The Price of Fear (or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Man) by S. J. Martiene

Once upon a time, when I was but a little ghoul, I watched The Last Man on Earth on FRIGHT NIGHT with The Fearmonger.  Tweener that I was (and having two tormenting younger brothers), I was irrationally frightened of all those zombies and bothered that there was only ONE guy left on earth to fight them.  My brothers further exacerbated that fear by banging on our (the room I shared with my sister) bedroom door shouting, “MORGAN!!  MORGAN!!!  Come out, MORGAN!!!”  As they would return to their room, giggling, the eventual result of their teasing started a great fascination v. fear complex with Vincent Price.  The movie, The Tingler, did nothing to abate my fears.  Those William Castle touches of turning the “blood” in the film red made me want to turn away; or at least cover my eyes so I could peek between my fingers at the rest of the story.  It wasn’t until I was much older and wiser that I learned to love Vincent Price movies, TV Shows, and Radio Programs seeking out as many as I could view.  I have become a full-blown fangirl.

Vincent Price was born on May 27^th, 1911 (a birthday he shares with Christopher Lee).  This month marks the end of the “Vincentennial” (as it has been pegged), a year-long celebration of the actor’s life with special events schedule in St. Louis around the time of his birthday.  This festival included movies, forums, and a display of memorabilia from his fans. 

The lucky people who were fortunate enough to meet or exchange correspondence with Mr. Price said he was a kind man and always had time for his fans.  I think hearing that was one of the main reasons I became so interested in seeing as much of his body of work as possible.  Perhaps through that, I COULD get to know him better.  When he passed in 1993, I (along with many others), were deeply saddened.  The solace we took in it was the knowledge he had over 50 years of work etched into film, TV, and radio.  We could ALWAYS see and hear him.  For that, I will always be grateful.

One of the nice things about being a fan of Vincent Price is that he was able to handle many genres effectively.  His range included being a comedic actor in SERVICE DE LUXE, HIS KIND OF WOMAN and COMEDY OF TERRORS, to dramatic performances in DRAGONWYCK, ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, and WHALES OF AUGUST, to ANY and ALL of his sinister performances throughout the decades.  He never became too much of a “just for adults” type actor.  Price did many animated feature voiceover performances as well:  The Great Mouse Detective, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Tim Burton’s Vincent, are just a few of the shows that endeared him to younger audiences too.  On TV, he could be the villainous Egghead (of the Batman TV series) or guest star on Columbo, The Bionic Woman, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  Whether villain, comedy relief, or dramatic presence, having Vincent Price in the cast made THAT show better.  Finally, on radio, he was the long-time voice of The Saint, a frequent guest on Suspense, and later in his career he had his own show called The Price of Fear.  He could be murderer or hero.  It never mattered.  He was excellent.

Now, I’m not going to get through highlights of his entire repertoire.  You, gentle reader, would be here for DAYS.  I will highlight some of my favorites.

MOVIES:

In His Kind of Woman, a film noir/comedy, Vincent plays (to the hilt) a ham actor named Mark Cardigan.  Nasty, noir-ish things are happening all around him with Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, and Raymond Burr, but he doesn’t have a clue.  He tries to be a hero ... BUT does he succeed?  TCM runs this movie fairly often, so check it out!  Here is an example of the great lines:

Dan Milner: I'm too young to die. How about you?
Mark Cardigan: Too well-known.
Dan Milner: Well, if you do get killed, I'll make sure you get a first-rate funeral in Hollywood, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Mark Cardigan: I've already had it. My last picture died there.

In Comedy of Terrors he is teamed up with fellow horror-genre actors Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and Basil Rathbone.  Price plays Waldo Trumbull, an undertaker, who has a scheme to drum up business:  killing his own customers!  The interplay between all these actors (Basil Rathbone is Shakespearean-quoting ham in this flick) PLUS the added talent of Joyce Jameson as the long-suffering Mrs. Trumbull, makes this movie a standout.  I could not pick just one line to quote on this one.  The entire film shoots arrows from beginning to end.

Vincent Price co-starred with Gene Tierney in films three times:  Laura, Leave Her to Heaven and Dragonwyck.  ALL of these films are among my favorites.  The only change I would like to have seen is Price in the lead male role in Leave Her to Heaven.  I never could understand why Ellen (Tierney) would choose Cornel Wilde over Vincent Price … maybe that’s just me.

