It would have also been Vincent Price's birthday today. An important actor in the classic noir era as well as everyone's favorite horror player.
Vincent Price
It would have also been Vincent Price's birthday today. An important actor in the classic noir era as well as everyone's favorite horror player.
I'll just add that he was an astounding radio actor as well. Absolutely one of a kind.
He also had some excellent comedic instincts. I remember a guest shot he did on the Carol Burnett Show where he was a mad scientist who intended to kill Carol's streetwalker character and transplant her organs into his incredibly aged mother's body to prolong her life. It was all "tongue-in-cheek" and a helluva lot of fun!
Vincentennial - St Louis Tribute to Vincent Price
Urbane Vincent Price, from St. Louis would have turned 100 years old on May 27. His grandfather had invented Dr Price's Baking Powder setting the foundation for the family's fortune. Bearing in mind these surreal beginnings, it's hardly surprising that Price graduated through the twilight worlds of film noir and horror.
Many of his 180 movies are included in Vincentennial, a 10-day celebration of his life and legacy at various venues throughout St Louis up to May 28.
Vincentennial includes almost 20 Price movies at the Hi-Pointe Theatre, the Missouri History Museum, Brown Hall at Washington University and the outdoor Bank of America pavilion at the Muny. Many of the screenings are free. Roger Corman, who will present two of his Poe adaptations with Price, "The Tomb of Ligeia" (May 21) and "The Masque of the Red Death" (May 22), at the Hi-Pointe.
Laura - in Spanish!
In the '40s, Price co-starred in major noir films such as Laura (1944) and Dragonwyck (1946) (a free double feature on May 23 at Brown Hall). He also made a strong impression in Leave Her To Heaven (1945) with Cornel Wilde, Gene Tierney and Jeanne Crain. This is a remarkable exploration of obsession and it's Tierney's movie the whole way through - a bravura performance.
Price then went on to star in Shock (1946) with Lynn Bari in which a woman is committed to an insane asylum by the man she saw commit a murder. The film is full of hints of the Price persona that would emerge fully in the early sixties.
Lynn Bari
The Web (1947) we've already explored recently and The Long Night (1947) is an existentialist noir made by Anatole Litvak - with Henry Fonda in fine form as a returning soldier forced to reflect on the causes of his crimes.
Moss Rose (1947) was an unusual film based on a real-life murder mystery from the Victorian era with British actress Peggy Cummins in the lead role; and then there was the outstanding The Bribe (1948) with Robert Taylor, Charles Laughton and delicious Ava Gardner mixed up in all kinds of shenanigans in central America.
His Kind of Woman
His Kind of Woman (1951) is a beautiful confection with Bob Mitchum and Jane Russell involved in a gangster's attempt to re-enter the US. Lighter than most film noir, elements of it are reminiscent of Hawaiian Eye. Jane also leads in The Las Vegas Story (1952) when her gangster husband gets mixed up in murder as she sings her way to stardom in the new resort.
Finally, in Dangerous Mission (1954), Piper tries to escape to a national park when she witnesses a mob killing and is in fear of her life, whilst in While The City Sleeps (1956), the great Rhonda Fleming has to deal with life in a city terrorised by a serial killer.
While the City Sleeps
I always enjoy Price. This week I watched some of his Poe horror films he made in the 60s.
Interesting to see him as romantic characters early in his career since I always thought he was a bit asexual. Certainly not a playboy like he was in Laura (then again, nearly all the supporting cast in that one seem to have questionable sexual orientations.)
Shock is a fun B movie... and his hammy performance in His Kind of Man is very funny.
Here he is in While the City Sleeps (if you can take your eyes off of Rhonda Fleming). Those socks!
Even made it on an Alice cooper Album...and special
also of course Micha jacksons thriller ..
and everyone's favorite game comercial "hangman"
Last Halloween, I did a William Castle / Vincent Prince double feature of The House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler. Both very fun for late night viewing especially The Tingler, even though many might find the effects a little hokey in The Tingler, I find them down right creepy.
How did I never notice this thread before? In honor of the Vincentennial I've been hosting a chronological poetic tribute to the films of Vincent Price over at my blog Limerwrecks. If you're a fan of Price and the horror film (as well as Laura, Shock, and other Price films in other genres) give it a look see. I started the massive marathon way back on May 17th--and it's still going strong. We're currently up to 130 odd limericks, and we've worked our way up to The Raven. Here's the limerick that started it all.
Price Gouger
The masterful thespian Price
Whenever he's nasty it's nice
Pursuing such meanery
he chews on the scenery
A ham, and a very thick slice
He will always be the "male beauty in distress" per Waldo.
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