

Acting
Welles devouring scenery as Cagliostro with hypnotic intensity.
Costume
Lavish period excess that screams 1940s studio system.
Direction
Ratoff's shadow-drenched Gothic atmosphere over historical accuracy.

Director
Gregory Ratoff
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Welles allegedly directed several uncredited scenes when Ratoff fell ill, which explains the visual schizophrenia.
Based on Alexandre Dumas's Joseph Balsamo, this was part of a 1940s Hollywood obsession with Mesmer and hypnotism as quasi-supernatural plot devices.