RADIO

Over the last decade, I have become a HUGE fan of Old Time Radio shows.  The site, www.archive.org is a great place to retrieve these shows.  I like them because I load them up on my mp3 player and listen daily.  The Saint series, though not well-liked by some because of its writing, featured Price as private eye Simon Templar.  This character was portrayed in the movies by George Sanders, Roger Moore, and Val Kilmer.  He fit this role well as it had both comedy and action elements.  Price also had some very good stories on radio’s Suspense, Escape, and his own show, Price of Fear.  The story, Three Skeleton Key (series, Escape) is considered the best of all the renditions.  You can listen to it here:  http://www.archive.org/details/ThreeSkeletonKey.  It is the story of three men trapped in a lighthouse after it is run over with rats.  I don’t know that there was ever a movie made from this story, but it would be a good one.  In The Hunting Trip (with character actor Lloyd Nolan), Fugue in C Minor (with the WONDERFUL Ida Lupino), and Rave Notice, he is either murderer or … accidental victim.  I’ll let you listen to those and find out for yourself.

 

Television

I’ve had the most fun trying to find as many of Vincent Price’s TV work as I can.  He did quite a bit of guest roles in many shows I watched growing up:  Batman, The Red Skelton show, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Columbo, The Brady Bunch, The Bionic Woman, and Night Gallery.  He also had the job as a narrator of A Christmas Carol, a 1949 TV short.

In addition to all of this he

was an author, art collector, a gourmet cook, and he recorded many gothic horror stories to LP.  A Coven of Witches Tales is probably my favorite.  Someone kindly added them to their website which you can find here:  http://www.thesoundofvincentprice.com/coven1.html.

If I am in the mood for comedy, drama, or film noir or horror, I can ALWAYS find something starring Vincent Price.  I’m never disappointed except in the cases where I wished he had more of a presence.  The above scribblings have been only a few of the reasons I am such a fangirl.  I know I left out many movies worth mentioning but you see, I’ve only scratched the surface. 

A quote attributed to Price is as follows:   

“I've come to believe remembering someone is not the highest compliment - it is missing them.”

And yes, in Vincent Price’s case….I miss him very much.

CV EXTRA: The Price of Fear (or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Man)

Once upon a time, when I was but a little ghoul, I watched The Last Man on Earth on FRIGHT NIGHT with The Fearmonger.  Tweener that I was (and having two tormenting younger brothers), I was irrationally frightened of all those zombies and bothered that there was only ONE guy left on earth to fight them.  My brothers further exacerbated that fear by banging on our (the room I shared with my sister) bedroom door shouting, “MORGAN!!  MORGAN!!!  Come out, MORGAN!!!”  As they would return to their room, giggling, the eventual result of their teasing started a great fascination v. fear complex with Vincent Price.  The movie, The Tingler, did nothing to abate my fears.  Those William Castle touches of turning the “blood” in the film red made me want to turn away; or at least cover my eyes so I could peek between my fingers at the rest of the story.  It wasn’t until I was much older and wiser that I learned to love Vincent Price movies, TV Shows, and Radio Programs seeking out as many as I could view.  I have become a full-blown fangirl.

Vincent Price was born on May 27^th, 1911 (a birthday he shares with Christopher Lee).  This month marks the end of the “Vincentennial” (as it has been pegged), a year-long celebration of the actor’s life with special events schedule in St. Louis around the time of his birthday.  This festival included movies, forums, and a display of memorabilia from his fans. 

The lucky people who were fortunate enough to meet or exchange correspondence with Mr. Price said he was a kind man and always had time for his fans.  I think hearing that was one of the main reasons I became so interested in seeing as much of his body of work as possible.  Perhaps through that, I COULD get to know him better.  When he passed in 1993, I (along with many others), were deeply saddened.  The solace we took in it was the knowledge he had over 50 years of work etched into film, TV, and radio.  We could ALWAYS see and hear him.  For that, I will always be grateful.

One of the nice things about being a fan of Vincent Price is that he was able to handle many genres effectively.  His range included being a comedic actor in SERVICE DE LUXE, HIS KIND OF WOMAN and COMEDY OF TERRORS, to dramatic performances in DRAGONWYCK, ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, and WHALES OF AUGUST, to ANY and ALL of his sinister performances throughout the decades.  He never became too much of a “just for adults” type actor.  Price did many animated feature voiceover performances as well:  The Great Mouse Detective, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Tim Burton’s Vincent, are just a few of the shows that endeared him to younger audiences too.  On TV, he could be the villainous Egghead (of the Batman TV series) or guest star on Columbo, The Bionic Woman, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  Whether villain, comedy relief, or dramatic presence, having Vincent Price in the cast made THAT show better.  Finally, on radio, he was the long-time voice of The Saint, a frequent guest on Suspense, and later in his career he had his own show called The Price of Fear.  He could be murderer or hero.  It never mattered.  He was excellent.

