An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe (1970)

Thanks for the memories!

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Absolutely Fantastic

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

What this film is: Vincent Price, alone, on a stage, reciting four Edgar Allen Poe stories: Tell-Tale Heart, The Sphinx, Cask of Amontillado and Pit and the Pendulum. Why "Sphinx" instead of "Black Cat" or "Raven", I do not know, but there it is.Why this film exists, I am not really sure. It is an AIP picture, the same company Price had previously worked with to make the Poe films, so that makes sense. But what this amounts to is Price sitting in a room (well, four rooms) in various costumes (designed by his wife Mary Grant) reading the works of Poe in a very dramatic fashion -- especially "Tell-Tale Heart". It would make a great one-man stage show, but seems very strange for a film.What apparently happened is that director Kenneth Johnson developed this idea, and Price was quite interested. But because he was under contract to AIP, they had to bring AIP on board. This is probably for the best, as they already knew how to market Price-Poe films, and it also brought on board the composer Les Baxter, who is one of the greatest (yet unsung) composers of the 20th century.The picture quality, at least on the copies I have watched, is shoddy. Even the Scream Factory release is only in standard definition, which leads me to believe that there is no other way to present it. It looks like it was taped off the TV, which I suppose is not too far from the truth considering they were using TV-quality cameras rather than film cameras. And the pauses between acts are unusually long. But it was still enjoyable... Price knows his Poe, and you can tell he is doing most of it from memory.The film appears on Scream Factory's Vincent Price Collection, Volume 3. The film itself is not improved from the MGM release, but it does have a few special features to bolster it. Steve Haberman's audio commentary focuses less on the film itself and much more on the writing of Poe. This is interesting, in that we find where the stories came from -- they were not all just inventing out of thin air. Haberman's commentary style is a bit dry, as he apparently just reads his notes and has a tendency to recite the career highlights of people. But it is still nice.Interestingly, there is a 20-minute interview with director Kenneth Johnson, whose memory is incredible in his recollection of what was necessary to do each of the four stories. Who knew you could put makeup on a rat? It would have been nice is Johnson had provided the audio commentary rather than Haberman, because if he had 50 minutes to talk rather than 20, it would be quite informative on the process. But maybe I am just being picky. The Vincent Price Collection (Volume 3) is well worth owning. This might be the least best in the set, but if the worst film is one of Price reciting Poe tales, that is still better than most of the fluff being made these days.

Legendary horror icon Vincent Price narrates four tales of terror written by the great Edgar Allan Poe. The show starts off with a very passionate and riveting reading of "The Tell Tale Heart." Next we have a perfectly whimsical telling of "The Sphinx," a comical anecdote that builds to one doozy of a funny punchline. "The Cask of Amontillado" receives a beautifully chilling rendering. The program concludes on a properly unnerving note with a positively marrow-freezing rendition of "The Pit and the Pendulum." Director/co-writer Ken Johnson keeps the pace rattling along at a snappy clip and allows Price full reign to really strut his sensational show-stopping stuff. Price is in exceptional form throughout and acts with tremendous verve, intensity and conviction; his rich, plummy voice in particular rarely sounded more sonorously sinister than it does here. The lively and restless prowling cinematography adds a considerable amount of crackling energy to the deliciously macabre proceedings. Les Baxter's splendidly spooky and shuddery score likewise hits the spine-tingling spot. But what truly makes this affair so fine and effective is its refreshing faithfulness to the original material: There's no unnecessary padding or filler to speak of; instead we get extremely stark and straightforward presentations of Poe's stories that go right to the black heart of the matter with often genuinely scary and unsettling results. Essential viewing for both Vincent Price fans and Edgar Allan Poe aficionados alike.

I really couldn't believe my eyes as I started to watch this. The thought of an actor (even someone as iconic as Mr Price) simply reading Poe made me wary - I've heard it done often, and not well at that (why do actors always seem to get hysterical when reading Poe?!)! But from the first few words of The Tell Tale Heart I was, as the previous comment stated, absolutely mesmerised. Transfixed. And very probably sat with my mouth hanging open. It was magnificent. Poe in its truest form. Spell-binding, macabre, poetic, horrifying, all of it. However - the greatest revelation was the man himself. Boy, could he act! I never realised this. Why, oh why didn't directors push him more?! He was capable of so much more... I've always enjoyed his performances, glorious in their over-the-top ripeness, but never, ever, dreamed he was capable of such control and such intensity...I remained stunned and awed by the experience!

This is a collection of 4 Poe stories, that seems to have been broadcast on television. The narratives are performed by Vincent Price (Solo). The Poe stories include the Telltale Heart, the Pit and the Pendulum, the Sphinx and the Cask of Amantillado. He is quite exceptional at interpreting Poe, and it shows. This could have easily been a Broadway play. Price knows Poe to the point, that we wonder if he did not know Poe personally. His acting is too realistic at time, almost as if the crimes were committed by Price himself. As always, Vincent shows that he had acting ability above the rest, even though some of his movies did not allow for him to do more. This is definitely recommended for fans of Poe and Price.-Celluloid Rehab