09.26.11 | Irv Slifkin | Staff NotesPrint this Post
Tags: horror movies, Top 10 Movie Lists, Vincent Price
In the midst of celebrating the 100th birthdays of Lucille Ball, Ronald Reagan, Broderick Crawford and other show business luminaries, we almost forgot that this year, the great Vincent Price would have blown out the candles on his 100th as well.
Price, in his sinister state, had such an impact on kids growing up in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, giving them decades of the willies with his shudder-inducing performances in countless horror movies. His erudite demeanor usually camouflaged the menace within. Only on occasion would he don heavy makeup or prosthetics ala Karloff or Chaney or Lee. With his pencil-thin mustache, sadistic sense of humor, impeccable dress and precise elocution, he was often cast as the human monster. Price brought class to a genre often filled with crass.
So, in celebration of Vincent Price’s belated birthday (a Gemini, he was born in St. Louis, Missouri on May 27), we’ve chosen ten Price-plus performances. And if you dare, let us know some of your faves.
Laura (1944): Before he was the master of the macabre, Price was a much-in-demand character actor. One of his best-known pre-terror tale efforts was in Otto Preminger’s noir classic, in which he played Shelby Carpenter, sweet-talking opportunist fiancé of the late advertising expert Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), whose death is being investigated by Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews).
Price-less Quote:
Shelby Carpenter: I forgot to tell you, I also read palms, I swallow swords, I mend my own socks, I never eat garlic or onions, what more could you want of a man?
House of Wax (1953): The box-office success of this 3-D shocker helped pave the way for Price’s long career as a bankable terror tale star. Here, he’s Professor Henry Jarrod, an expert at creating wax figures who is horribly disfigured in a fire in his New York City museum. Along with help from his mute assistant Igor (Charles Buchinsky, later b/k/a Bronson), Jarrod reopens the establishment, now featuring an exhibit where the mannequins are his real murder victims covered in wax.
Price-less Quote:
Prof. Henry Jarrod: I'm afraid that the visit of such a distinguished critic may cause my children to become conceited. To you they are wax, but to me their creator, they live and breathe.
The Fly (1958): Price allows Al (soon to be David) Hedison and his frightening insect head to take center stage in this sci-fi/horror classic. Vincent is Francois Delambre, brother to Hedison’s scientist whose experiments in teleporting matter go awry, turning him into a mutant insect with big bug eyes. Price, however, was featured in one of moviedom’s creepiest climactic moments when a police inspector (Herbert Marshall) and Francois discover the tiny Hedison-headed fly pleading “Help me!” as it’s about to be a devoured by a spider in a cobweb.
Price-less Quote:
François Delambre: No, Helene and Andre believed in the sacredness of life. They wouldn't harm anything... not even a fly.
The Tingler (1959): William Castle, the maestro of movie gimmicks, first enlisted Vincent to be the lead in his The House on Haunted Hill. Then Castle booked Price for this shock-stravaganza. He plays scientist Dr. Warren Chapin, who theorizes that a lobster- looking creature lives in people’s bodies and holds the key to how humans react to fear. In this black-and-white film supplemented by seat-shocking gizmos by producer-director Castle; an LSD trip (the first ever on screen); the tingler let loose in a theater and a projection booth; and a sequence in a bathroom in which blood turns red are among the film’s delights. Price is perfectly cast as a man of science whose efforts lead to an experiment gone wrong and death.
Price-less Quote:
Dr. Warren Chapin: The tingler exists in every human being, we now know. Look at that tingler, Dave. It's an ugly and dangerous thing-ugly because it's the creation of man's fear; dangerous because... because a frightened man is dangerous.
Master of the World (1961): Two books by Jules Verne were the inspiration for this highly enjoyable adventure saga with Price as the Captain Nemo-like genius Robur, master of what appears to be an airborne version of Nemo’s Nautilus, a flying ship that’s part blimp, part cruise ship and part airplane. Along with his trusty crew, Robur picks up a group of people (including geologist Charles Bronson and weapons manufacturer Henry Hull) and sets out to stop global warfare by, well, waging war against all who are fighting. Price goes appropriately over-the-top as the brilliant but scary Robur, intoxicated by his own power.
