Not much I could say on the history of this film. Vincent Price apparently did this movie to show his considerable Shakespearean abilities (having started out doing Shakespeare on Orson Welles' Mercury Theater in the 1930's.) He was offered the project by his friend and former agent, Sam Jeffe. Sure enough, it became a personal favorite of Price's among his filmography. It was notable for having been shot entirely on location, with the Putney Hippodome and the Kensal Green Cemetery in London being primary shooting locations, as opposed to studio locations. Many West-End Actors were secured to star in this film. To produce the murders, over six gallons of fake blood was used. Price was introduced to his future wife Carol Browne through his co-star Diana Rigg (most famous for her role as "Emma Peel" on the British television show The Avengers, no, not related to that one. Co-star Ian Hendry also starred in The Avengers. ). The film now has a 72% on Rotten Tomatoes, and now has a stage adaptation, with Jim Broadbent and Riggs' daughter Rachel Sterling in the lead roles.
Stage actor Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price) considers himself one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of the modern era. Thus, when he is snubbed for a "Critic's Award", and promptly acts out, humiliating himself, he decides to enact vengeance on the critics who had given him poor reviews and had taken his award from his clutches. Helping him in this endeavor is his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg), who adopts a disguise using a fake mustache and beard, who assists him in faking his suicide, and getting in contact with a group of vagrants on the Thames, who become his "stage players." Once he has murdered three of the critics, one of them, Peregrine Devlin (Ian Hendry) figures out the murders are themed around the Shakespeare plays that Lionheart has performed in, and teams up with Police Inspector Boot (Milo O'Shea) to figure out the murders, and hopefully stop Lionheart.
Vincent Price is this movie. He simply has a large presence around the entire film. While he is deliberately overacting, it is legitimately great to watch, and he is incredibly charismatic, delivering a certain demented glee when performing these murders. It's clear he is having a lot of the fun He also delivers Shakespearean monologues in a way that would actually work in a real Shakespeare play. He really could've done very well in an actual Shakespeare movie. He basically towers over all the other actors in the feature, though most of them do fine. This also had a very interesting and creative idea for a serial murder film. Reenacting many Shakespeare's own murder scenes, or reinterpreting certain scenes, (like a metaphoric line in The Merchant of Venice). It's mostly uses black comedy and absurdity over actual horror to portray these murders.
That said, it isn't particularly scary. It's quite gory, though, and sometimes disturbing, but never actually scary. I would've preferred some more actual scares, making the murder of the critics have more impact. As is, some of them are simply too silly to really take that seriously. There are also the occasional plotholes and contrivances to get the plot going. There's also no mystery to the whole affair. We know basically from the beginning that Lionheart is the murderer, and thus, Devlin and Boot's investigation has no suspense. Similarly, the fact that the Lionheart's bearded assistant is his daughter is treated as a big twist towards the end, but you could figure it out just through sheer logic. This mostly kills any suspense the film may have had.
This was a fun, jaunty sort of ramp, one made so Vincent Price could belt out Shakespearean monologues, while also committing murders. I had a lot of fun watching it, despite it not really being a particularly deep film. This would be a good, fun Halloween watch, to just watch and have a good time. It's also for those who like the violence in Shakespeare plays (as opposed to the monologue, the classic dialogue, the themes...)
Next time, we conclude this year's Masterpiece with a film I've been avoiding for the past few years, but will finally confront: The Exorcist.
Stage actor Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price) considers himself one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of the modern era. Thus, when he is snubbed for a "Critic's Award", and promptly acts out, humiliating himself, he decides to enact vengeance on the critics who had given him poor reviews and had taken his award from his clutches. Helping him in this endeavor is his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg), who adopts a disguise using a fake mustache and beard, who assists him in faking his suicide, and getting in contact with a group of vagrants on the Thames, who become his "stage players." Once he has murdered three of the critics, one of them, Peregrine Devlin (Ian Hendry) figures out the murders are themed around the Shakespeare plays that Lionheart has performed in, and teams up with Police Inspector Boot (Milo O'Shea) to figure out the murders, and hopefully stop Lionheart.
Vincent Price is this movie. He simply has a large presence around the entire film. While he is deliberately overacting, it is legitimately great to watch, and he is incredibly charismatic, delivering a certain demented glee when performing these murders. It's clear he is having a lot of the fun He also delivers Shakespearean monologues in a way that would actually work in a real Shakespeare play. He really could've done very well in an actual Shakespeare movie. He basically towers over all the other actors in the feature, though most of them do fine. This also had a very interesting and creative idea for a serial murder film. Reenacting many Shakespeare's own murder scenes, or reinterpreting certain scenes, (like a metaphoric line in The Merchant of Venice). It's mostly uses black comedy and absurdity over actual horror to portray these murders.
That said, it isn't particularly scary. It's quite gory, though, and sometimes disturbing, but never actually scary. I would've preferred some more actual scares, making the murder of the critics have more impact. As is, some of them are simply too silly to really take that seriously. There are also the occasional plotholes and contrivances to get the plot going. There's also no mystery to the whole affair. We know basically from the beginning that Lionheart is the murderer, and thus, Devlin and Boot's investigation has no suspense. Similarly, the fact that the Lionheart's bearded assistant is his daughter is treated as a big twist towards the end, but you could figure it out just through sheer logic. This mostly kills any suspense the film may have had.
This was a fun, jaunty sort of ramp, one made so Vincent Price could belt out Shakespearean monologues, while also committing murders. I had a lot of fun watching it, despite it not really being a particularly deep film. This would be a good, fun Halloween watch, to just watch and have a good time. It's also for those who like the violence in Shakespeare plays (as opposed to the monologue, the classic dialogue, the themes...)
Next time, we conclude this year's Masterpiece with a film I've been avoiding for the past few years, but will finally confront: The Exorcist.
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