All Business Halloween Day Part 2: An Evening of Edgar Allen Poe
Released: 1970
Directed By: Kenneth Johnson
Plot: Vincent Price plays the part of the narrator for four Edgar Allen Poe stories. He is the only actor in the production and does them all as monologues. The stories chosen for this film are “The Tell Tale Heart.” “The Sphinx,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Pit and the Pendulum.”
Why To See It: VINCENT PRICE. The production is essentially a one man show, and boy is that one man absolutely killing it. Many horror fans could always sense that Price was a fantastic actor, but it was hard to point to many great examples of it and the default is always Witchfinder General (aka The Conqueror Worm). I’m officially adding this to that list. This is a command performance in which Price both electrifies the gorgeous words of Poe and keeps your eyes magnetized to the screen. Possibly the best section is “The Cask of Amontillado” and he doesn’t make any grand gestures or even get up during that portion. Just his ability to sit still and tell the revenge story, throwing his voice for the different characters is such a joy to watch. In fact, each section sees Price creating a fully formed character that is entirely different from the one in the segment before. This is really first rate work.
The film itself is nothing to write home about particularly. It feels more like a staged play than a movie (and it definitely feels like a movie meant for television). There are different angles and lighting cues, but it is mostly just about putting the camera on Price and letting him roll (this is not easy stuff to say so the long takes are like verbal stunt work). Everything is very competent, but Johnson knows that his star is the main attraction and keeps the flourishes to a minimum to the movie’s benefit.
There is one exception to that rule. Unfortunately, An Evening of Edgar Allen Poe tries to get more creative with “The Pit and the Pendulum.” It makes sense in a way, this is the grand finale of the film so it’s time to wow the audience, but it truly does a disservice to Price’s phenomenal work. It may have worked in the 70’s, but by today’s standards it’s all a bit cheesy, well more cheesy than a one man show put to film starring Vincent Price doing Poe stories ought to be. There are cut aways to rats which just look to peaceful and cute to be scary, and some shots of Price strapped to a board which just look terrible and have not aged well at all. It doesn’t ruin the segment or the film at large, but it does make it the weakest link. Still though, I’ll say it again, Price is fantastic in this.
Scare Factor: I suppose it could be creepy if you have a really low tolerance for such things, but really this falls into that category of films that are not scary but undeniably Halloween.
Recommended?: Yes yes yes yes yes. I actually only picked this movie because it was 53 minutes long (just 53 minutes), but I was enraptured from beginning to end. It is a great find that will become a yearly Halloween tradition for me. This is Premium Price.
Note: Although the pictures are in black and white, the film itself is in color.