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When Philippe de Montfaucon (the Marquis
de Bellac) is informed that for the third successive year his
vineyards near Bordeaux have failed to produce, he instructs his
wife, Catherine, to remain in Paris and then leaves for his
ancestral chateau. But Catherine, disturbed by his behavior, follows
a few days later with their two children. Upon arriving at the
chateau, she is greeted coldly by Countess Estelle, Philippe's aunt,
diffidently by Père Dominic, the local priest, and disdainfully by
the menacing Christian de Caray and his equally hostile sister,
Odile. Informed that her husband has gone to a nearby town for the
day, Catherine wanders into a chamber in the chateau and
accidentally spies Philippe and 12 other men engaged in a mystic
ceremonial rite.
She is soon afterward terrorized in the
Bellac woods by 12 hooded men, and later she learns that Philippe's
father, believed dead, is actually living in a turret of the
chateau. From him she hears of the dreadful fate her husband has set
for himself: tradition decrees that whenever the vines fail for 3
years the head of the Montfaucon family must offer his life's blood
as a sacrifice to the barren earth. Horrified, Catherine races from
the chateau to summon help. But she is stopped by Père Dominic
and taken back to Bellac, while Philippe and the 12 hooded horsemen
ride through the village. She escapes but is too late to
prevent the death ritual as Christian shoots an arrow into her
husband's heart.
The next day Catherine leaves with her
children, vowing never to return. But she is unaware of the
significant glances exchanged between Père Dominic and her young
son, Jacques. The new Marquis de Bellac already knows that the
ancient tradition must be carried on.
Notes
The film is based on the novel Day of the Arrow by Philip
Loraine (New York, 1964), and was released in Great Britain in 1968.
Location scenes were filmed in the Bordeaux country of France.
Screen credit reads: "With grateful acknowledgment to the Baronne
and the staff for the use of Château d'Hautefort." The working
title of this film was 13. |
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