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Posted: |
Oct 22, 2017 - 2:57 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Directed by Georges Franju, EYES WITHOUT A FACE (LES YEUX SANS VISAGE) was released in France and the U.K. in 1960 at an 88-minute running time. The film was initially met with negative reactions from film critics. One French critic stated that the film was "in a minor genre and quite unworthy of his (Franju's) abilities." Franju responded by saying that the film was his attempt to get the minor genre to be taken seriously. An English film critic for The Spectator was nearly fired for writing a positive review of the film, since the general critical reaction had been poor.
Maurice Jarre scored the film. A 15-minute suite of his music was recorded live on 20 May 1989 by the Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid at the Seville Film Music Concert. Varese Sarabande released that performance on a 1991 compilation CD from that concert.
In 1962, when the film was acquired by Lopert Pictures for distribution in the U.S., it was shortened by 4 minutes, dubbed into English, and inexplicably re-titled THE HORROR CHAMBER OF DR. FAUSTUS, even though there is no character named "Dr. Faustus" in the film. Lopert released the film on a double bill with the 1959 Japanese-American co-production THE MANSTER, about a wealthy scientist whose experimentation has rendered his wife and brother subhuman mutants.
EYES WITHOUT A FACE did not play in U.S. theaters under its original title until 2003, when Rialto Films booked the uncut version into three American theaters. The film grossed about $53,000 during a month-long playoff.
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