Any good tarot movies?

Freddie

velvetina said:
Peter Cushing reading Tarot on a train for various characters in an old Hammer film...can't remember the exact name, its something like 'Dr. Terror's House of Horrors'...
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This one of my Favs and it can be viewed on Net Flix. Some of it may be found on You tube as well. Peter Cushing is on a train reading A TDM deck. My wife says Dr Terror is me with my TDM deck lol.. My joke is tap my deck three times lol. Believe it or not, I once read to do that in a British book on divination.



Freddie
 

Mycroft

Dr Terror's House of Horrors (1965)

There are some interesting similarities I've noted between this film and 'Live and Let Die', since both films;

1 Have Tarot as a major plot device.
2 Show the worshipping of a Voodoo God.
3 Star Bernard Lee.
4 Feature a jazz/soul club.

The final scenes of LALD (and indeed the closing shot) are also on a train, and Christopher Lee, who plays the doubting Thomas in 'Dr Terror' played the baddie Scaramanga in the next Bond film "Man with the Golden Gun'.

The bag that the cards are produced from is also interesting, since it has what are apparently the Dr's initials, ‘W. R. S.’ monogrammed on the side. However, later on in the film we see a self-referencing poster (an advertisement for the film within the film itself) which gives the Dr’s name as ‘Sandor Schreck’.

Therefore, it may not be too much of a stretch to rearrange the initials WRS into RWS which gives them much more significance in a movie that has Tarot as its’ major plot device. Interesting also that when the Dr lays card 8 which in a Marseille has 'La Force' on it, he uses the name 'The Enchantress’.

This wasn't the late great Peter Cushing's only on-screen appearance with the Tarot either. In 'Tales from the Crypt' (1972) his character has a Tarocco Piemontese on the table in front of him, along with a Ouija board and a crystal ball.
 

Sulis

Not a movie, a series that's been shown already (I think) in the US.
I've just started watching Carnivale on Living TV and it seems to be very good :).
 

Freddie

Mycroft said:
There are some interesting similarities I've noted between this film and 'Live and Let Die', since both films;

1 Have Tarot as a major plot device.
2 Show the worshipping of a Voodoo God.
3 Star Bernard Lee.
4 Feature a jazz/soul club.

The final scenes of LALD (and indeed the closing shot) are also on a train, and Christopher Lee, who plays the doubting Thomas in 'Dr Terror' played the baddie Scaramanga in the next Bond film "Man with the Golden Gun'.

The bag that the cards are produced from is also interesting, since it has what are apparently the Dr's initials, ‘W. R. S.’ monogrammed on the side. However, later on in the film we see a self-referencing poster (an advertisement for the film within the film itself) which gives the Dr’s name as ‘Sandor Schreck’.

Therefore, it may not be too much of a stretch to rearrange the initials WRS into RWS which gives them much more significance in a movie that has Tarot as its’ major plot device. Interesting also that when the Dr lays card 8 which in a Marseille has 'La Force' on it, he uses the name 'The Enchantress’.

This wasn't the late great Peter Cushing's only on-screen appearance with the Tarot either. In 'Tales from the Crypt' (1972) his character has a Tarocco Piemontese on the table in front of him, along with a Ouija board and a crystal ball.
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Thank you Sulis,

I am heading to Net Flix right now. Great information and I will need to watch some of the Bond films again now.

There is also Tarot in the 1960's Boris Karloff classic 'Black Sabbath'. It is in the first story and it is a TDM style deck with double sided images/tartan backs. This is a good film as well. I never get tired of watching these classic actors in this genre of cinema.

Freddie
 

Freddie

'Tales From the Crypt' (1972) is not streaming on Net Flix (Black Sabbath and Dr Terror are though), but I did find it on You Tube. Lots of cool creepy organ music so far, love it!



Freddie
 

Mycroft

Black Sabbath

Nice one Freddie, I knew there was a film featuring Karloff that had a Tarot reading in it, but I didn't realise it was this one. Just had a quick look on Wikipedia and there are a few notes of interest about the movie.

Apparently the Italian original is considerably different from the American version, with one story completely changed in style, content and meaning. Quentin Tarantino also says Black Sabbath was the inspiration for Pulp Fiction, and of course this is the movie from which Birmingham's finest head-banging devil-worshippers took their name.

I've done a screenshot of the moment the Tarocco appears in 'Tales from the Crypt' as it is very quick and easily missable.

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/4889/vlcsnap2011062210h27m53.jpg

Later on there's also a collection of books shown, and the 'Aquarian Guide to Occult Mystical Religous Magical' looks particularly fascinating. The man in the picture on the back of the middle book is Maurice Barbanell, who was editor of the UK's 'Psychic News' for many years, so it appears these are real books and not props.

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/563/vlcsnap2011062210h28m18.jpg

The Dr Terror 'tap 3 times' routine is also really infectious. Since re-watching the movie I've found myself doing it again, and once I even did it the way Roy Castle does with a finger-click after each tap!
 

Fawsley

The Fool on a house???

Apparently a film was made in London in the 1970s which featured a Victorian terraced house with a huge mural of the Rider-Waite-Smith Fool painted over the front brickwork.

I've no idea what the film was or who was in it but would love to know if it rings any bells with anyone.

I'm interested because the house is in my street though The Fool is now painted over and the house is the only one with whitewashed brickwork. He's still under there somewhere!
 
Short story by Anthony Burgess Merryday