Tales of Terror (1962)

Three tales of terror involve a grieving widower and the daughter he abandoned; a drunkard and his wife's black cat; and a hypnotist who prolongs the moment of a man's death.

Director:

Roger Corman

Writers:

Richard Matheson (screenplay), Edgar Allan Poe (based on the stories by)

Stars:

Vincent Price, Maggie Pierce, Leona Gage

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Vincent Price	...	Locke / Fortunato Luchresi / Ernest Valdemar
Maggie Pierce	...	Lenora (segment "Morella")
Leona Gage	...	Morella (segment "Morella")
Peter Lorre	...	Montresor (segment "The Black Cat")
Joyce Jameson	...	Annabel (segment "The Black Cat")
Basil Rathbone	...	Carmichael (segment "The Case of M. Valdemar")
Debra Paget	...	Helene (segment "The Case of M. Valdemar")
David Frankham	...	Dr. James (segment "The Case of M. Valdemar")
Lennie Weinrib	...	Policeman (segment "The Black Cat")
Wally Campo	...	Barman Wilkins (segment "The Black Cat")
Alan DeWitt	...	Chairman of Wine Society (segment "The Black Cat") (as Alan DeWit)
John Hackett	...	Policeman (segment "The Black Cat")
Edmund Cobb	...	Driver (segment "Morella") (as Ed Cobb)
Scott Brown

Storyline

Three stories adapted from the work of Edgar Allen Poe. A man and his daughter are reunited, but the blame for the death of his wife hangs over them, unresolved. A derelict challenges the local wine-tasting champion to a competition, but finds the man's attention to his wife worthy of more dramatic action. A man dying and in great pain agrees to be hypnotized at the moment of death, with unexpected consequences.

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Plot Keywords:

death | dying | cat | drunkard | widower | 

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Taglines:

A Trilogy of Shock and Horror!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Official Sites:

MGM Studios [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 February 1963 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Terror

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alta Vista Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Pathé Colour)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the story "The Black Cat", Vincent Price based his character of Fortunado on Ernie Kovacs's television character Percy Dovetonsils.

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Goofs

When Peter Lorre enters the residence and starts breaking pots,looking for money, one of the pots has a round base and is fluted. The pot hitting the floor, near the cat, is a little different color grey and more cylindrical.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Driver: Ma'am, I have to get back to Boston.

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Connections

Referenced in Evil Deeds 2 (2010)

User Reviews

Very watchable as long as you really aren't looking for Poe!

An alternate title add's "Edgar Allen Poe's" to the beginning of the title, though fans of Poe's stories will be a tad confused to say the least because these stories are only broadly inspired by his stories. For example, the tale BLACK CAT is actually created by morphing Poe's "The Black Cat" with "The Cask of Amontillado" and allowing the writers to add and hack away a lot of material. Unfortunately, American International Pictures (never a place of "high art") used the titles but often little more of Poe's stories for a batch of movies starring Vincent Price. Some of them are very watchable and good, but they usually have contempt for the original material--straying extremely far from the original in most cases. Often, the public thought they were seeing a Poe tale, but it was really an all-new story from start to finish.

Despite this, this is still a pretty good film--particularly the third tale of the trilogy. I would score them as follows: the story about Morella (4), The Black Cat (6) and The hypnosis segment (9). So, as you can see, the stories got progressively better. The one about Morella just didn't make much sense and was dull. The Black Cat was, for me, too comedic in tone to be anything other than ordinary. But, the segment starring Basil Rathbone and Vincent Price was exciting and the only negative was the gross and silly melting special effect. Many will like it, but I think it was a bit too much. As for the acting and production values, they were pretty good for an AIP movie. Nothing to get excited over, but for fans of horror, I am sure you won't be disappointed.