"The Masque of the Red Death" *** (out of ****)Last year, for Halloween, I wrote about a Roger Corman film, his "The Pit & the Pendulum" (1961) since that time I have not written about him since. I didn't think that was fair to Corman, to completely ignore his work, so here I am again reviewing one of his better known films.
I stated in my last review on Corman that I do not think he is one of the all time great filmmakers however I do have a certain amount of admiration for him. I can relate to his underground filmmaking approach. As a former film student in college I too was forced to rapidly shoot short films, shooting as many as 15 scenes per day, usually in a 6 hour period. If you know nothing about films you have no idea how difficult that is. But that is the way Corman works. He actually holds the record for fastest production shoot, 2 days.
But all of this may give you the wrong idea about Corman. Yes his films are generally "B" pictures and for his rapid shooting style he does in a way belong in a class with Ed Wood or John Waters, for his independent spirit. Yet, I feel his work is greater than their's. His films are much more artistic and have much more style. Corman does have a vision, admittedly a rather cheap one, but, still a vision. His films may be campy at times, but, compared to Ed Wood he is Orson Welles. And on top of all of this, he did what all amateur filmmakers want to do, he made movies. He found people to produce his films and distribute them.
Many of Corman's films are rather on the silly side and in my opinion aren't really worth watching. But I am a fan of his "Poe series" as it became to be known as. These were a series of films he did based on Edgar Allan Poe stories. I find these films to have the most artistic aesthetic. These films I would say rank among his best. If you are going to watch Roger Corman's films (and I do think any film lover should) these are the films to start with.
I read Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" back when I was in high school. Poe was a gifted writer but I never really became a fan of his work. I often don't understand what I am reading. Poe's writing to me is poetry. "The Raven", while some may consider it a scary story, to me is actually poetry. And I've always had difficulty with poetry. When I first read "The Masque of the Red Death" I honestly didn't know what it was about, but Corman's adaptation is very loose, as was his adaptation of Poe's "The Raven" (1963) with Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff.
Like "The Pit & the Pendulum" before it, "The Masque of the Red Death" (1964) looks like it was made on a modest budget. It doesn't look cheap at all. The main setting is a castle which does resemble the one used in "Pendulum". I suppose once you've seen one castle you've seen them all. Still, the production designs are pleasant to look at and Corman goes to great lengths to emphasis the color schemes at work. However I am partially color blind, so I can't comment on it.
"The Masque of the Red Death" has Vincent Price as Prince Prospero who kidnaps the lovely Francesca (Jane Asher), her lover, Gino (David Weston) and her father, Ludovico (Nigel Green) after their town is faced with the red death (think black plague). Prince Prospero has the village burnt and for his own amusement has decided he shall "conquer" Francesca and force her lover and her father to fight in a duel to the death.
The film has a strong religious tone to it. Francesca and her family are faithful followers of the Catholic religion while Prince Prospero is a Devil worshipper. He wants Francesca to renounce her belief in God. This comes at a time when movies were starting to deal with the occult often; "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), "The Exorcist" (1973) and "The Omen" (1976).
The Prince is throwing a costume party and has informed his guest of the red death. He tells them that they are all safe in his castle, he shall protect them from the dangers lurking outside the castle walls. What the guest do not know is the Prince wants to sacrifice them to the Devil.
For a film dealing with such topics the film is neither scary or suspenseful though is at time interesting due to Price's performance. He is usually the only actor worth watching in Corman's films. I doubt any one will find this movie scary unless of course you are afraid of your own shadow.
But the film does have some interesting visuals too. In many ways it reminds me of Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" (1957) about the black plague. In fact Corman was afraid the film resembled Bergman's masterpiece so much he delayed its release. But Bergman's film makes a greater artistic social commentary. Pay attention to both of their final images.
The downside to the film is the casting and choice of actors. Because Corman makes low budget films he doesn't get grade "A" actors in his films. Seldom are these actors believable. The deliver their lines blandly and are incapable of fully bringing us into the story and care about their characters. That is the difference between a trained professional actor and a novice.
Now while Vincent Price is hardly a great actor he does have more experience in front of the camera than most of his co-stars. And he is usually the one to deliver the best performance, even if he walks that line and heads into camp. It still makes him the most memorable character.
Price wasn't always in horror films. He wanted to be in serious films. He was in Otto Preminger's "Laura" (1944) and "A Royal Scandal" (1945) originally intended to be directed by Ernst Lubitsch and "Leave Her to Heaven" (1945). Some of Price's performances in these films are actually quite good and some have gone on to be considered classics. I remember when I saw "House of Wax" (1953) when I was younger. It scarred the heck out of me.
"The Masque of the Red Death" is no masterpiece and it is not scary still for Price and some interesting visuals I'd say see it. It doesn't hurt to become familiar with Roger Corman's films.
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