, especially in horror films. We can judge a horror film in addition to its style, by its ability to actually frighten. THE MEPHISTO WALTZ does well on this count.The film is about a couple who is coerced into the household of rich socialite-Satanists, led by Duncan Ely, who is played by Curt Jurgens, who is pretty good here. What follows is a deadly game of cat-and-mouse between the converted and unconverted to Ely's sect. It is pretty well-written and shot, with genuine suspense and a deceptively simple use of oblique angles and soft focus to create a nightmarish atmosphere. The problem with the film is that it is too long, and domestic sequences are not poignant enough to be interesting, despite the strange Alda performance.However, there are scary sequences of fantasy vs. reality and terror-based ideas, such as Jaquelin Bisset's realization that her dreams are reality and the pure horror of the dog attack scene. Initially director Paul Wendkos's inserts seem too jarring, but in being jarring they make the action more threatening.I didn't really like the title sequence because it gives away too many of the nice shots we should be surprised or thrilled by later in the film. One thing that definitely adds to the suspense of the film is Jerry Goldsmith's score: it rivals Herrman's PSYCHO score for violin-fueled, full-blooded accompaniment to a horror film.Overall, despite some problems of character development and loose ends, THE MEPHISTO WALTZ is a frightening film, and a devious twist on a concept used in such other films as THE SEVENTH VICTIM and ROSEMARY'S BABY, this one is a distinctive experience in the bizarre. Some may not like the plot's convolution, but assuredly watch if you are a fan of horror films of any connotation.