Edgar Allen Poe movies

[Tim]

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)​

I think this is a terrific movie. Of course, the original story is only a few pages long, so Mr. Corman had to expand it. And he did it well.

Vincent Price is great as the evil Prince Prospero. The guy is rich and powerful, but does he help out when a plague ravages his kingdom? Nope, he hides away in his castle and throws a costume party for all his rich and powerful friends. And some of his guests are not there willingly.

This movie also contains a bit from another Poe story called Hop Frog. That bit where the dwarf gets revenge on the nobleman for beating his girlfriend. The dwarf gets said nobleman dress in a gorilla suit, in which he gets burned alive by the dwarf, that is from Hop Frog.

So if you are a fan of Edgar Allen Poe, Vincent Price, Roger Corman, or all three, this movie is worth checking out.

[Tim]

The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)​

In this movie, Vincent Price plays a more sympathetic character. Price's character, Nicholas Medina, is man tortured by his family's past. His father was a brutal torturer, in the inquisition, and had even tortured Nicholas's mother to death, for infidelity.

And Nicholas is mourning the sudden death of his wife, Elizabeth (Barbara Steele). However, Nicholas is convinced that Elizabeth's ghost is haunting the castle.

However, what Nicholas doesn't know is that, in fact, Elizabeth is not dead. She and her lover, the family physician, Dr. Leon, had come up with this scheme (faking Elizabeth's death so her "ghost" could haunt Nicholas) to drive Nicholas insane, and thus claim the family fortune. However, their plans do not go as expected.

The screenplay was written by Richard Matheson (writer of I Am Legend). Once again, they took a few page story and made a good movie out of it. Check it out.

[Tim]

Tales of Terror (1962)

This movie is made up of three segments, each starring Vincent Price (who also provides an introduction narration via voice over).

The first is called Morella, and it involved a young woman, named Lenora, who returns home to her reclusive father (Price).   Lenora is terminally  ill and wants to square things away with her father, before it's too late.  However, the ghost of her dead mother, Morella, has other ideas. 

The second segment, The Black Cat, combines two Poe stories, the short of the same name, and The Cask of Amontillado.  In this segment, Price plays Fortunato Luchresi, a lover of all things wine.  He meets the wife of Montresor Herringbone (Peter Lorre) and they become intimate.  Montresor then plans revenge, but he didn't count on his wife's black cat getting in the way.

The third is called The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.  In this one, a dying man, Valdemar (Price), employs a hypnotist, Mr. Carmichael (Basil Rathbone), to alleviate his suffering by putting him under various trances.  However, Carmichael has an agenda of his own.

Any Poe fan should check this one out.  Like the other movies, liberties were taken, but, IMO, they are minor ones.

[Tim]

The Oval Portrait (1972)

I stumbled onto this movie, on YouTube, a while back. 

Although it's called Edgar Allen Poe's Te Oval Portrait, it really a noting to with the story (for one thing, the story is only a few pages long).  Part of the background events of this movie is the American Civil War, which Mr. Poe never saw (he died in 1849, 12 years before the war started).   Still, it is a good ghost story.

The plot does take a wile to get going, and there is a LONG flashback sequence, which tells the background of the tragic story of Rebecca (the ghost) and the man she was going to marry (Joseph).   Joseph ad been a wounded Confederate soldier, tat Rebecca ad nursed back to health, and tey fell in love.  Unfortunately, Rebecca's father was a major in the Union army.  Just as tey were about to marry, Joseph was arrested.  By the time he returned, after the war had ended, Rebecca had died.  Joseph ten went insane and Rebecca's ghost roamed the grounds, unable to rest.

Rebecca's father also went insane and died in an asylum.  The events of the movie are kicked off when is relatives arrive for the reading of his will.  Rebecca is determined to possess Lisa, one of the family, so she can be reunited wit Joseph at last.

As I said, this movie is on YouTube.  Check it out.