The Tomb of Ligeia / An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe
by Roger Corman, Kenneth Johnson
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Derek Francis, Elizabeth Shepherd, John Westbrook, Oliver Johnston, Vincent PriceDirector: Kenneth Johnson, Roger Corman
Brand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 135 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-08-26
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of The Tomb of Ligeia / An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe
Movie Review: The best Poe film in the series -- more poetic than frightening
Summary: 5 Stars
The other reviews of THE TOMB OF LIGEIA on this site are so sensitively and intelligently written that I hesitate to add anything. I agree totally with their views and wish to weigh in on this project only to add support to what was probably an unappreciated film when it was released, at least in the midwest where it often appeared on a double-bill or on a triple-bill at the drive-in. This film belonged in an art house, and perhaps some art houses still in existence today could present a retrospective for urbane audiences. It clearly is not a film for groping teenagers and cigarettes-in-the-sleeve Joe Six-Pack types at the drive-in.
Most of the Poe films were given superb treatment by the economical but skillful Roger Corman. What an interesting director. I do wish a good DVD could be made available of one of his 1950s small-budget but well-written projects THE UNDEAD. One of the few films to put the witches' sabbath on the screen, complete with soul trading with Satan, it is cleverly combined with a time travel theme. In fact, I once showed this film to science-fiction students when teaching a film course emphasizing time travel. Another of his films that I showed to the same students was FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND. It is an interesting take on the time-travel theme -- bringing in the well-known Frankenstein story as seen by a time traveler from the future. Not only do we see Mary Shelley in this film, author of the original story, but we likewise are treated to brief characterizations of the famous poets Lord Byron and Percy Shelley (before he marries Miss Godwin and makes her Mrs. Shelley).
Like MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, and perhaps THE HAUNTED PALACE, which is more H. P. Lovecraft than Poe, THE TOMB OF LIGEIA is a work of subtle poetry on the screen. The scene where Vincent Price's Shakespearean voice provides a narrative from Poe, as written by the talented Robert Towne, is mesmerizing. I am referring, of course, to the scene where Rowena follows the evil black cat up the stairs of the bell tower in the abbey (for the rest of the film, the cat chases or torments her). Price as the admittedly morose but intellectual resident of the half-ruined abbey reminds us of our own memories and the ultimate futility of trying to recall, intact, the actual content of those dream-like memories. The voice-over is compelling and one of the greatest examples of poetry transferred to the motion picture screen.
This DVD belongs in the collection not only of lovers of the Poe series, as I am, but to serious fans of intelligent films in general. . . as well as to teachers and professors who teach Poe literature. What is amazing to me, if I may be allowed a segue, is that female Chinese students and teachers alike find Poe to be so frightening and disturbing. One teacher in Anshan, China, even asked me why Poe wrote such material. When I showed THE TOMB OF LIGEIA to Chinese students recently, I was almost astounded to discover, after the showing in a small auditorium when I was discussing what we had just seen, that one young lady was trembling visibly. I tried to be sympathetic while, at the same time, concealing (successfully, I hope) my amazement. If this early-sixties film is so frightening, what would be their reaction to a film like THE EVIL DEAD, a film lacking any subtlety whatsoever?
Elizabeth Shepherd is, at least for me, an unknown actress, yet she accomplishes what is almost the impossible -- keeping pace with the actor of all actors, the theatrical and stalwart (if occasionally hammy) Vincent Price. She is eerie as the ghostly raven-haired Ligeia, who speaks very little on-screen; as the red-haired aristocratic Rowena, she is sophisticated and three-dimensional -- not a shrinking violet heroine but a woman with her own complications and superior intelligence. She even tells her solicitor companion, who obviously carries a torch for her, that one may not like someone to whom one is drawn. She admits that one must not necessarily be in love with the man one marries. Why she is attracted to the Byronic and clearly learned Verden Fell is not really clear to us, any more than it is clear to her. She becomes caught up in a situation that is beyond her comprehension; considering the extent of her intelligence, this seems to be quite incredible. Yet with Poe, the incredible is often made credible. She is facing supernatural elements that are not made even partially clear until the end when the servant, placed in an extremely awkward position of trying to be gracious to the new bride while remaining loyal to his master and employer, explains the power of the dead woman to still possess the living. Maybe it is not revealing too much to state that Price does not portray, as he does in MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH and THE HAUNTED PALACE ( half of the time, anyway) a menacing figure; he is a victim, not a victimizer. He is the tragic figure at the center of a gothic mystery, like the mysterious master of the estate in JANE EYRE. In fact, this Poe story, as presented by Mr. Corman, could have been penned by one of the immensely talented Bronte sisters during the height of the Romantic Age in England. Like tragic figures as written by such luminaries as Oscar Wilde, he clearly has a secret that cannot be revealed to the other characters until the end. As for the black cat, I am a lover of cats, but this has to be the most evil feline creature ever shown on the screen.
AN EVENING OF EDGAR ALLAN POE is pure theatre, with Mr. Price exhibiting his considerable talents in a one-man show. This is not a motion picture, of course, and the visual presentation is quite fuzzy; however, this is a work that should be required viewing by literature students studying Poe and other authors who gave us such classic masterpieces. That it is included on a DVD with THE TOMB OF LIGEIA is an inspired decision. This is authentic Poe, and Price gives us a compelling presentation of written literature on the screen. Anyone doubting the genius of this actor need only watch this performance and follow the original text. It is no surprise, therefore, that Price, an art expert as well as a man of the theatre (and a witty person when guesting on talk and game shows), considered this to be his greatest performance.
Congratulations to all involved in this masterful example of the extent to which talented artists can excel.
Summary of The Tomb of Ligeia / An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe
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