The Sound of Vincent Spinning

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have made some terrific movies together. Edward Scissorhands; Ed Wood (Burton's masterpiece, as far I am concerned) and Sleepy Hollow, among them. They've also made increasingly bad movies. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which I am almost embarrassed to admit I really liked because of it's loyalty to the book, and Depp's creepy, weird and molestery performance); Sweeney Todd (a movie so removed from its very theatrical origins - much like Les Miserables - that it became little more than a slasher movie with songs); Alice in Wonderland (which I found to be actually insulting to Lewis Carroll and all of nonsense. Imagine being insulting to nonsense. It's actually too sad to be considered nonsense) and worst of all, last year's truly awful Dark Shadows. Burton over-estimated the camp value of the series whose fans hated that he tried to make it into a deliberate comedy. The TV show's appeal was never its camp - it was the characters and the story lines. Sure, they were absurd. But that's the nature of genre TV and film. The audience accepts those unlikely conceits by acquiescing to a willing suspension of disbelief. When the absurdities became the point, that suspension shuts down and people hate you for making fun of the show instead of embracing what they loved about it.

Burton used to be an interesting and actually good filmmaker. But then he got jaded and lazy and lost sight of the importance of story. Anymore, his films are about visual tricks and weird CGI. Depp used to be an interesting and fun actor, but since Pirates of the Caribbean  (not a Burton film), he's become a parody of himself, known for being bizarre more than anything else. His upcoming role as Tonto alongside Armie Hammer's Lone Ranger is just further proof of that. Watch this trailer if you don't believe me.

Of course, Burton and I have many common influences, which naturally makes me want to like his work, very much. One of those influences was the amazing genre actor Vincent Price. And while I've certainly seen just about all of Price's films by now (even the non-genre ones), my favorites are what I consider his Masterpiece Trilogy: The Abominable Dr. Phibes; Dr. Phibes Rises Again and Theatre of Blood. The Phibes movies are about a massively disfigured musician and composer taking revenge on those whom he considers responsible for his wife's death, while Theatre of Blood concerns an insane hack Shakespearean actor who, after failing at killing himself, takes revenge on the critics he blames for his failing career.

Today, Naughty But Nice Rob (a blog I've never heard of before, but was linked to via my Facebook feed), is reporting that Burton has cast Depp in his remake of The Abominable Dr. Phibes. And I responded with "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!"  The bizarre, Steampunk/Clockwork/Art Deco horror movie with murders based on the 10 Plagues deserves a better team. I know Burton has a deep reverence for Vincent (indeed, the film that first got him noticed is an homage to our mutual hero and Price's last film was Edward Scissorhands), but I can't imagine either of them restraining themselves enough to make an actually good version of this movie. They must be stopped. I can't handle the thought of Helena Bonham Carter as Vulnavia.

While Theatre of Blood was adapted into a stage play in London a few years ago, I've always thought it deserved a musical adaptation. Wish I could afford the rights to that. Of course, I could always do an "unauthorized" version...

As for the Burton/Depp remake of Phibes? That spinning sound you hear is coming all the way from Mr. Price's grave.

More, anon.
Prospero

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Late to the Birthday Party

There are so many great images of Vincent price available online, I had a hard time choosing which one to use. I settled on this one because it's from his last film, Edward Scissorhands and probably the one with which most younger readers are most familiar.

Vincent Price's 100th birthday was this past May, and many horror and film bloggers honored him then. I may be a little behind, but it's the thought that counts (or so "they' say).

My first real memories of Price are as the villain Egghead on the campy Batman TV series from the late 60's. Egghead was a character created just for the series, though he does appear in a few other versions of the DC comic.

But it was his films in the 70's that really brought him to my attention. Most notably as the murderous musician Anton Phibes in 1971's The Abominable Dr. Phibes and its 1972 sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again. In the first movie, the horribly disfigured Phibes blames a team of doctors and nurses for his wife's death and exacts revenge on them using a wildly inventive assortment of murders based on the plagues of the Book of Exodus. Assisted by the beautiful and silent Vulnavia (Virginia North), he takes them out one by one, before joining his wife in eternal sleep.

The success of the original couldn't keep a good villain down, and Phibes was resurrected for a sequel, this time searching for the "Scrolls of Life" in Egypt, in a attempt to bring his wife back to life. Vulnavia was now played by Valli Kemp and his prime adversary by none other than Count Yorga himself, Robert Quarry.