Now, I’m not going to get through highlights of his entire repertoire.  You, gentle reader, would be here for DAYS.  I will highlight some of my favorites. 

MOVIES:

In His Kind of Woman, a film noir/comedy, Vincent plays (to the hilt) a ham actor named Mark Cardigan.  Nasty, noir-ish things are happening all around him with Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, and Raymond Burr, but he doesn’t have a clue.  He tries to be a hero..BUT does he succeed?  TCM runs this movie fairly often, so check it out!  Here is an example of the great lines:

Dan Milner: I'm too young to die. How about you? 

Mark Cardigan: Too well-known. 

Dan Milner: Well, if you do get killed, I'll make sure you get a first-rate funeral in Hollywood, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. 

Mark Cardigan: I've already had it. My last picture died there. 

In Comedy of Terrors he is teamed up with fellow horror-genre actors Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and Basil Rathbone.  Price plays Waldo Trumbull, an undertaker, who has a scheme to drum up business:  killing his own customers!  The interplay between all these actors (Basil Rathbone is Shakespearean-quoting ham in this flick) PLUS the added talent of Joyce Jameson as the long-suffering Mrs. Trumbull, makes this movie a standout.  I could not pick just one line to quote on this one.  The entire film shoots arrows from beginning to end.

Vincent Price co-starred with Gene Tierney in films three times:  Laura, Leave Her to Heaven and Dragonwyck.  ALL of these films are among my favorites.  The only change I would like to have seen is Price in the lead male role in Leave Her to Heaven.  I never could understand why Ellen (Tierney) would choose Cornel Wilde over Vincent Price…..maybe that’s just me.

RADIO

Over the last decade, I have become a HUGE fan of Old Time Radio shows.  The site, www.archive.org is a great place to retrieve these shows.  I like them because I load them up on my mp3 player and listen daily.  The Saint series, though not well-liked by some because of its writing, featured Price as private eye Simon Templar.  This character was portrayed in the movies by George Sanders, Roger Moore, and Val Kilmer.  He fit this role well as it had both comedy and action elements.  Price also had some very good stories on radio’s Suspense, Escape, and his own show, Price of Fear.  The story, Three Skeleton Key (series, Escape) is considered the best of all the renditions.  You can listen to it here:  http://www.archive.org/details/ThreeSkeletonKey  .  It is the story of three men trapped in a lighthouse after it is run over with rats.  I don’t know that there was ever a movie made from this story, but it would be a good one.  In The Hunting Trip (with character actor Lloyd Nolan), Fugue in C Minor (with the WONDERFUL Ida Lupino), and Rave Notice, he is either murderer or….accidental victim.  I’ll let you listen to those and find out for yourself.

Television

I’ve had the most fun trying to find as many of Vincent Price’s TV work as I can.  He did quite a bit of guest roles in many shows I watched growing up:  Batman, The Red Skelton show, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Columbo, The Brady Bunch, The Bionic Woman, and Night Gallery.  He also had the job as a narrator of A Christmas Carol, a 1949 TV short.

In addition to all of this he was an author,  art collector, a gourmet cook, and he recorded many gothic horror stories to LP.  A Coven of Witches Tales, is probably my favorite.  Someone kindly added them to their website which you can find here:  http://www.thesoundofvincentprice.com/coven1.html  .

If I am in the mood for comedy, drama, or film noir or horror, I can ALWAYS find something starring Vincent Price.  I’m never disappointed except in the cases where I wished he had more of a presence.  The above scribblings have been only a few of the reasons I am such a fangirl.  I know I left out many movies worth mentioning but you see, I’ve only scratched the surface. 

A quote attributed to Price is as follows: “I've come to believe remembering someone is not the highest compliment - it is missing them.”

And yes, in Vincent Price’s case….I miss him very much.

Junkyardfilm.com's Moldy Oldie Movie of the Month: SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN

Title:  SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN

Year of Release—Film:  1970

A young runner is running through a park when suddenly he has an apparent heart attack and collapses.  When he wakes, he's in the hospital and realizes to his horror that one of his legs is missing.  As he screams in terror the scene cuts to the discovery of a woman's lifeless body.  The police are stymied by her complete loss of blood.  The scene shifts to some neo-Nazi fascist regime apparently in a foreign country where imprisoned people are being tortured for no apparent reason.  Meanwhile, in Britain, government officials convene to have long, pointless discussions about nothing that has anything what so ever to do with this film.

