Tales of Terror

Tales of Terror

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Roger Corman
Produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff
Roger Corman
James H. Nicholson
Written by Richard Matheson
Based on Morella
The Black Cat
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
by Edgar Allan Poe
Starring Vincent Price
Peter Lorre
Basil Rathbone
Debra Paget
Narrated by Vincent Price
Music by Les Baxter
Cinematography Floyd Crosby
Edited by Anthony Carras
Distributed by American International Pictures
Release dates
  • July 4, 1962 (1962-07-04)
Running time
 89 min.
Country United States
Language English
Box office $1.5 million[1][2]
64,396 admissions (France)[3]

Tales of Terror (1962) is an American International Pictures horror film starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Basil Rathbone; it is the fourth in the so-called Corman-Poe cycle of eight films largely featuring adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories directed by Roger Corman and released by AIP. The film was released as a double feature with Panic in Year Zero!.

Plot

The film uses an anthology format, presenting three short sequences based on the following Poe tales: "Morella", "The Black Cat" (which is combined with another Poe tale, "The Cask of Amontillado"),[1] and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar". Each sequence is introduced via voiceover narration by Vincent Price, who also appears in all three narratives. The story Morella was remade in the 1990s as The Haunting of Morella.

"Morella"

When Lenora Locke (Maggie Pierce) travels from Boston to be reunited with her father (Vincent Price) in his decrepit and cobwebbed mansion, she finds him drunk, disordered, and depressed. He refuses her company, insisting that she killed her mother Morella (Leona Gage) in childbirth. Lenora then discovers her mother's body decomposing on a bed in the house. Lenora cannot return to Boston and remains in the house to care for her father. His feelings soften towards her when he learns she has a terminal illness. One night Morella's spirit rises, and kills Lenora in revenge for her childbed death. Morella's body is then resurrected, becoming as whole and as beautiful as she was in life. This is in exchange for Lenora's, which is now decomposing where Morella lay. Morella strangles her horrified husband as a fire breaks out in the house. Then Morella and Lenora return to their original bodies, Lenora smiling as she lies on her dead father, rotten Morella cackling as the flames consume the house. The cast includes Edmund Cobb as a coach driver.

"The Black Cat"

Casting call for black cats for "The Black Cat" segment in Tales of Terror, 1961

Montresor Herringbone (Peter Lorre) hates his wife Annabelle (Joyce Jameson) and her black cat. One night on a ramble about town, he happens upon a wine tasting event and challenges the world's foremost wine taster, Fortunato Luchresi (Vincent Price), to a contest. Herringbone becomes drunk. Luchresi escorts him home and meets his wife. Time passes, and Annabelle and Luchresi become intimate. The cuckolded Herringbone then entombs them alive in an alcove in the basement. The authorities become suspicious and two policemen (John Hackett and Lennie Weinrib) visit the house to investigate. Hearing screeching behind a basement wall, they knock the wall down to discover the dead lovers — and Annabelle's black cat, which Herringbone had accidentally walled up with the lovers. Cast includes Wally Campo as bartender Wilkins and Alan DeWitt as the Wine-Tasting Chairman.

"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"

Dying from a painful disease, M. Valdemar (Vincent Price) employs a hypnotist, Mr. Carmichael (Basil Rathbone), to alleviate his suffering by putting him under various trances. He then remains between the world of the living and the dead. In a trance, Valdemar begs Carmichael to release his soul so he can die but Carmichael cruelly refuses. Months pass and Valdemar's putrefying body remains in his bed under the complete control of Carmichael. The hypnotist tries to force Valdemar's wife Helene (Debra Paget) to marry him. When she refuses, he attacks her. Valdemar's putrid body rises from the bed and kills Carmichael. Helene is rescued by Valdemar's physician (David Frankham) and carried from the scene of horror.

Cast

Production

The film was announced in September 1961.[4]

Corman commented on how Tales of Terror differed from his earlier film adaptations released by AIP:[1]

With Tales of Terror, we tried to do something a little different. The screenplay was actually a series of very frightening, dramatic sequences inspired by several of the Poe stories. To break things up, we tried introducing humor into one of them..."

The three stories in the film took a total of three weeks to film.[1] For the conclusion of "Morella", Corman reused some sets and event footage from the fiery climax of House of Usher.[1]

Price explained how the effect of slow decomposition was achieved in "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar": "We settled for an old-fashioned mud pack - it dries and draws the skin up and then cracks open." To give the impression of Vincent Price's face melting away, a mixture of glue, glycerin, corn starch and make-up paint was heated and then poured over his head. The substance was so hot that Price could only stand it for a few seconds.[1]

Richard Matheson's favourite of the stories was the final one, M. Valdemar. He thought it was "pretty well done. It was pretty straight, except I added the doctor and Valdemar's wife to the story... They acted it pretty well for a change."[5]

Reception

The New York Times called the film a "dull, absurd and trashy adaptation."[6] The film received 67% positive comments at Rotten Tomatoes out of a total of 12 evaluations.[7] Time Out said the movie was "elegant and funny, but the short-story format deprives Corman of the majestic, melancholic rhythm which characterizes his best work of this type."[8]

Merchandise

The film was released on DVD; Dell Comics published a comic book adaptation of the film.

A novelization of the film was written in 1962 by Eunice Sudak adapted from Richard Matheson's screenplay and published by Lancer Books in paperback.

In 2011 La-La Land Records released Les Baxter's music from the "Morella" segment and his end credits track on a CD featuring selections of his score for X: The Man With The X-Ray Eyes.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Spotlight: Tales of Terror from Turner Classic Movies
  2. ↑ Roger Corman & Jim Jerome, How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never lost a Dime, Muller, 1990 p 84
  3. ↑ Box office information for Roger Corman films in France at Box Office Story
  4. ↑ FILMLAND EVENTS: Poe-Pourri Film Cooks for Corman Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 07 Sep 1961: B9.
  5. ↑ Lawrence French, "The Making of The Raven", The Raven novelisation by Eunice Sudak, based on script by Richard Matheson, Bear Manor Media 2012
  6. ↑ July 5, 1962 review of Tales of Terror and Burn, Witch, Burn from The New York Times
  7. ↑ [Tales of Terror (1962) http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1021067-terror/ Rotten Tomatoes (Retrieved July 16, 2012)]
  8. ↑ [Tales of Terror http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/78926/tales_of_terror.html Time Out London (Retrieved July 16, 2012)]

External links

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