The Premature Burial
Roger Corman had tremendous success with “House of Usher,” (1960), and “The Pit and the Pendulum,” (1961), adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories for American International Pictures. But Corman had something of a falling out with AIP over the studio’s financial charges for the productions, and he decided to make his next film elsewhere. Pathe Laboratories was looking for an opportunity to get into film distribution, and they agreed to put up $200,000 for Corman’s next film in the Poe Cycle. This meant that Corman would be unable to use Vincent Price in the feature, since the actor was under contract to AIP. Corman offered the picture to Ray Milland, who had won the Academy Award for his performance in the 1946 film “The Lost Weekend.”
James Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff, (the owners of AIP), were not pleased with this arrangement. Arkoff threatened to take AIP’s laboratory business elsewhere unless Pathe sold him their interest in the film. Fearful of losing one of their biggest customers, Pathe agreed to the offer. Nicholson and Arkoff arrived on the set of Corman’s picture on the first day of filming to deliver the news in person. This would be an AIP feature.
This week’s movie was “The Premature Burial” from AIP in 1962, directed by Roger Corman from a script by Charles Beaumont and Ray Russell. It was based on the story of the same name published by Edgar Allan Poe in the July 31, 1844 issue of “The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper.” Ray Milland stars as “Guy Carrell,” an artist with an obsessive fear of being buried alive. This is a fate that Guy believes happened to his father, but his sister “Kate,” (Heather Angel), is not convinced. Guy marries the lovely “Emily Gault,” (Hazel Court), but his mental difficulties manifest themselves even during the wedding reception. He builds himself an elaborate burial vault filled with devices that will help him escape should he suffer catalepsy and be entombed in error. Emily seeks the help of “Dr. Miles Archer,” (Richard Ney), to heal her husband’s delusions, and Guy agrees to destroy the vault to preserve his marriage. But during the therapy he experiences a shock which triggers the cataleptic state he fears, and the still- living man finds himself in a coffin destined for burial!
The character of “Guy Carrell” is so obsessive in his behavior that he quickly becomes unlikeable. It is difficult to understand Emily’s commitment to the man. He shows her little affection or respect. The scenes of Guy in the coffin are effective, but they are also utterly predictable. The climax turns Guy into a monster bent on revenge, which really doesn’t feel justified. A last minute plot twist suggesting that Emily was manipulating her husband’s madness doesn’t ring true at all. This is the weakest film in Corman’s Poe series, and is the only one that I really didn’t like.
In 1962 Ray Milland starred in and directed the very suspenseful science fiction film “Panic in Year Zero!,” also for AIP. Corman cast Milland in “X: The Man With The X-Ray Eyes” in 1963, one of the director’s best science fiction efforts.
In 1962 Max Hallan Danne published a novelization of “The Premature Burial” through Lancer Books.