Themes: Haunted By the Past, Ghosts, Death of a Partner
Main Cast: Vincent Price, Elizabeth Shepherd, John Westbrook, Oliver Johnston, Derek Francis
Release Year: 1964
Country: UK/US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Once again Vincent Price stars for director Roger Corman in The Tomb of Ligeia, the last of Corman's eight Edgar Allen Poe adaptations, a film graced by a script by Robert Towne and moody cinematography by Nicolas Roeg. Price has the creepy lead role of Verden Fell. In 1821, when Verden's wife Ligeia (Elizabeth Shepherd) dies, she is buried in a churchyard, despite the parson's objections that she can't be buried there since she isn't a Christian. Before the grave is closed, abetted by the screech of a black cat, Ligeia eyes shoot open, startling Verden, who becomes convinced that she is not dead. Months later, Lady Rowena (also played by Shepherd) is thrown from her horse and lands at the foot of Ligeia's grave. Verden tends to her and soon falls in love with her. They marry and move into Verden's gloomy Gothic abbey, where Rowena begins to have strange dreams involving Ligeia and a black cat. One night she awakens to discover a dead fox in her bed. When Ligeia's grave is exhumed, instead of Ligeia's corpse, a wax figure is discovered. Then Rowena finds, to her horror, Verden in the arms of his dead wife in a hidden room of the abbey. Having hypnotized Verden before she died, Ligeia had Verden convinced she will live forever. Verden, now possessed by the spirit of his dead wife, takes a torch to the abbey, trapping himself and Rowena in the flaming conflagration. But Christopher (John Westbrook), an admirer of Rowena, endeavors to rescue Rowena from the flames. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
Though it was the last of Roger Corman's eight films based on Edgar Allen Poe stories, The Tomb of Ligeia remains one of the finest in the bunch easily standing in the same territory as The Fall of the House of Usher and Masque of the Red Death. The final result has the feel of a scary supernatural take on Hitchcock's Rebecca. Tomb succeeds on a variety of levels including Robert Towne's excellent script, the use of widescreen photography, fantastic sets and locations that add to the scary atmosphere, and a great performance by Vincent Price. Here, Price plays a brooding widower (with a curious eye malady) whose obsession with his late wife takes a terrifying turn for the worse once he takes a new wife. Elizabeth Shepherd is also good as the frightened, but curious, bride who finds herself stalked by one of the nastiest cats in cinema history. In one excellent sequence, the evil black feline lures Shepherd deep into the maze-like catacombs of their abbey home while Price's voice-over reveals details about his late wife, Ligeia. The camera work by Arthur Grant is top-notch with outdoor lensing bright, but suitably grey and gloomy. Dark interior photography adds to the chilling atmosphere. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide
Richard Vernon - Dr. Vivian; Ronald Adam - Parson; Denis Gilmore - Livery Boy; Penelope Lee; Frank Thornton - Peperel
Credit
Roger Corman - Director, Alfred Cox - Editor, Kenneth V. Jones - Composer (Music Score), Kenneth V. Jones - Musical Direction/Supervision, George Blackler - Makeup, Arthur Grant - Cinematographer, Roger Corman - Producer, Pat Green - Producer, Ted Samuels - Special Effects, Robert Towne - Screenwriter, Edgar Allan Poe - Short Story Author
The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) is an American International Pictureshorror film starring Vincent Price and Elizabeth Shepherd in a story about a man haunted by the spirit of his dead wife and her effect on his second marriage. The screenplay by Robert Towne was based upon the tale "Ligeia" by American author Edgar Allan Poe. The film was directed by Roger Corman, and was the last in his series of eight Poe film adaptations. Tomb of Ligeia was filmed in England (Castle Acre Priory among the other locations) with a mostly English cast, and is marked among the Corman/Poe canon for its atypical outdoor scenes and opulent settings.
Verdon Fell (Vincent Price) is both mournful and threatened by his first wife's death. He senses her reluctance to die and her near-blasphemous statements about God. Alone and troubled by a vision problem that requires him to wear strange dark glasses, Fell shuns the world. Against his better judgement, he remarries a headstrong young woman (Elizabeth Shepherd) he meets by accident and who is apparently bethrothed to an old friend Christopher (John Westbrook). The spirit of Fell's first wife Ligeia seems to haunt the old mansion/abbey where they live and a series of nocturnal visions and the sinister presence of a cat (who may be inhabited by the spirit of Ligeia) cause him distress. Ultimately he must face the spirit of Ligeia and resist her or perish.
Reception
Howard Thompson in the New York Times of May 6, 1965 wrote, "Mr. Corman at least cares about putting Mr. Poe—or at least some of the master's original ideas—on the screen. If they are frankly made to be screamed at, they are not to be sneezed at. Mr. Price still hams it up, front and center, but these low-budget shockers generally evoke a compelling sense of heady atmosphere and coiled doom in their excellent Gothic settings, arresting color schemes and camera mobility...Mr. Corman has made stunning, ambient use of his authentic setting, an ancient abbey in Norfolk, England, and the lovely countryside. The picture is not nearly as finished as Masque of the Red Death...But the Corman climate of evil is as unhealthy and contagious as ever."[1]
