The Last Usher

 

USHER-2000-A would be poet Truman Jones (Sean Napita) visits reclusive poet Roderick Usher (Curtis Harrington who wrote and directed this) at his home where he lives with his French servant (Fabrice Uzan), his dog Lucifer and his dying sister Madeline (also played by Harrington with a dubbed voice). They talk poetry and Usher gives a masquerade party. At the party Madeline dies. Later she comes back and accuses her bro of burying her alive. ("We both have the same soul") She hugs him and he dies. Truman leaves. 

This bizarre short is the last film work of the under appreciated Harrington (NIGHT TIDE, QUEEN OF BLOOD) and was filmed in his actual home. Gary Graver (who died in 2006) was the cinematographer. Harrington financed the film himself. He passed in 2007.

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I'm Ravin'

THE RAVEN-1935-Judge Thatcher's daughter is near death after a car crash. He (Samuel S. Hinds) implores the famous but retired Dr. Vollin (Bela Lugosi) to perform life saving surgery on the “root nerves at the base of the brain”. The Edgar Allen Poe loving doctor (“It's more than a hobby”) finally agrees and the operation is a success. A month later the organ playing doc is obsessed with his patient Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware) who doesn't respond to his come-ons as she is engaged to a doctor named Jerry (Lester Matthews). The judge has his suspicions and tells Vollin to steer clear of his daughter. Vollin couldn't care less and tells the judge he wants his daughter and will get her. Later a wanted criminal named Bateman (Boris Karloff) who “shot his way out of San Quentin” and later killed a guy with a blowtorch wants Vollin to give him a new face. Vollin does but gives him a deformed face and blackmails him into doing his bidding if he wants a real face. Vollin invites The Judge and Jean and Jerry and some others to his place. Bateman is his disfigured but sympathetic butler. Jean wins Bateman's heart when she apologizes to him after initially being frightened by him. The Judge still insists Vollin is mad despite everyone else's flip attitude. 

The nutty doctor has a recreation of Poe's “The Pit and The Pendulum” in his basement and makes Bateman strap the judge on the pendulum. A crazy climax ensues with Bateman saving the day but dying and Vollin crushed to death. Bela says “Death is my talisman", “I'm the sanest man who ever lived” and “I like to torture” and is very insane in the leading role. It's usually said that this is kind of “Bela's movie” where he has the biggest stand out role and it's true in a way. But Karloff snags the more sympathetic role and intimately becomes 'the hero”. It was a big year for Boris (billed as “Karloff”) as he also made THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE BLACK ROOM. Bela wasn't exactly sitting on his hands either making MARK OF THE VAMPIRE for Tod Browning, starring in THE RETURN OF CHANDU and THE MYSTERY OF THE MARY CELESTE. Director Louis Freidlander (later known as Lew Landers) would direct both horror stars separately years later: Lugosi in THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE and Karloff in THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU.

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More Corman! More Price! More Poe!

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH-1964-In the village of Kitanya, a red cloaked figure gives an old woman a red carnation and says she should tell her town “your day of deliverance is at hand”. Evil Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) treats the people who harvest his fields like animals. When he is insulted by two men he condemns them to death. A innocent girl Francesca (Jane Asher) begs the prince to spare their lives but he makes her choose which should live or die. One is her father Ludovico (Nigel Greene) and the other her fiance Gino (David Weston). That's forgotten when it's discovered the old woman is carrying the plague. The prince takes the trio to his castle and orders the village burnt. He takes a shine to Francesca despite the protests of Juliana (Hazel Court), one of his guests who brands herself for Satan and has weird (drug induced?) dream-visions. After she thinks he's betrothed to Satan she's clawed to death by a bird. “I beg you do not mourn for Juliana. We should celebrate. She has just married a friend of mine”. 

Prospero invites princes from all over the region to join him at his castle for a decadent “protection from the plague” party. He's a nasty guy who insults his guests and makes them imitate animals and worship Satan. He especially gets the goat of Alfredo (Patrick Magee), a slimy aristocrat who slaps a little ballerina girl (but maybe she is suppose to be a dwarf as she has a dubbed in “adult” voice) during her dance. This leads to a sub-plot based on another Poe story “Hop-Frog” where her dwarf partner (Skip Martin) convinces Alfredo to dress like an ape then burns him alive. 

After Ludovico is killed, Pospero allows Gino to leave but he goes back and tries to rescue his beloved. The same red cloaked figure who spoke to the old woman tells Gino he will bring Francesca to him later. While the guests entertain themselves Prospero, all dressed in black and looking rather Dr. Phibes-ish, finally thinks he meets his master the Devil but in fact it's Death who's come to claim him. 

