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Tales of Terror (1962)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
23 February 1963 (Denmark) moreTagline:
A Trilogy of Shock and Horror!Plot:
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. full summary | add synopsisNewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Scary Movies 3 and other NYC fright-film fests (From Fangoria. 23 September 2009, 2:30 PM, PDT)
Weekly DVD & Blu-Ray Chopping List 7.28.2009
(From Fangoria. 26 July 2009, 11:01 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
Very Good Poe Adaptations more (36 total)Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Vincent Price | ... | Locke / Fortunato / 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 Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar") | |
| Debra Paget | ... | Helene (segment "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar") | |
| David Frankham | ... | Dr. James (segment "The Facts in 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 |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Terror (USA) (alternative title)Poe's Tales of Terror
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Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
89 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Color (Pathé Colour)Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 moreSound Mix:
MonoCertification:
USA:Approved (PCA #20234) | USA:Unrated (video release) | UK:15 (video rating) (1993) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | Argentina:13 | Sweden:15 | Australia:MFun Stuff
Trivia:
The adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" also incorporates elements of Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado". moreFAQ
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This film is a very loose adaptation of three Edgar Allan Poe tales, "Morella", "The Black Cat" and "The (Facts in the) Case of M. Valdemar", each roughly one half-hour in length. All three feature Vincent Price. The Black Cat also features Peter Lorre, and M. Valdemar also features Basil Rathbone. Morella concerns a daughter returning to the home of her father, who is estranged because of the mother's death. The Black Cat concerns an alcoholic who makes a crucial mistake in covering up a crime. And M. Valdemar concerns a doctor experimenting with hypnosis (or "mesmerism") on a terminally ill man.
Although fairly clunky and uneven compared to the other Roger Corman/Vincent Price Poe collaborations (which tend to be excellent), and even compared to other similar collections of short films from the same era, such as Amicus' Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), this is still a good film, and earned an 8 out of 10 from me.
It is usually very difficult to try to adapt Poe stories to film--similar to the difficulty of attempting to adapt H.P. Lovecraft to film. Both authors write very dense, poetic, often abstract prose, and Poe, especially, is sometimes not very plot-oriented. Each segment in Tales of Terror succeeds in its own way, however.
Morella, as Poe writes it, is an exploration of what personal identity means, particularly as it applies to continuation through offspring. In director Corman and writer Richard Matheson's hands, Morella becomes an even more abstract depiction of the ideas of personal identity, turned into more of a supernatural ghost story. It's also implied in the film that a lot of the events perhaps occurred in Locke's (Price) mind, leading up to the tragic ending. This segment is particularly notable for the set design, which is the best in the film.
The Black Cat, which is Poe's most conventionally plotted tale out of the three presented here, is also probably the most changed. The changes in this case are surely due to the still lingering studio-imposed moral and content restrictions of the "Golden Era" of Hollywood. The changes are understandable, if still lamentable, in historical context. Corman and Matheson turn Poe's very dark and somewhat grisly story into more of a comedy for its first half, then more a tale of moral retribution in the second half. It's a joy to watch in any event, especially seeing Price's hammy comic performance. The ending of this section is as chilling as the beginning is humorous.
Except for the addition of a couple characters, The Case of M. Valdemar is probably the closest to its source in spirit. This is a tightly scripted, creepy story, and the Carmichael (Rathbone) character is actually an improvement on Poe, and it's great to see Rathbone play someone so evil. In a fairly literal way, this is a great zombie story, although the ending of the filmed version is a bit more vague in both plot and in explaining the horrific dilemma than Poe's version.
Despite its slight flaws--mainly that it's a bit too bright and colorful and the mood of the segments could have matched better--Tales of Terror is worth viewing, especially for any Poe, Corman, Price or Rathbone fans.