Les yeux sans visage (1960)

Country of Origin: France/Italy
Year of Production: 1959
Running Times: 88m
Length: 2408 metres
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: black and white
Ratio: 1.66:1
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Directed by: Georges Franju

CREW

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Lux Film in association with Champs-Élysées Productions
Produced by: Jules Borkon
Production Manager: Pierre Laurent
Assistant Production Manager: Margot Capelier

SCRIPT
Adaptation: Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Jean Redon, Claude Sautet
Dialogue: Pierre Gascar
Novel: Jean Redon

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Claude Sautet
Script Supervisor: Ginette Diamant-Berger

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Eugen Shuftan
Camera Operator: Robert Schneider
Assistant Camera: Pierre Brard
Still Photographer: Jean-Louis Castelli

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Gilbert Natot
Assistant Editor: Denise Natot

MUSIC
Music: Maurice Jarre
Musical Director: Maurice Jarre

SOUND
Sound: Antoine Archimbaud
Western Electric Recording

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Gowns: Marie-Martine
Make Up: Georges Klein
Hair: Marcelle Testard

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Henri Assola

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Auguste Capelier
Assistant Art Directors: Jacques Mély, Claude Moesching
Set Dresser: Albert Volper

OTHER CREW
Animal Trainer: Marcel Lesourd

CAST

Pierre Brasseur (Docteur Génessier)
Alida Valli (Louise)
Juliette Mayniel (Edna)
Edith Scob (Christiane Génessier)
François Guérin (Jacques Vernon)
Alexandre Rignault (Inspector Parot)
Béatrice Altariba (Paulette)
Blavette (real name: Charles Blavette) (man at the dog pound)
Claude Brasseur (inspector)
Michel Etcheverry (forensic surgeon)
Yvette Etiévant (the mother)
René Génin (Emile Tessot)
Lucien Hubert, Marcel Pérès (men in the cemetery)

PLOT SUMMARY

Surgeon Dr Génessier and his assistant Louise kidnap young women and remove their faces which Génessier then attempts to graft onto his daughter Christiane whose own face has been ruined in a car accident that he caused.

AVAILABILITY

Canada
Theatrical Distributors: United Artists

France
Theatrical Distributors: Lux Compagnie Cinématographique de France

Italy
Theatrical Distributors: Lux Film

Japan
Video Distributors: Tohokushinsha Film Corp.
DVD Distributors: Beam Entertainment Inc. / Culture Publishers / Imagica Corp.

Sweden
Theatrical Distributors: Actionfilm

USA
Theatrical Distributors: Lopert Pictures Corporation; Rialto Pictures
Video Distributors: Interama Video; Kino Video; Sinister Cinema; Something Weird Video
DVD Distributors: The Criterion Collection

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Finland
Rating: banned in 1962

France
Rating: -16

UK
Rating: X (original rating, with cuts); 18

USA
Rating: unrated

TIMELINE

1960
March
2: France - theatrical release
11: West Germany - theatrical release

May
3: Italy - theatrical release

1962
October
24: USA - theatrical release

1963
December
9: Denmark - theatrical release

2004
April
3: USA - shown at the Wisconsin Film Festival

October
19: USA - DVD release (The Criterion Collection)

November
2: USA - DVD release (The Criterion Collection Gift Set)

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Augen ohne Gesicht - West German title
Bestialiska, De - Swedish title
Eyes Without a Face - UK title
Horror Chamber of Dr Faustus, The - US title
House of Dr. Rasanoff
Masker met de levende ogen, Het - French Belgian title
Occhi senza volto - Italian title
Ojos sin cara, Las - Mexican title
Ojos sin rostro - Spanish title
Ojos sin rostro, Los - Argentinean title
Schreckenshaus des Dr Rasanoff, Das - Austrian/West German title
Silmät ilman kasvoja - Finnish title

LINKS

SEE ALSO
Corruption (1967)
Faceless (1988)
Mansion of the Doomed (1976)
Skinner (1995)

REFERENCES

PERIODICALS

Total Film no.142 (Summer 2008) p.141 (UK)
illustrated DVD review (by Jamie Graham)

KEYWORDS

disfigurement, doctors, dogs, doves, eyes, films based on books, gore, guilt, incest, kidnappings, laboratories, mad doctors, masks, medical horror, plastic surgery, scalpels, skin grafts, surgeons, surgery, transplants

Last Updated: 4 May, 2009