 |
| The Premature Burial |
| Ray Milland .... Guy Carrell Hazel Court .... Emily Gault Richard Ney .... Miles Archer Heather Angel .... Kate Carrell Alan Napier .... Doctor Gideon Gault Dick Miller .... Mole Yes indeed Roger Corman did a Poe picture without Vincent Price.He went to Pathe labs to do it as a change of pace from AIP.Since Price was under contract to AIP Milland was used instead.On the first day of fliming AIP honchos Arkoff & Nicholson wished Corman luck.And they also told him they had just bought Pathe. Guy Carrell and his future father in law Dr Gault are involved in a bit of grave robbing for medical science.Unfortunately when the grave is opened it is obvious the stiff was buried alive.Guy goes apes#!@ and collapses.He cancels the wedding to Emily and hides in the house on the moors. Emily (Hazel Court of the heaving bosom) demands to see Guy.against his sister Kate's wishes she does.Guy tells Emily that all he can think about now is his obsessive fear of being buried alive.He even feels that his father was buried alive although Kate disagrees.Emily feels that Guy must return back to some semblance of normal life.He agrees and the wedding is on. After the wedding Guy begins to have flashbacks when Emily plays Molly Malone on the piano.(This song was being whistled by Mole, one of the grave robbers when the gruesome discovery was made).Guy has a fit and passes out.Dr Archer is called in to help.Guy suffers from catatonia and has a morbid fear of being buried alive. Guy locks himself away in the mausoleum and builds a coffin with all sorts of little tricks to allow him to escape upon premature burial.He shows this all to Emily and Archer.Archer explains to Emily that Guy is so afriad of burial that he could actually die of fright. Guy begins to see and hear things that no one else sees.He sees Mole the grave robber;he hears Molly Malone being played;he imagines he hears his father calling out to him.Archer convinces Guy to destroy the coffin and start living life rather than hiding from it.Guy does destroy the coffin but he can't escape his obsession. When he opens his father's crypt the body falls out on him.Guy suffers a heart attack and dies.Or does he?He is buried alive and goes quite mad in his grave.When his father in law has him dug up to be used for medical purposes Guy wreaks revenge. A lot of people feel this is a lesser effort by Corman.Actually it is one of the stronger Poe pictures in the series.Milland does an excellent turn as the obsessed Carrell.Hazel Court is beautiful and evil all at the same time.This is well photographed and moves at a much better pace than its companion piece on the dvd, Masque Of The Red Death. Obsession is a horrible thing to struggle with if you've ever had the misfortune to do so.It can overrule every aspect of your life and make you extremely miserable,blind to what life does have to offer.Corman captures the essence of this on the money with a gruesome subject. |