Director Roger Corman has said although he holds MASQUE has one of his favorite films he wasn't that pleased with the final scene where Pospero's plague infected party goers crowd in on him and thought it could have been better since he felt it was rushed (he did it in one day). His use of colors is awesome and the photography by Nicolas Roeg (in his only work with Corman) is a highlight. The screenplay was written by Charles Beaumont and R. Wright Campbell. This AIP co-production with the English Anglo-Amalgamated was filmed in England in 5 weeks (long for a Corman production!).

Although she had an un-billed cameo in 1981's THE FINAL CONFLICT, MASQUE  was the last film role for Hazel Court (also featured in THE PREMATURE BURIAL and THE RAVEN by Corman) who settled permanently in the US and only made TV appearances. She died in 2008. 

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Quoth The Raven....

THE RAVEN-1963-This comedy-horror film begins with Vincent Price reciting part of Edgar Allen Poe's “The Raven”. Then we are introduced to Dr. Craven (Price) a sorcerer who longs for his dead love Lenore. After his daughter Estelle (Olive Strugess) brings him some hot milk he is visited by a real life raven who demands some wine. Later using ingredients from his father's lab Craven turns the wise cracking raven into his true form, that of fellow sorcerer Dr. Bedlo (Peter Lorre) who was turned into a bird by the evil Dr. Scarabus, another sorcerer who dethroned Craven's father's position as grand master of the brotherhood of magicians years before. Bedlo wants revenge on Scarabus and wants Craven to help but Craven wants no part of it until Bedlo informs him that his lost love is with Scarabus. 

After fending off an attack by Craven's bewitched servant, Craven, Bedlo, Estelle and Bedlo's son Rexford (Jack Nicholson) go to confront Scarabus (Boris Karloff) who welcomes them with open arms. While dining Bedlo once again challenges Scarabus to a duel and seems to die. They are urged to stay the night and Craven sees Lenore (Hazel Court) at his bedroom window. Of course, it turns out Lenore is not dead but living with Scarabus who's wealth and power made her leave Craven. While Rexford is snooping around the castle, he discovers his father is not dead (it was a trick by Bedlo to deceive Scarabus). Eventually they are all held prisoner by the doctor, however in the finale Craven and Scarabus have an inventive magical duel where Craven defeats Scarabus and rejects Lenore who in turn has rejected Scarabus. 

Shot in 15 days by Roger Corman, it's been said that the inspiration for this feature was the Richard Matheson penned “The Black Cat” segment from the earlier TALES OF TERROR. Corman and Matheson liked doing the comedy scenes and thought a full-length film movie was in order. Although stories abound about behind the scenes gripes and complaints (Karloff upset at Lorre's ad-libs, animosity between Lorre and Nicolson) everyone seems to be having a fine time and really throwing themselves into their roles. Samuel Z. Arkoff and James Nicolson were the executive producers on this AIP production along with many long time Corman collaborators: Les Baxter (music), Floyd Crosby (cinematographer) and Daniel Haller (production design).

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Poe and Price on TV

AN EVENING OF EDGAR ALLAN POE-1970-These four Poe tales were shot on video tape and presented like a play with Vincent Price starring in each and reciting most of the dialogue from the original stories. Act one is The Tell Tale Heart where a man becomes obsessed with an old man's glass eye, kills him and meticulously hides the body under the floorboards only to be undone when he thinks he hears the dead heart beating. Act two features the not as well known The Sphinx about a man concerned about a cholera epidemic around him who believes he sees a huge monster moving through the forest near his home. In act three The Cask of Amontillado, a nobleman seeks revenge on a rival who insulted him by walling him up in a vault (this one was my favorite). Act four is The Pit and The Pendulum about a prisoner of the inquisition who's condemned to die and finds himself waiting for the pendulum to cut him in half. 

Price is great in this one man show and director Kenneth Johnson uses some good effects to get all the stories across. Arkoff and Nicolson were 2 of the executive producers and Les Baxter did the music. It was made for TV by AIP.

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Amicus Anthology

TORTURE GARDEN-1967-Five people visit Dr. Diablo's Torture Garden at a carnival. After Diablo (Burgess Meridith) shows them a recreation of an electric chair execution he introduces them to a statue of Atropus, the goddess of destiny. Then he invites each of them to stare at the statue and a tale featuring them is conveyed.

In “Enoch” a neer do well (Michael Bryant) kills his old uncle (Maurice Denham) to get his hidden money but instead he comes under the supernatural influence of a cat named Bathaza! It makes him kill people so it can it their brains! He winds up beheaded in a jail cell. Niall McManus (CURSE OF THE DEMON) plays his doctor.