Price-less Quote:
Robur: I am a man unto myself, Mr. Prudent, who has declared war against war — that is my purpose, sir, the purpose for which this ship was built!
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961): You really can’t go wrong with any of the Edgar Allen Poe adaptations Price made with Roger Corman in the 1960s, but this one stands out as the most memorable. Vincent is Don Nicholas Medina, son of a notorious Spanish inquisitor, whose madness is revealed when his late wife’s brother arrives at Medina’s castle home to investigate his sibling’s death. Hellish atmospherics, a feline supporting turn by Barbara Steele as Price’s dead wife, Corman’s super-stylish direction, Price’s 16th century master of darkness portrayal and that pendulum swinging back and forth and back and forth and back and forth all add up to brilliance on a budget with Vince in black, full torture wardrobe (skull cap included) at the center of the horror of it all.
Price-Less Quote:
Don Nicholas Medina: You will die in agony. Die!
The Last Man on Earth (1964): The first screen adaptation of Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend was followed by Charlton Heston in 1971’s The Omega Man and Will Smith in 2007’s I Am Legend, but this version is probably the closest to its source material. In fact, Matheson worked on the screenplay, but later removed his name from this Italian production. The movie is still eerie and unforgettable in many ways, despite its poor dubbing and obvious low budget. Price is Robert Morgan (“Robert Neville” in the book), a doctor who battles humans infected by a plague that has turned them into nocturnal creatures in pursuit of blood. Although Matheson thought him to be miscast, Price is superb in a serious role that finds him burning the predators’ bodies during the day and fending them off at night. The film, remembered for the bloodsuckers’ haunting call for Price’s “Moorgan!” throughout, was a major influence on George A. Romero when he made Night of the Living Dead a few years later.
Price-less Quote:
Robert Morgan: You're freaks! I'm a man! The last man!
Witchfinder General (1968): Re-titled The Conqueror Worm in America, this based-on-fact mid-17th century-set saga tells of Matthew Hopkins, a former attorney who hunts down witches while England is embroiled in a bloody civil war. The violence often borders on the extreme here, with depictions of witch tortures and a subplot involving rape. But director Michael Reeves, who would die at age 25 during pre-production of his next project (the Price-starring The Oblong Box), shoots the film with style and intelligence and elicits a superior, sinister no-nonsense performance from his lead actor (who actually replaced Donald Pleasance in the part when studio American-International Pictures insisted on Price’s casting).
Price-less Quote:
Matthew Hopkins: I will find out the truth for you, have no fear.
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971): Since Price had a supporting role in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (playing Baka the master builder), it makes sense he would star in a horror yarn involving the plagues of ancient Egypt. Here, he’s the much-learned Dr. Anton Phibes, a disfigured medicine man getting revenge on a group of physicians he holds responsible for the death of his beloved wife. “Diabolical” would be the best way to describe this handsome horror that mixes disturbing mayhem with camp and nostalgia. The poster says it all: It’s a picture of the skeletal Phibes kissing his beautiful dead wife with the tagline “Love means never having to say you’re ugly.”
Price-less Quote:
Dr. Anton Phibes: A few remaining minutes are all you have, because when the acid reaches him, he will have a face like mine!
Theatre of Blood (1973): Revenge proves sweet again for Mr. Price again, this time playing hammy Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart, who looks to get even against the theater critics who didn’t hand him the much-coveted acting award he feels he has deserved for years. As expected, Price brings a jolly jolt to the proceedings, as he knocks off the naysayers (with help from daughter Diana Rigg) in methods styled on Shakespeare plays. The game supporting cast includes Harry Andrews, Jack Hawkins, Ian Hendry, Milo O’Shea, Michael Hordern, Robert Morley, Dennis Price, and Coral Browne, who would later be Vinnie’s third wife.
Price-less Quote:
Edward Lionheart: I will kill you when I am ready. Be it next week, next month, perhaps next year. But first, I'm going to make you suffer in the same way you made me suffer!
