Tales of Terror

Roger Corman had a successful series of film adaptations of the works of Edgar Allan Poe including “House of Usher,” (1960), “The Pit and the Pendulum,” (1961), and “Premature Burial,” (1962). For his fourth effort Corman and his writer Richard Matheson decided it was time to do something a little different. Rather than adapting one Poe story, Corman and Matheson wove three tales into an anthology film. All three narratives would star the great Vincent Price.

This week’s movie was “Tales of Terror” from AIP in 1962. The first story is “Morella,” (published originally in the April, 1835 issue of “Southern Literary Messenger “). Maggie Pierce plays a terminally ill young woman named “Lenora” who seeks out the father she has never known. “Locke,” (Price), blames the young woman for the death of his beloved wife “Morella,” (Leona Gage), who died after giving birth. Father and daughter start the beginnings of a reconciliation, but it is interrupted when Morella’s ghost takes possession of her daughter’s body!

The second tale is “The Black Cat,” (first appearing in the August 19, 1843 issue of the “United States Saturday Post”), although the script also incorporates elements from “A Cask of Amontillado,” (from the November, 1846 issue of “Godey’s Lady’s Book”). Peter Lorre plays penniless drunkard “Montresor Herringbone,” who challenges master wine tester “Fortunato Luchresi,” (Price), at his own game. Montresor wins, but Fortunato begins an illicit affair with his opponent’s lovely wife “Annabel,” (Joyce Jameson). When Montresor discovers his wife’s infidelity, he murders the lovers and bricks them up behind a wall in his basement. But Annabel’s cat witnesses the crime…

“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,” (first published in the December, 1845 issue of “The American Review”), stars Price as the dying “Ernest Valdemar,” who seeks release from his pain through a hypnotist named “Carmichael,” (Basil Rathbone). The mesmerist is successful in giving relief to Valdemar, but in payment he wants to perform an experiment. Just as Valdemar is on the verge of death, Carmichael locks the man into a trance preserving his spirit in the world of the living even as his body dies! But when Carmichael tries to abuse the widow “Helene,” (Debra Paget), Valdemar’s quickly deteriorating corpse rises to her defense!

Poe’s stories really work well within the shorter structure of an anthology film, with a minimum of padding to dull the impact. All three tales are successful, but “The Black Cat” is the best of the lot. Price is effective in all three roles, and he gets able support from Rathbone, and especially from Lorre, who would return for Corman’s next Poe feature.

“Tales of Terror” received a comic book adaptation from Dell, and Eunice Sudak authored an adaptation of Matheson’s script for Lancer Books.