Jan, a young sailor, is captured and taken to an aging mansion of endless corridors and secret champers. He finds there an array of relatives all waiting for the aging patriarch (Orson Welles) to die and announce his inheritance. Some of the relations turn up dead, and Jan works to understand what is taking place. “Kümel elaborates the mystery like a master, drawing much of his design and composition from Surrealist painting (Magritte, de Chirico), and weaving serpentine patterns from the intrigues between the many characters. Welles is at his most mountainous as the house’s patriarch; Hampshire is a revelation, playing three contrasted women” —Time Out