Mr. Sardonicus (1961) on Netflix
In 1880, London physician Sir Robert Cargrave is summoned to Gorslava by the masked Baron Sardonicus, husband of Cargrave's former love, Maude. The baron wants his disfigurement cured.
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- Netflix2.7/5
- IMDb6.6/104,134 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes40%
Trailer
Plot summary
Sir Robert Cargrave, a London doctor who experiments with treatments for paralysis, travels to Gorslava, in central Europe, at the request of Maude, who is now the wife of Baron Sardonicus. People he asks about the baron react with fear, and at Castle Sardonicus the doctor finds the servant Krull treating the maid Anna with leeches, an act Krull describes as bloodletting. The masked baron wants Sir Robert to cure his disfigurement, and Maude fears what will happen if the doctor refuses. Believing his wife despises him, the baron pays women to come to his chambers and frightens the people around the castle with his cruelty.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- William Castle built the marketing for Mr. Sardonicus around two possible endings: at the film's end, patrons were handed a glow-in-the-dark card showing a hand and voted thumbs up or down on whether Sardonicus would live or die in the "Punishment Poll".
- The alternate "merciful" ending offered to audiences, in which Baron Sardonicus is cured and survives, may never have been filmed: co-star Audrey Dalton says no such ending was shot, and Turner Classic Movies could not find any cut containing it.
- To create Baron Sardonicus's grin, Guy Rolfe went through five separate facial appliance fittings and could not stand to wear the piece for more than an hour at a time, so the full makeup appears in only a few scenes and he wore a mask for most of the film.
- The U.S. television series Wiseguy built a story arc around Mark Volchek (Steve Ryan), a Washington mining and logging magnate fixated on Mr. Sardonicus, who is cured in the episode "Meltdown" when characters reenact scenes from the film, including the hypothetical "merciful" ending.
