New DVD release of MALPERTUIS - with featurette on Orson Welles

[Harvey Chartrand]

Barrel Entertainment (www.barrel-entertainment.com) is releasing MALPERTUIS: DIRECTOR'S CUT (119 minutes) on July 24. [The film was retitled THE LEGEND OF DOOM HOUSE for the U.S. market.] Among the special features on this deluxe two-disc DVD package is ORSON WELLES UNCUT, a 25-minute featurette containing rare outtakes footage of Welles during the filming of MALPERTUIS in Belgium in 1971. Welles plays Quentin Cassavius, a wealthy dying man who leaves a fortune to his heirs, but only if they never leave the isolated mansion of Malpertuis. Welles gets to take a load off in this film, as he is in bed in every one of his scenes. Although only 56 when MALPERTUIS was made, Welles looks horribly aged, and it's not just because of the makeup job (ubiquitous grey putty nose included).
Another extra is REFLECTIONS OF DARKNESS: DEL VALLE ON KÜMEL, a new 74-minute career retrospective interview with genius director Harry Kumel (the auteur of DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS) by noted film journalist David Del Valle.
The British Film Institute's David Thompson calls MALPERTUIS "a dream film unlike any other, (which) can now be seen in its full glory."

[Harvey Chartrand]

The late great Jean-Pierre Cassel co-starred in MALPERTUIS.
Cassel also turns up as a French Resistance fighter in IS PARIS BURNING?, but I don't believe he shares any scenes with Orson Welles (cast as a Swedish diplomat).
Cassel died of cancer on April 19 at the age of 74. His film career started in the early 1950s and he remained a busy actor until the end. Several of his more recent films have yet to be released, including ASTERIX AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES.