Thursday, October 27, 2011

A Tribute to Vincent Price



I have been thinking a lot about Vincent Price, since it's coming upon Halloween, and just a few days ago it was the 18th anniversary of his death - by the way, can you believe it's been that long? Pretty much all of my students this term were born the year he died! Time flies!

Surprisingly, Vincent Price was born in St. Louis, Missouri, of all places, on May 27, 1911. I say this not to cast aspersions on the good people of Missouri, but Price did an excellent job of always sounding so very, very continental. Eternally dashing, it is quite a mystery how he never made it as a leading man. Perhaps it was the intensity of his face, that awesome voice (which could be easily recognized a mile off and underwater), and his noteworthy height of 6’4” that kept him firmly etched in the catalog of American horror saints.

In honour of a man who helped raise my generation, I have elected to watch The Last Man on Earth (1964) as tonight’s entertainment. While this movie seems to be one of those that viewers either love to death or hate passionately, don’t let reviews sway you. I find it gripping from the first seconds of narration all the way to the poignant ending, even with my cheapie DVD print, and it seems just as watchable today as it did when made, perhaps even more so.

A world-wide plague sets about killing off humankind, but for, so it seems, the last man, Dr. Robert Morgan (Price), who is forced to make his way in the world and keep his sanity, even after it is revealed that the disease doesn’t just kill its victims, but turns them into mindless nocturnal zombies (bear with me). In the end, Price is faced with the question whether these zombies are the monsters, or whether he is, and the whole thing ends in a sort of fable about how misguided intentions can destroy everything.

I'm not usually a major booster of the whole zombie genre, and maybe this film wouldn’t work so well if it were another actor (I can put up with a lot for a good glimpse of Vincent Price), but I enjoy this thing every time I see it. The opening situation of a man alone, and facing being alone for the rest of his life, who dares not even hope for so much as a pet as company, becomes wonderfully enthralling, especially when that man is normally so well-groomed and contained. Further, the camera use and sound, while rough in places, almost seems avant-garde, and the low budget technique gives the film an eerie, pseudo-documentary feel.

Thumbs up, all the way, and, along with Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Carnival of Souls (1962), this is one of my all time favourite B thrillers of the decade.

Vincent Price died on October 25, 1993, just a few years after his touching cameo in Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990), and remains one of the few actors of his era who is as cool and recognizable as ever, due to his appearance in some 179 movies, TV shows, radio spots and music videos over a nearly 60-year career. Let’s see those leading men try to claim that!

3 comments:

Kathleen Ann Gallagher's Place to Reflect said...

My favorite movie with Vincent Price is the haunted tale House on Haunted Hill!

Wasn't that is laugh in the video for Thriller?

Anne Holly said...

I'm pretty sure it was his laugh - it's too distinctive not to be!

Also, I really liked Haunted Hill, as well. The walking skeleton was pretty freaky for the time, and his character was so deliciously smarmy.

I also really liked him in Song of Bernadette.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Vincent Price did the spoken-word narration at the end of Thriller. :)

I LOVE him. In fact, I just subjected my husband to the torture of watching some of his movies last weekend. House on Haunted Hill, The Pit and the Pendulum, and From a Whisper to a Scream. He finally made me turn Netflix off. *sigh*

Questions? Comments?

Questions? Comments?
Request a Review PDF!
The Romance Reviews

Labels

:p (2) #samplesunday (25) 12 Flavours (15) 1K a Day (3) 1NS (1) 1Place for Romance (1) 2010 in Review (2) A Christmas Carol (1) A Funny Thing Happened... (7) About Me (3) Academics (1) Ads (1) Advice (2) After Life (2) All I Want (13) All Romance Ebooks (2) Alphamales (1) Amanda Wood (3) Amazon (6) American History (1) Andre Jute (1) Andy Rane (1) Angst (1) Anniversaries (3) Announcements (50) Anthologies (9) Aretha Smith (1) Artists (1) Ashley Rae (1) Ashlynn Monroe (9) Author Blogs (2) Author Portrait (1) Authors (5) Authors Behaving Well (1) Autumn (1) Awards (2) b4e (1) Bats (2) Behind the Books (2) Betareaders (3) BethAnn Buehler (5) Birthdays (1) BL Morticia (2) Blair McDowell (1) Blog Hop (14) Blog Novel (1) blog stuff (45) Blog Tours (3) BlogTalkRadio (2) Blurbs (4) Bob Mayer (1) Book Recommendation (7) Book Reviews (11) Book Spotlights (1) Bookmarks (2) Books (5) Britain (1) Bubbly (15) Business (21) Busy (2) call for submissions (1) Canada (6) Canadian Writers (4) Carl J Franklin (1) Carla Caruso (1) Categories (1) Cerise DeLand (1) Change (1) Changeling Press (1) Character Interviews (2) Characters (1) Charity (11) Chats (6) Childhood (1) Children (1) Christmas (13) Christopher Craven (2) Clare Dargin (2) Classics (2) Coffee (1) Coffee Breaks (33) Coffee Corner Forum (1) Coffee Time Romance (4) Cold War (1) Comments Please (3) Computers (2) Contact Me (11) Contemporary (8) Contests (31) Conventions (1) CoolMain Press (3) Copyright (2) Coral Moore (2) Cormack's Luck (5) Cover Artists (2) Cover Contests (2) Covers (18) Craft (1) Creepy Tales (1) CTR (1) Current Affairs (1) Current Work (18) Dakota Franklin (1) Dana Michelle Burnett (1) Dana Taylor (1) Dark (1) Dark Fantasy Romance (1) Dark Romance (1) Dating (1) Deanna Wadsworth (2) Death (1) Debbie Macomber (2) Debra Webb (1) Decadent Publishing (21) Declan Conner (1) Desi Moon (1) Ebooks (6) Editing (13) editors (2) Education (3) End of an Era (1) Epic Fantasy (1) epublishers (11) ereaders (2) Erotic (29) Erotic Romance (3) erotica (3) Events (12) Excerpt Sundays (43) Excerpts (56) Experiment (2) FaceBook (6) Fade to Black (1) Fall 2010 Project (26) Family (2) Fan Sites (1) fanfiction (2) Fantasy (6) Features (7) Feedback Needed (5) Fill the Shelves (1) First Dates (1) Folklore and Mythology (2) Food (2) Forums (3) Free Fridays (38) Free Reads (2) Free Stuff (5) Freebies (1) Freelancing (1) friends (5) Fruitcake (1) Fun Facts (1) FYI (2) Gary Vanucci (1) Geek Hero (1) Gemma Coole (1) Genre (9) George Berger (1) Giveaways (12) Global (1) Goals (7) Good causes (4) Good for the Goose (29) Good Ideas (2) Good Times (3) GoodReads (10) Gracen Miller (1) Grammar (1) Great Ideas (1) Greetings (1) GTKY (8) Guest Blog (2) Guest Blogging (1) Guest Blogs (5) Guest Excerpts (6) Guest Posts (22) Guest Recipes (1) Guest Spots (6) Halloween (10) Harry Potter (1) HEA (2) Hiatus (8) Historical Romance (2) History (5) Holiday (26) holiday romance (22) Holiday Shorts (52) Holiday Showcase (1) Holidays (22) Hope (1) How Tos (4) HQ (2) Humour (3) In Flanders Fields (1) In the News (1) Indie (4) Ingrid Weaver (1) Innovation (1) inspirational romance (2) Internet (4) Interviews (61) Invitations (8) Invites (6) Ireland (2) Issues (1) Jackie M Smith (3) Jasmine Aherne (4) Jean Brashear (2) Jennifer Wilck (1) JERR (1) Jessica Coulter Smith (3) Jessica Subject (1) JL Oiler (4) Joanne Troppello (7) John Howard Griffin (1) John McCrae (1) Joyfully Reviewed (3) Just for Fun (1) Juvenile Fiction (2) Kathleen Ann Gallagher (2) KB Authors (1) Keep in Touch (2) Kidding Around (1) Kids (1) Kiki Howell (1) Kindle (3) Kindlegraph (1) Krista Ball (2) Labour Day (2) Laments (1) Lanie Barnes (1) LaVerne Thompson (1) Leanne Dyck (3) Leanore Elliott (3) Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy (3) Legal Issues (1) Legos (1) Lending (1) Leslie Soule (1) LGTBQI (4) Life (5) Like Magic (18) Lila Munro (5) Lindsay Marene Ordone (1) Links (20) Liquid Heat (2) Lisa Day (1) Lisa de Nikolits (1) Lists (1) Literacy (1) litfic (1) Love (1) m/m (1) magazine work (1) Mahalia Levey (1) Marketing (16) Marriage of Convenience (1) Maureen Betita (1) Meatless Mondays (18) Megaposts (1) Melissa Keir (2) Memberships (1) Memes (2) Memoir (1) Memories (3) Mentions (2) Merfolk (1) Michel Prince (2) Milestones (3) mission statement (2) Monetizing (1) Motherhood (7) Motivation (12) Movie Reviews (2) Movies (4) Muses (1) Music (1) Musings (1) Must Love Books (3) Mysteries (1) Nancy LaPonzina (1) NaNo 2011 (1) NaNo2011 (6) NaNo2012 (2) NaNoWriMo (30) NASCAR (1) Nathalie LeBlanc (1) Nathan Morissey (1) Nature (3) Nerd Power (1) New Releases (6) New to Me Authors (1) New Years (3) News (2) Newsletter (6) Nominations (1) Non Fiction (1) Non-Fiction (3) Non-Romance (10) Nova Scotia (1) Observations (7) Off Topic (2) Open Thursdays (12) Opinion (7) Paperback (10) Paranormal (22) Parenting (10) Patrica Yager Delagrange (1) Personal Saturdays (11) Pet Peeves (1) Pictures (5) Pink Petal Books (5) Piracy (2) Pirates (1) PK Morris (1) Plagiarism (1) PNR (3) Poetry (2) Politics (1) POV (1) PR (14) Press Releases (1) Print (1) Process (1) Profession (1) Progress (14) promo ops (1) Promos (31) Promotions (35) PSAs (1) publishers (2) Publishing (2) Questionable Decisions (1) Questions (11) Quotes (1) Random Thoughts (7) Rants (6) Rawiya (2) Reading (2) Real Life (30) Realm of Ashenclaw (1) Rebel Ink (43) Recipes (18) Recommended Blogs (1) Reflections (2) Release Celebration (34) Remembrance Day (2) Reminder (1) Reminders (3) Research (4) Resolutions (1) Retrospectives (1) Reviews (10) Rhiannon Ellis (1) RIP (1) Romance (8) Romance Fiction (2) Romantic Comedy (2) Romantic Literature (1) Romantic Suspense (1) RomFan Reviews (1) Ruth Madison (3) RWA (1) Sales (8) Samples (1) Sara York (1) Savings (1) Sci-fi (3) Seasonal (1) Secret Project (2) Self-Publishing (4) Series (3) Shadonna Richards (1) Sherlock Holmes (1) Shifters (2) Short Pieces (23) Show Cases (1) Show Me The Money (1) Sickness (2) Siobhan Kinkade (2) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1) Six Sentence Sunday (6) Sizzling Hot Book Reviews (1) Sizzling PR (15) Social Justice (2) Social Media (1) Social Science (1) Speculative Fiction (1) SQUEE (3) Stacey Thompson Geer (4) Star Trek (2) Stephanie Draven (1) Stephanie Queen (1) storytelling (1) Strings Attached (32) Stuart Aken (1) Submissions (5) Summer 2011 Project (1) SuperRomance (1) Suzzana C Ryan (2) Swag (2) Taglines (1) TBR (1) Teachers (5) Teaching (4) Television (1) Textbook Romance (21) Thanksgiving (4) The Onion (1) The Romance Reviews (1) Thinking Out Loud (2) Thrillers (1) Thursday 13 (6) Titles (2) Topaz (1) Topical Tuesdays (20) Tot (1) Toys (1) Traditionals (1) Trailer (11) Translation (1) Tributes (1) TRR (3) TRS (2) Twitter (1) Twitter Pals (1) Tyhada's Bookshelf (1) University (2) Unwrapping Scrooge (40) Upcoming (28) Updates (10) Urgent (1) V-Day (18) Valentines Day (8) Vampires (2) Vera Jane Cook (1) Victorian Piece (2) Victoriana (2) Video (1) Vincent Price (1) Votes request (1) Waiting (1) Waking Kara (14) War (1) WB Yeats (1) Weather (2) Websites (3) welcome (1) Wellness (2) Wendy Smith (4) Western Romance (1) WHP (21) Wicked Nights (14) Winners (2) Winter 2011 Project (2) WIP (27) Women's Fiction (1) Wordless Wednesday (6) Words (1) Worthy Cause (1) Wounded Hero (1) Writing (19) Writing Tips (18) Writing Wednesdays (23) WWI (1) YA Paranormal (1) You Gotta Read (2) You Never Know (1) YouTube (3) Yule Be Mine (6) Zombies (1)