“Terror Over Hollywood” takes place in Tinseltown where actress Clara Hayes (Beverly Adams) becomes involved with a former matinee idol Bruce Benton (Robert Hutton) who is literally an 'immortal” star thanks to a weird surgeon who in the end makes Clara a “living doll”.

In “Mr. Steinway” a woman (Ursula Howells) falls in love with a brilliant but lonely pianist named Leo (John Standing) who's piano seems to be possessed by his dead mother. When the two become lovers the piano pushes her out a window!

In “The Man Who Collected Poe”, an American book collector Ronald Wyatt (Jack Palance) wants a rare Edgar Allan Poe book owned by English Poe collector Kanning (Peter Cushing). Kanning has quite a collection. In fact the real Poe is alive in his basement after making a deal with the devil! This has a weird “huh?” ending.

The framing sequence also has a nice twist ending involving a another patron (Michael Ripper) where after Diablo reveals his real identity (can ya guess?) to the viewing audience.

TORTURE GARDEN was the first of a series of anthology films Robert Bloch wrote for Amicus, the main rival to Hammer in the 1960's (he'd already done THE PSYCHOPATH and THE DEADLY BEES for them). The stories themselves aren't that great but they are weird enough (a cat that eats brains, a killer piano, Poe still alive). Director Freddie Francis (who worked on several other Amicus anthologies written by Bloch) keeps things moving but the acting makes up for any plot faults.

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Suffer The Usher....

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER-1949-Some stuffy English dudes discuss Edgar Allan Poe at their club. One of them relates the title story.

Jonathan (Irving Steen) goes to visit his friend Roderick Usher (Kay Tendeter) at his castle. Usher says he's inherited a strange family disease. He also says his sister Madeleine (Gwen Watford who later became famous for a British TV work)) has the same disease. She plays the piano, drinks milk and wanders around the castle. The weird family doctor (Vernon Charles) relates a story that the disease is actually a curse placed on the family by a man their father killed (he was having an affair with their mother). He also tells Roderick about a “temple” hidden in the moors.

The three men go there and meet Rodericks's mother, now a decrepit old hag who has her dead lover's head! The doctor says that if they burn the head the curse will be broken. They leave but come back with their gardener (I'm not sure why they needed a gardener to burn a head) but Mrs. Usher overpowers Roderick and kills the gardener. Then Madeleine has a run-in with mom and is almost killed. Jonathan tries to cheer Rod up by painting and reading until Rod suddenly announces that Madeleine is dead (he tells how in a flashback). He puts her in a coffin, nails it shut and places it in the family mausoleum. 8 days later Rod is brandishing a gun at night because he hears strange noises (nails being hammered, a ticking clock) and thinks sis is coming to get him. He shoots the doctor (but Jonathan doesn't hear anything). It seems Madeleine was buried alive and escaped her coffin (after 8 days?). He tries to shoot her and fails and she tediously chases him to the roof where he falls to his death and Madeleine disappears (all the time mom is watching).

Where Jonathan was all this time isn't explained but he shows up in time to escape the burning castle, set on fire by lightening. Your guess is as good as mine...

Director Ivan Barnett did little else but this strange quirky adaptation has it's moments.

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Corman/Poe

THE PREMATURE BURIAL-1962-Ray Milland is Guy Carrell, a doctor with a fear of being buried alive and haunted by terrifying dreams. His understanding new wife Emily (Hazel Court) tries to help him. Unfortunately it seems she may have bitten over more than she can chew. A song makes him cranky, he doesn't like flowers and spends most of his time in a mausoleum which he has rigged with gadgets to make sure he's not buried alive. His sister (Heather Angel) hands around suspiciously. His friend Dr. Archer (Richard Ney) tries to help while experimenting with dead frogs. Guy has a strange dream where he's locked in his mausoleum and almost drinks a cup of maggots. Eventually Emily brings Guy back to normalcy and he burns down the mausoleum but there seems to be a plot against him when he suffers a seizure and is buried alive anyway! He's freed from his dirty grave by two grave robbers (one is Dick Miller) and becomes a sunken eyed revenge seeking ghoul who electrocutes his father in law (Alan Napier).

