An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe

Vincent Price reads Edgar Allan Poe. Sounds very boring right - you may imagine Price dressed nicely in a chair, maybe with a fireplace at his side, reading a book to us in his acting voice - that is what I imagined anyway. Well rest assured that it's not at all what you would think nor exactly what I thought it would be.

Basically Price is dressed for and sorta acts out each part/role while he tells us (not reads to us) each tell. Since the tales are written in first person (you know "I") it's a if you asked the character "tell me in detail what exactly happened" and each of the characters (played by Price) tells us what we wanted to know - what happened?!

What I am saying is: This is NOT Price giving us a sit and read - this is Price acting out each role. In all honesty - I think Poe himself would have really enjoyed this "reading" of his tales.

8.5/10

I'm not just a fan of Vincent Price's films, I really love him! In my humble opinion Vincent Price must have been one of the most fascinating people who ever walked the earth and one of my biggest wishes would be to have known him in person. When I was ten years old I first saw him on the big screen in "Edward Scissorhands" but I was too young to realize who he was. A few years later I watched "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" – arguably his most iconic role and performance – for the first time and I got hooked on his persona forevermore. The horror genre brought forward many legendary actors (Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorre, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing…) but there's only ONE Vincent Price! His bravura, his charisma, his grimaces and most of all – of course – his voice… This man was unique and I treasure each and every single one of his horror movies. He's also the only person in cinematic history that actually could have made the concept of "An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe" work! One and the same person narrating four (gothic) horror stories in front of a camera? Even with other acclaimed narrators/actors, like for example Morgan Freeman or Leonard Nimoy or James Earl Jones, this inevitably would have become tedious and monotonous. But not with Price. He is single-handedly responsible for making this movie almost as captivating and intense as a real action/horror movie. Two of the stories are very familiar to probably all fans of horror literature, namely "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Pit and the Pendulum". But although familiar and previously seen in other films, they still remain my favorite segments and particularly "The Tell-Tale Heart" because it provides our narrator with the ideal opportunity to go 100% mentally berserk during its climax! "The Sphinx" is only a very short interlude, but definitely sweet. The third tale is called "The Cask of Amontillado" and turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. It's a beautifully sinister and atmospheric tale thriving on vintage E. A. Poe themes like vengeance and immurement (being walled in alive). Highlight of this segment is a fierce dialog between two rivaling friends, brought by Vincent Price all alone. Magnificent decors and costumes too, by the way.

Kenneth Johnson(Creator of "The Incredible Hulk" & "V") directed this verbal adaptation of four Edgar Allan Poe stories. Vincent Price reads all four tales and plays out the roles in dramatic and professional fashion, making the viewer forget that he is on a stage, and pulling you into the skill and terror of the original stories, told in their entirety.

'The Sphinx', 'The Cask Of Amontillado', 'The Tell-Tale Heart' & "Pit and the Pendulum' are all good choices, and Price had previously played in Roger Corman directed versions of two of them.

At about an hour, this is a fun view/listen any time of year, but especially at Halloween, or a rainy day!

I wasn't expecting much from this film. It comes in a double pack with Roger Corman's "The Tomb of Ligeia", which is how I came across it. I bought the DVD purely for the Corman film and saw this merely as a bonus - but to my surprise, it almost surpassed the film I bought the double pack for. The idea of an actor sat on a set reading out stories doesn't sound particularly fascinating; until you consider that the writer of the stories is the magnificent maestro of the macabre, Edgar Allen Poe and the actor doing the reading is the one and only Vincent Price: then, suddenly it becomes rather more intriguing. An Evening of Edgar Allen Poe features Vincent Price reading four of Poe's stories - The Tell-Tale Heart, The Sphinx, The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum.

The first story on that list is perhaps my favourite of Poe's works, and Price does a great job of reading it. The malevolent tones of his voice draw you into the story and don't let go until it ends. The Tell-Tale Heart sees Poe at his most adept, and the way the story moves echoes the beating of the heart in the story. We then move on to The Sphinx, which is definitely the weakest of the four stories; but that's not to say it isn't a great little tale. It's surprisingly funny for Poe, and Price does another excellent job of reading it. The Cask of Amontillado sees Poe back to his most devilishly wicked, and features the common Poe theme of being buried alive. The story features lines of dialogue between two characters, which means Price has to read both out and the way he does it is superb. You get all the madness of the central character, and the menacing tones of the story from the sound of his voice. The final tale is 'The Pit and the Pendulum', and this is a Poe classic that speaks for itself. Many will remember Corman's excellent take on it, but here we get the original story just as Poe wrote it - and it's quite different from Corman's! The Pit and the Pendulum features what is maybe Poe's finest line ever, and you're guaranteed to get a chill down your spine when Price delivers it - "the agony of my soul found vent in loud, long and final scream of despair".

Price really proves his worth as an actor in this movie. It takes a lot of talent to keep the audience's interest when all you're doing is sitting and reading out stories - but Price does it. He doesn't just deliver the stories; he practically becomes them. He's the perfect storyteller, and he shows us that here. Maybe it's his voice, or perhaps it's the obvious love he had for the material but whatever the reason; this is an excellent telling of Poe's works and if you get the chance to see it - I insist that you take it.

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!