Two on a Guillotine (1965)

Pretty Cassie (Connie Stevens) inherits the estate from her estranged, eccentric, magician dad (Cesar Romero), and is required to stay one week in his spooky mansion. A charming reporter (Dean Jones) weasels his way into the story. Will love bloom?

I grew up with the Love Bug movies. Dean Jones starred in two of the five or six in the Herbie Cinematic Universe. Ken Berry replaced him for the first sequel which may explain why I confuse the two actors. Jones, like Stevens, specialized in the lightest of light comedies. Connie was hoping to expand her acting range with this film, but it turned out to be a serious flop.

The movie was directed by William Conrad, whom my set will remember as TV’s Cannon (or from Jake and the Fatman for the slightly younger). He did a fair amount of TV directing, but only four features. He was known for getting a lot done on a tiny budget.

My problem is that Two on a Guillotine doesn’t know what it wants to be. It's labeled Horror but it’s really a horror themed mystery rom-com. There is space for light horror (looking at you, William Castle), but this was light to the exclusion of any real horror element. Which is a shame because the setting could have led into some great atmosphere, but we are only teased with it. Dead dad booby-trapped his mansion and I would have liked to have seen more of that.

All that aside, Two on a Guillotine is a reasonable watch. There are some clever elements in there. Just temper your expectations. It's a fair rom-com, but it could have been so much more. AMRU 3.