THE PREMATURE BURIAL started out for some reason being made by director Roger Corman for Pathe' studios instead of AIP. (He had already made THE HOUSE OF USHER and THE PIT AND THE PENDULEM for them) He wanted to cast the star of those previous two Poe adaptations, Vincent Price in the lead but he was under contract to AIP so Corman got Academy Award winner Ray Milland to fill in. He does a good job but doesn't have the intensity Price often brought to his roles. Still despite the dumb resolution it's a good entry into the “Poe series”. Charles Beaumont was a co-screenwriter. Corman was busy in '62. He made this, the usually overlooked THE INTRUDER, the kind of remake of TOWER OF LONDON and TALES OF TERROR.

 

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Raven Mad?

 

 

THE LOVES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE-1942-Eddie Poe (John Sheppard; later known as Sheppard Strudwick) is taken in by The Allens after his mother dies. Mrs. Allen (Mary Howard) is a nice caring woman who loves him but Mr. Allan (Frank Conroy) is a jerk who thinks Edgar is wasting his time writing poems. At school he gambles, gets into debt and drinks a lot. He gets some encouragement from Thomas Jefferson (Gilbert Emery) but Mr. Allen hits the roof when he sees all of Eddie's debts. He also loses his love Elmira (Virginia Gilmore) to another man (but later it is reveal to be a deception devised by his old man). He joins the cavalry and later West Point (and gets thrown out) and goes to live with his aunt (Jane Darwell) in Baltimore where he meets his cousin Virginia (top billed Linda Darnell). He becomes a writer and wins a short story contest. He and Virginia get married and he lands a job as a magazine editor in Richmond but complications arrive when he meets Elmira at a party. He goes on a bender and gets fired for being drunk. The trio go to Philadelphia where he becomes a success and meets Charles Dickens. He works toward a getting a copyright law for writers, gets into an argument with his boss (Morris Ankrum), gets drunk and goes to NYC. Virginia gets sick. He tries hard to sell his new poem “The Raven” to the public and even gives a great reading of it to some printers but fails to sell it. Virginia dies and he goes back to Baltimore to die in poverty. A narrator explains that although it was not recognized in his own life time now “The gods laugh and Poe laughs with them”. Harry Morgan plays his friend Ebenezer.

This is a straight forward fairly accurate portrait of the now legendary poet/writer which provides a lot of sympathy for the main character. Director Harry Lachman had an interesting career although he quit making movies in 1942 the year LOVES was released (he also made DR. RENAULT'S SECRET the same year which featured Sheppard). He made many in the Charlie Chan series and OUR RELATIONS with Laurel & Hardy. It was written and produced by Bryan Foy (THE UNDYING MONSTER, PT 109).

 

 

 

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Bela In The Rue Morgue

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE-1932-Universal Pictures first horror film (based on a Edgar Allan Poe story) made after the hits FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA! Set in Paris in 1845, Bela Lugosi portrays Dr. Mirakle, a slightly demented guy with a killer ape named Erik. The doctor can even "speak ape" to him. When not giving lectures on apes and humans being related he prowls the foggy streets looking for female victims to experiment on. He's assisted by Janos, (Noble Johnson). Mirakle takes a liking to Camille (the ill fated Sidney Fox who has top billing) after Erik steals her bonnet. She describes Mirakle as "a funny old man". Her boyfriend is medical student Pierre Dupin (Leon Waycoff, who later changed his surname to Ames) investigates the recent murders of 3 "women of the streets" and discovers they all died because ape blood was injected into them. A scene of Mirakle "experimenting" on a prostitute (future celebrity talk show panelist Arlene Francis) seems pretty shocking for 1932. Unable to convince Camille to come to him, Mirakle dispatches Erik to kidnap her. Fortunately Erik rebels and kills his master before any blood injecting can begin. Unfortunately Erik carries Camille over the rooftops of Paris with an angry mob in hot pursuit. Dupin arrives just in time to save his love.

Some comic interrogations where no one can agree on what language MIrakle and Erik are talking aren't that funny and seem to be thrown in to waste time. And since Erik is actually gorilla suited veteran Charles Gemora the close-ups of a an angry ape edited in are out of place.

Of course director Florey and star Lugosi were the original choices for the Universal production of FRANKENSTEIN but that was eventually changed. MURDERS has a smaller budget but is gruesome and eerie. It goes along well, until the end which seems rushed. The idea of Mirakle talking "ape" to his "pet" was used in a later Bela vehicle THE APE MAN.

Lugosi was in WHITE ZOMBIE and ISLAND OF LOST SOULS the same year. Florey, who co-wrote FRANKENSTEIN but was cheated out of screen credit by James Whale, co-wrote this and it's said John Huston also contributed some dialogue. MURDERS uses Tchiakovsky's Swan Lake over the opening credits (as did DRACULA and THE MUMMY). Herman Bing, Iron Eyes Cody and Charlotte Henry all have small roles.  

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