The Oblong Box (1969)

As Good As It Gets

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Edgar Allan Poe wrote an essay called "The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale". He believed in maintaining one mood and seeking one effect in prose designed to be read in an hour. If this 1969 British film had shared anything more than a title with Poe's 1844 short story (which takes place on a ship), it might have benefited from fewer characters, fewer incidents, less back story, and as a result, less diffusion of that single effect that a good horror story strives for.This is a well-crafted film, good looking and enjoyable. Vincent Price is always a treat. There's just too much going on with too many characters, none of whom are really given the chance to take hold with us or resonate.The best sequence involves the man in the red hood (around whom the story attempts to revolve) being bullied into a crazily debauched pub, with interesting results, but even here, we don't have enough time to develop any real emotional color. Things just keep happening as the plot hurtles forward from place to place and character to character. The three leads share very little screen time and relate to each other minimally.The long, rambling plot synopsis for this film on Wikipedia makes for a pretty good exercise in trouble-spotting, and the fact that I felt the need to seek it out after viewing simply underscores the point. A bit less might have given us room for a lot more.I'm sure I'll give "The Oblong Box" another try in a few years- it's far from a waste of time. But as of now it doesn't crack my top ten Vincent Price movies in which someone is buried alive.

Ahhh - The Gothic Horrors of American International Pictures. While they did their best to copy the look of the winning formula employed by Hammer Films, and rather successfully at that, they generally did not "get" what made those films from across the pond so compelling and endearing. "Oblong Box" is a prime example, coming very close to a gratifying cinematic experience, but ultimately failing. The story is jumbled and confusing. Too many elements are thrown into the mix, with even the most vital plot points never fully, or even half-heartedly for that matter, explained. The film opens with a man being tortured in some voodoo ritual. Soon we learn that he has survived, albeit horribly disfigured - both physically and mentally, and is being cared after by his brother, played by Vincent Price. For reasons unknown, he plots with an unscrupulous acquaintance to have himself appear dead and buried so he can be taken to a witch doctor. He ends up being buried alive but his coffin is stolen by grave robbers and sold to a local doctor for experiment, played by Christopher Lee. He winds up hiding out at Lee's house while he enacts revenge on whoever he feels wronged him - taking a few breaks for sex with housemaids and hookers - all while keeping his face covered with a Crimson Mask. His face is kept hidden until the end of the film, and when it is finally revealed it is a big let-down, as are all of the "special effects" in the film - which are pretty lamely executed, even by these kinds of films' standards. However, there is an excellent cast of actors here, thank goodness, who manage to at least keep things interesting. The Gothic scenery, sets, castles, graveyards are all nicely done as well and rather pleasing to the eye. A more straightforward approach would have been most definitely beneficial, with motives and actions better explained.Anyone hoping to see Lee and Price battle it out on screen will be sorely disappointed as their screen time together amounts to just one scene, and a few seconds at that. Neither one can rightfully be called the star, popping in and (mostly) out of the picture - with poor Lee's role seeming as though it were shoehorned in at the last moment, just to give him something to do. Fans of these Hammer Horrors will certainly find a viewing worthy, but repeated viewings will most likely remain undesired and even more frustrating.

Disfigured in an African ritual, Edward is kept, "protected", by his brother Julian by being kept chained up in attic. He fakes his death to escape from Julian and another man is killed to take Edward's place in the "oblong box". Film looks like a low-key, photographed stageplay, a well-dressed period piece having little to do with Poe's short story, besides the title box. This is one of those films to watch primarily to enjoy the cast, lush settings and photography, hooded killers, throat-slicings, and a couple of good scares along the way, even if it has little if anything to do with Poe, just don't get one's hopes too high up. It does have a good unmasking scene, and genuinely creepy twist-ending, which still stood out in my mind years after I had last seen this film. Favourite line: "I'll only do my prowling at night."

"The Oblong Box" is about what you'd expect. Like "Witchfinder General" (aka "The Conqueror Worm") the previous year, a lot of it seems to be going for shock value. Vincent Price plays a 19th-century nobleman keeping his disfigured brother locked in a room...only then the brother manages to escape. There's some violence (although I wouldn't call it gore) and no shortage of women with bug-eyed, frightened looks on their faces.As with the other 1960s horror flicks based on Edgar Allan Poe stories -- although this one is not part of Roger Corman's series -- the movie only uses the title and is otherwise unrelated to the original story. There's certainly nothing special about the movie, except that it was the first pairing of Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. Otherwise, Corman's movies are the ones that I recommend.Also starring Rupert Davies, Peter Arne, Sally Geeson and Hilary Dwyer.