Post by Zone Fighter on Nov 4, 2005 17:57:04 GMT -8
[The Fall of] The House of Usher (1960)
Produced and Directed by Roger Corman
Starring:
Vincent Price - Roderick Usher
Mark Damon - Philip Winthrop
Myrna Fahey - Madeline Usher
Harry Ellerbe - Britol
Based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story. Like the other movies based on Poe's works this film adds more to the story. There is a romance between Philip and Madeline which is not in the short story.
After a long journey, Philip arrives at the Usher mansion seeking his loved one, Madeline. Upon arriving, however, he discovers that Madeline and her brother Roderick Usher have been afflicted with a mysterious malady. Roderick insists that Madeline cannot leave. After she agrees to leave with Philip see appears to die, and is buried. In fact she was not dead but in a catatonic state and her brother knew it but buried her alive anyway.
Although the DVD case and main menu list the title as "The Fall of the House of Usher" which is the name of Poe's short story, the film itself has the title as just "House of Usher".
It was interesting to see Vincent Price as a blond.
[The] Pit And the Pendulum (1961)
Produced and Directed by Roger Corman
Starring:
Vincent Price - Don Nicholas Medina
John Kerr - Francis Barnard
Barbara Steele - Elizabeth Barnard Medina
Luana Anders - Catherine Medina
Antony Carbone - Dr. Charles Leon
Patrick Westwood - Maximillian (the butler)
Lynette Bernay - Maria
Larry Turner - Nicholas Medina, as a child
Mary Menzies - Isabella
Charles Victor - Bartolome
Although the DVD case has the title as "The Pit and the Pendulum" the film is actually titled "Pit and the Pendulum".
Has almost nothing to do with Poe's story of medieval torture, although there are elements from his other stories included in this strange tale.
Francis Barnard goes to Spain, when he hears his sister Elizabeth has died. Her husband Nicholas Medina, the son of the crulest torturer of the Spanish Inquisition, tells him she has died of a blood disease, but Francis finds this hard to believe. After some investigating he finds out that it was extreme fear that was fatal to his sister and that she may have been buried alive! Strange things then start to happen in the Medina castle.
Nice twist at the end.