In 1973, Price appeared in the similarly-themed revenge horror movie, Theater of Blood. He plays Edward Lionheart, a Shakespearean actor continually over-looked and derided by London theatre critics who takes his own life after losing an important theatrical award one time too many. Of course, Lionheart survives the attempted suicide and with the help of his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg) and a cast of homeless people, takes his revenge on the critics, murdering them based on deaths in Shakespeare's plays. Probably my favorite is Robert Morse being force-fed pies made from his poodles, ala Tamora in Titus Andronicus. Theater of Blood had recent stage production in London, though I've always thought it was rife for a musical adaptation.

But Price's career extended well beyond these AIP productions. He worked with everyone from William Castle, Roger Corman to Cecil B. Demille and Tim Burton. He appeared on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents:" "Science Fiction Theatre" and "The Brady Bunch" and voiced characters on "Scooby Doo" and "Animaniacs." Here are just a few highlights from his long and distinguished career:

Vincent Price left an indelible mark on films and horror, and I fear we shall never see his like again. And that's probably how it should be.If there's an afterlife, I hope he knows how much he is missed in this one.

More, anon.
Prospero

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Dear Vincent; A Love Letter

Is there a more enduring icon of Horror than Vincent Price? Some might argue that Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi or Lon Chaney (Sr. and/or Jr.) are all more important to the genre. But Price's film career outlasted all of them.

Starting with the 1938 comedy Service de Luxe, the classically trained Shakespearean actor had a career that spanned 7 decades and included more classic films than one can count on two hands.

His first appearance in a "Horror" movie was in 1939 as the Duke of Clarence in Tower of London, with Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff. It's an effective little chiller about the Duke of Gloucester's rise to power through torture and intimidation.

1940 proved an important year in Price's Horror career as appeared in both The Invisible Man Returns and The House of Seven Gables. Four years later, he would be seen in Otto Preminger's Laura, a noir classic about a man who frames his own brother for murder:

Two years later, he would finally have the lead in Shock, another mystery about a psychiatrist who murders his wife:

He made many films thereafter, but it was 1953's House of Wax that forever cemented his career in Horror movies. Price stars as Professor Henry Jarrod, a disfigured genius who uses real people as the models for the figures in his wax museum. Known as one of the earliest #D movies, House of Wax also featured "The Addams Family" star Carolyn Jones and introduced a young Charles Bronson as Igor:

I saw the 1980's re-release of this movie in 3D, and was highly amused by the obvious attempts to exploit the new technology, though saddened by it's headache-inducing effects.

Another 5 years passed and Price appeared in several in several films before his next Horror (really Sci-Fi) movie The Fly.

He soon teamed up with the 'King of Gimmicks,' William Castle for House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler in 1959. And then moved on to Roger Corman's adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe's stories Master of the World; The Pit and the Pendulum; and a 1962 remake of The Tower of London, in which he portrayed Gloucester. Of course, his best role under Corman's direction was as the sadistic Prince Prospero (no relation) in The Masque of the Red Death:

Price appeared in many more of Corman's Poe-inspired films before the 1971 movie that brought him to my full attention as a Horror Icon; The Abominable Dr. Phibes. As the (once again) disfigured genius who wreaks his vengeance against those he feels responsible for his wife's death, Price is both elegant and creepy in a story featuring inept policemen, corrupt doctors and elaborate deaths in a Steampunk (before there was such a term) tale of vengeance and horror featuring Joseph Cotton, Terry Thomas and Hugh Griffith:

And then there was the inevitable 1972 sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again:

Before his career degenerated into a parody of itself, Price had one more great role as the Shakespearean actor Richard Lionheart in Theatre of Blood, one of Uncle Prospero's favorite 70's Horror movies which co-starred Diana Rigg and Price's last wife, Coral Browne:

There would be many appearances in TV specials and series ("The Brady Bunch") afterward. But it wasn't until 1982 that Price received the tribute he was truly due. A young filmmaker by the name of Tim Burton made an animated short in tribute, simply called Vincent, which the Master himself, narrates:

Of course, Price's last film appearance was in Burton's Edward Scissorhands, as a slightly mad inventor who dies before he can give his creation a real pair of hands:

I've barely touched on Vincent Price's long and varied career, but I have to ask myself if there will there ever be another iconic Horror star like Price? I doubt it. Probably no other film actor is so is indelibly defined by the genre as Price, by all accounts a gentle and intelligent man who made a living both scaring and delighting fans over a career longer than most most modern film actors could ever hope to have. His kind is like to never be seen again. And I would have it no other way. Thank you, Vincent, for so many great performances in so many great (and even not-so-great) films.

More, anon
Prospero

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