MGM (via Fox) have released a new boxed set of Vincent Price horror film titles that represent some of his finest work from the 1960s and 1970s. Vincent Price: MGM Scream Legends Collection features seven major releases in the form of double bill DVDs. Most have been available previously, but its great to have them all available in a single boxed set.
The jewel in the crown is the first American DVD release of Witchfinder General. We reported previously that Fox had been inspired to make the investment in a special edition of this film after reading Dave Worrall's in-depth report on the making of the movie in Cinema Retro issue #5. Filmed in England in the late 1960s, the movie had all the hallmarks of a disaster in the making. The 23- year old director Michael Reeves barely spoke to Price, who was portraying the infamous real-life Witchfinder Matthew Hopkins, a 17th century kook who traveled from village to village threatening to convict innocent souls of witchcraft if they did not heed his demands for money and sex. Reeves envisioned Donald Pleasence in the role and feared Price would give an over-the-top campy performance. Things got even worse when Price fell from his horse on the first day of shooting and suffered minor injuries.
The story behind the making of the film is told on a fascinating new documentary included on the DVD. Additionally, producer Philip Waddilove and actor Ian Ogilvy provided a joint commentary track that sheds new light on this cult classic. Ironically, perhaps in his determination to prove Michael Reeves wrong, Price gave what is arguably the best performance of his career. Devoid of the hystronics that often accompanied his work in the Roger Corman films, Price is believable and chilling. Then again, Witchfinder General is not a horror film, though it's depiction of torture and executions are undeniable horrible. The sequences, which were somewhat groundbreaking in their time, still shock today. Price and Reeves ultimately found mutual respect. Price realized that the young director had inspired him to exert his creative juices for the first time in many years. Reeves came to the conclusion that he had greatly underestimated Price's dramatic talents. The two even planned to team again on The Oblong Box, but Reeves slid into a self-destructive pattern of drug and alcohol abuse that lead to his death a short time later, never having had his talents appreciated. Even the film's U.S. marketing campaign was botched, with an absurd opening narrative added by Price in which he reads from Edgar Allan Poe's The Conqueror Worm in an attempt to link this film to the previous Poe-inspired hits Price had done for Roger Corman. In fact, the film has nothing to do with Poe or his poem. It's like having someone read Shakespeare in the introduction to It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World so it can be retitled As You Like It. The first VHS releases of the film in the USA were even more absurd. Copyright problems led to dropping composer Paul Ferris' brilliant score and replacing it by some hack humming away on a synthesizer.
This is the first time this superb film has been properly released in the USA. It should have a prominent place in the collections of all classic movie lovers.
In addition to Witchfinder General, the set also consists of:
- TALES OF TERROR - Three more Roger Corman- produced and directed short stories based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. The best of these is The Black Cat, a delightfully macabre tale in which Price hams it up with Peter Lorre in a bizarre tale of a cuckolded husband's unique revenge. The Case of M. Valdemar is also a good episode because Price gets to square off with another cinematic legend, Basil Rathbone.
- TWICE TOLD TALES- With the Poe vault running empty, Price next turned to adapting short stories from Nathaniel Hawthorne's works. Here again, three tales are presented. The first is the best, with Price and the inimitable Sebastian Cabot finding the secret to eternal youth - and the tragic consequences it brings. The second tale has Price keeping his beautiful daughter a recluse much to the chagrin of would-be suitor Brett Halsey who learns the bizarre reason in a Romeo and Juliet-inspired tale. The final story is the famed House of the Seven Gables with Price in full sinister mode as he seeks to destroy one and all in his obessive quest to find a hidden fortune in the family mansion.
- THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES / DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN- is a fun double feature that provided Price on of his most memorable roles. The films cast him as an insane physician determined to avenge those he blames for his young bride's death. The films are over-the-top camp in every respect, but delightfully sinister fun.
- THEATER OF BLOOD- Unlike his contemporaries such as Rathbone, Lorre and Boris Karloff, Price lived long enough to see a renaisannce in his career. This 1973 comedy/horror film garnered him outstanding reviews. Price plays a hammy Shakesperean actor who decides to get the ultimate revenge on the legion of London critics who have humiliated him for years. The murder plots are as hiliarious as they are creative and Price is aided and abetted by his dutiful daughter played by Diana Rigg.
- MADHOUSE- This 1974 horror film is the only lemon in the set. Ineptly written and poorly directed, the movie squanders the late career teaming of Price with the great Peter Cushing, who despite equal billing appears in the film for less than ten minutes. (His name isn't even mentioned in the trailer). The plot has Price cast as a legendary horror actor who finds himself being framed for a series of gruesome murders - including his wife. The movie fails on every major level, though it does cleverly incorporate clips from previous Price movies into the story.
- DISC OF HORRORS- the boxed set also includes a separate disc devoted entirely to Vincent Price and his life and career. The presentation is pretty basic: a number of well-informed film historians and filmmakers relate fascinating stories about this legendary star. If ever there was a true Renaissance Man, it was Vincent Price. He was an intellectual, master chef and world acclaimed art expert. To judge him simply by his work in horror films would be grossly unfair. The disc has three separate featurettes, each of which is very interesting in its own way. One of the most knowledgable people interviewed on this disc is Richard Squires who is credited for running The Vincent Price Exhibit. Frustratingly, the disc does not tell us what this is or where to view it. A bit of research turned up the fact that Squires runs this as a web site and it's packed with facts and memorabilia relating to Price. Check it out by clicking here
Not too long ago, I went to lunch in London with another iconic actor, Christopher Lee. I asked him who his best friends are in the business today and he mournfully said that although he admires many actors such as Johnny Depp, all of the people he called close friends are long gone. He especially bemoaned the deaths of Peter Cushing and Vincent Price and said they would routinely call each other trying to play elaborate gags on the phone by disguising their voices. Lee said both were erudite, brillliant men who could discuss any aspect of the world with a reasonable degree of knowledge. He noted that while Price adored and appreciated his fans, he routinely stayed away from autograph shows and conventions. On one rare occasion, he made an exception. When Lee called to ask him what the experience was like, Price replied "It was like amateur night in a Turkish bath." Lee said he never asked Price precisely what he meant because he was laughing so hard. He told me, "We'll never see a man like Vincent Price again." Indeed. -Lee Pfeiffer
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