The Pit and the Pendulum
by Roger Corman
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Antony Carbone, Barbara Steele, John Kerr, Luana Anders, Vincent PriceDirector: Roger Corman
Cinematographer: Floyd Crosby
Editor: Anthony Carras
Producer: Samuel Z. Arkoff
Producer: James H. Nicholson
Writer: Richard Matheson
Writer: Edgar Allan Poe
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 80 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-06-05
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: American International Pictures (AIP)
Movie Reviews of The Pit and the Pendulum
Movie Review: All in the Family
Summary: 5 Stars
The Medina family has a lot of skeletons in the family closet. And the torture chamber. And the crypt. In Roger Corman's adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's classic "The Pit and the Pendulum", we even get to see some of them. There is a vague, sketchy storyline to Poe's nightmarish tale, making it next to impossible to translate into a feature length film. Corman, the low-budget wunderkind of American International Pictures, along with screenwriter Richard Matheson, made a memorable filmic adaptation of the Poe story. The setting is 1540s Spain, where Englishman Francis Barnard has traveled to investigate the sudden, mysterious death of his sister Elizabeth. Elizabeth, wife of Nicholas Medina, son of a brutal grand inquisitor, has died of fright. Her grief-stricken, guilt-ridden husband fears that she has been interred prematurely. He has good reason, too. As a boy, Nicholas witnessed his father kill his uncle, then wall up his mother alive. And that's only part of the story! The film has its mysterious goings-on and recriminations, and builds to a heart-pounding climax featuring the title device. And there is a final, ironic twist to the film which I won't divulge to new viewers. Screen Matheson incorporated all of those feel-good Poe elements, i.e. madness, guilt, revenge, torture, premature burial, and of course, the title device, into the film. Corman's direction, along with Floyd Crosby's photography and Daniel Haller's art direction, make the film visually memorable and sumptuous, which is something of a miracle, due to budget-conscious American International. The matte paintings of the Medina castle and the "Pit and the Pendulum" are images wrenched out of a nightmare. The Renaissance costumes are handsome (altho the women's hairdos and makeup date the film), and Les Baxter's vivid score adds a great deal to the drama. Baxter's "love theme" takes on a very ironic meaning in the end credits. And now for the cast. Vincent Price gives a wonderful, over-the-top performance as Nicholas and his father Sebastian in an hallucinatory flashback. His Nicholas is classic Poe, a man living on the very edge of sanity. Some critics describe Mr. Price as hammy, but with such baroque, larger-than-life material, I don't think the "mumble" school of acting would exactly fit the bill. John Kerr is sulkily appealing as Francis, and the late, underrated Luana Anders and Paul Simon lookalike Antony Carbone lend good support as Nicholas' sister and best friend. And, of course, there is the strikingly beautiful Barbara Steele as Elizabeth. The tall, slender British brunette with the high cheekbones, pouty lower lip and large hazel-green eyes has been described by one fan as "horror chic personified", and "the illegitimate daughter of Christopher Lee and Cyd Charisse" by another. The talented Ms. Steele scored a hit in the Mario Bava classic "Black Sunday", and became one of the screen's most famous "Scream Queens", appearing in several European horror films, as well as several non-horror films. Her screen time in "Pit" is brief but unforgettable. Even when she is offscreen, she is spoken of, referred to, and you find yourself thinking, "When will we see her again?" Inexplicably, Ms. Steele's voice was dubbed in this film.The picture quality on the DVD is superb. I have seen this film innumerable times, and seeing it in DVD format was like seeing it for the first time. The colors are rich, and the detail is razor-sharp (couldn't resist!) The sound is okay, not spectacular. There is also the rarely-seen prologue, which was filmed years after the film was made for its television airing in the late 1960s. It neither adds nor detracts from the film, but it is an interesting curio nonetheless. "The Pit and the Pendulum" is my favorite of ther Corman/Poe adaptations. Now, when are "The Masque of the Red Death", "The Haunted Palace", and "The Tomb of Ligeia" going to be released? So, for a real swingin' time, watch "The Pit and the Pendulum"!
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