The young runner is lying in the hospital bed, begging a nurse who silently goes about her nursing duties, for information.  When she exits the room, he screams in terror.  His other leg has been amputated!  At a nightclub, two young women scope out the young men.  One of the girls notices a young man named Keith (Michael Gothard) who is a possible dance partner and makes his acquaintance.  He invites her to go for a ride in his car.  Once out in the country, he attacks her, slamming her head repeatedly into a wall, then sucking blood from her unconscious body. 

Later, when the police discover her, they are confused by the lack of blood in her, on her or around her.  Meanwhile, in the foreign country, the Commander is in his office when a taller man named Konratz (Marshall Jones) comes in and, after some conversation, gives the Commander a fatal Vulcan neck-pinch.  Back in Britain, two government officials discuss something that has nothing to do with the plot.

A young runner, lying in a hospital bed, begins to weep helplessly as he discovers both of his arms have been amputated.  The police interview the young female friend from the nightclub but her recollection of the young man is fuzzy at best so the police decide to send to the nightclub an undercover female officer to ferret out the murder suspect.  Meanwhile, young Dr. Sorel examines the dead body.  In the foreign country, Major Heinrich Benedek (Peter Cushing) gets a deadly Vulcan neck-pinch from Konratz.

The undercover female officer prepares to go to the nightclub by having a microphone placed under her blouse and a tracking device placed in her shoe as her boyfriend, Dr. Sorel, looks on.  At the nightclub, it takes only minutes before the undercover office finds her man.  They leave the nightclub in his car, he not noticing the unmarked police car trailing behind.  Once in the country with the police listening on the radio, Keith begins to attack the woman, biting her on the wrist.  As the police rush to her aid, Keith flees into a nearby rock quarry.  Ignoring the policemen's shouts to come down and surrender, Keith climbs higher and higher until he almost reaches the top.  Losing his footing, he slides down into the waiting grasp of the police, who handcuff the unconscious man to the bumper of their car.  Awakening, Keith hugs frantically at the handcuffs, ultimately ripping off his own hand!  The pursuit is once again afoot!  Running over hill and dale, Keith arrives at a barn-like structure and, despite pleas from the police, throws himself into a vat of acid hidden under the barn's floorboards.  Suddenly, Dr. Browning (Vincent Price) arrives and is questioned as to why the young man would flee to his barn.  Dr. Browning feigns ignorance of the situation.

Later, Dr. Sorel and the policewoman return to Dr. Browning's property for the purpose of obtaining a sample of the acid.  He cautions the policewoman to honk the horn should anything happen and he would quickly return to the car.  Discovering the vat dry, he begins to walk back to the car when he hears the horn honking.  But, when he gets back to where he parked the car, it and it's occupant have disappeared.  Deciding Dr. Browning must know more than he is telling, the doctor sneaks into the main house and after some wandering around, discovers an operating theater, it's walls lined with refrigerated compartments.  Looking inside, he discovers human body parts.  Suddenly, Dr. Browning enters the room, followed by the silent nurse.  Questioned again about his part in this, Dr. Browning tells Dr. Sorel he's invented the perfect human substitute...super-strong and invincible cyborgs in human form!  He explains that the young man from the nightclub was an earlier failure and invites the doctor to watch as he creates a cyborg. 

The nurse rolls in a gurney carrying the policewoman's unconscious body as Dr. Browning explains her brain will be transplanted into his newest cyborg.  Terrified, Dr. Sorel first stabs the silent nurse who is unaffected by this attack.  He then attacks Dr. Browning who slams the younger doctor into a wall, knocking him unconscious.  Just as Dr. Browning is starting the operation, in walks the head of the fascist regime Fremont (Christopher Lee).  After a nonsensical conversation and a brief struggle, Lee forces Dr. Browning into a vat of acid, killing him.  The End

 

As all fans of film know, when a movie has several seemingly dissimilar plots they will all intertwine eventually.  With this movie, that eventuality comes too late for the viewer to care.  The only reason to sit through this confusing and bizarre film is the movie's three stars...Price, Lee and Cushing!  Even the distributor knew this was the primary draw when he wrote the tagline "Triple Distilled Horror...as powerful as a vat of boiling acid!”  Unfortunately, these three screen greats have precious little face-time together in this film.  In fact, Peter Cushing was hired for only one day's shooting and does not appear in any scene with the other two.  Vincent Price, terrific as the mad doctor bent on creating a master race, has the greatest amount of screen time but it's too little, too late.  The supporting cast does an admirable job with Marshall Jones delivering a frighteningly believable performance as the fatal Vulcan neck-pincher and the late Michael Gothard doing a first-rate job as the vampire cyborg.  If you have the patience to sit through the first two-thirds of the movie, you will be rewarded with the ending.

Happy birthday to scream-greats Peter (May 26), and Vincent and Christopher (May 27).

MSTjunkie