{"id":48194,"date":"2020-03-22T13:03:42","date_gmt":"2020-03-22T20:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=48194"},"modified":"2024-02-03T15:30:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T22:30:25","slug":"masque-of-the-red-death-the-1964","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=48194","title":{"rendered":"Masque of the Red Death, The (1964)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Famine, pestilence, war, disease, and death &#8212; they rule this world.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Poster-203x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-54303\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Poster-203x300.png 203w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Poster-693x1024.png 693w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Poster-87x128.png 87w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Poster-183x270.png 183w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Poster.png 753w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn plague-ridden medieval Italy, a Satan-worshipping prince (Vincent Price) approached for help by two local villagers (David Weston and Nigel Green) sentences them to death unless a young woman (Jane Asher) &#8212; Weston&#8217;s fiance and Green&#8217;s daughter &#8212; chooses which one will live. When she refuses, Asher is taken to Price&#8217;s debauchery-ridden castle, where his lady (Hazel Court) attempts to marry the Devil, and a court performer known as Hop Toad (Skip Martin) hatches a plan of revenge against a nobleman (Patrick Magee) who has mistreated his tiny dancing partner (Verina Greenlaw).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Edgar Allan Poe Films<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Horror Films<\/li>\n<li>Plague<\/li>\n<li>Roger Corman Films<\/li>\n<li>Royalty and Nobility<\/li>\n<li>Satanists<\/li>\n<li>Vincent Price Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary writes that &#8220;Roger Corman&#8217;s best film&#8221; &#8212; this &#8220;super-stylish mix of Edgar Allan Poe (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Masque_of_the_Red_Death\">the title story<\/a> plus <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hop-Frog\">&#8216;Hop-Frog&#8217;<\/a>) and Ingmar Bergman&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=48778\"><em>The Seventh Seal<\/em><\/a>&#8221; &#8212; features a &#8220;forceful performance&#8221; by Vincent Price as &#8220;Prince Prospero, a sadistic 12th century Italian satanist&#8221; who, while &#8220;the Red Death wipes out the God-fearing villagers&#8221;, &#8220;calmly retreats to his castle for the nightly orgies of his aristocratic guests.&#8221; Peary notes that this is a &#8220;strange film because one expects&#8230; &#8221;<\/p>\n<p>SPOILER ALERT <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230; that the denouement will contain the standard triumph of good over evil, but this is not the case&#8221; &#8212; rather, &#8220;the Death that claims victims does not choose according to whether one believes in God or Satan&#8221;. He argues that the &#8220;film is in its way as philosophic as Bergman&#8217;s picture; Corman&#8217;s characters are as hopelessly confused and terrified, because the God in whom they had faith abandoned them&#8221;. He points out that this movie, &#8220;filmed in England, in Technicolor&#8221; is &#8220;the most handsome of Corman&#8217;s films&#8221;, with &#8220;the set design by Daniel Haller and photography by Nicholas Roeg&#8221; &#8220;exceptional&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>I chose to (re)-watch <em>The Masque of the Red Death<\/em> as part of my ongoing revisit of all the Poe-inspired films made by Roger Corman, not quite realizing exactly how timely this tale would feel during our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/index.html\">COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>. This film about an evil nobleman and his willing compatriots denying refuge to plaintive villagers provides a potent cautionary tale about the need to continuously support one another through the hardest of times, across all boundaries: social, economic, racial, and religious. The &#8220;Red Death&#8221; can come at any time, to anyone, and no amount of denial or cruelty can stop its path. Viewers should be prepared for some surprisingly disturbing scenes &#8212; such as Price nastily ordering his guests to act like beasts (&#8220;How like a worm you are. Be one.&#8221;); Magee openly leering at a young woman (Greenlaw) who looks like a girl (and was actually performed by a child); Court orgiastically bonding herself to the devil through self-branding an upside-down cross onto her bosom; and Price voicing countless creepy lines (&#8220;The way is not easy, I know, but I will take you by the hand and lead you through the cruel light into the velvet darkness.&#8221;) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vincent Price as Prospero: &#8220;I understand; life is often ugly.&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Price.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Price-1024x493.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"308\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-48199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Price-1024x493.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Price-300x144.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Price-128x62.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Price-768x370.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Price-1536x739.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Price.png 1739w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Atmospheric cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography2-1024x501.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"313\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-48197\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography2-1024x501.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography2-300x147.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography2-128x63.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography2-768x376.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography2-1536x752.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography2.png 1727w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography4-1024x496.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"310\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-48200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography4-1024x496.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography4-300x145.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography4-128x62.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography4-768x372.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography4-1536x744.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography4.png 1729w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography1-1024x495.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"309\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-48196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography1-1024x495.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography1-300x145.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography1-128x62.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography1-768x371.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography1-1536x742.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Masque-Red-Death-Cinematography1.png 1741w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as the most memorable and provocative of the Corman-Poe series. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?page_id=1784#goodshow\">Good Show<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?page_id=1784#director\">Important Director<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0058333\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s4411pric.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/horror\/masque-of-the-red-death-1964.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/83047\/the-masque-of-the-red-death#articles-reviews?articleId=114212\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1964\/09\/17\/archives\/couple-of-horrors.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Famine, pestilence, war, disease, and death &#8212; they rule this world.&#8221; Synopsis: In plague-ridden medieval Italy, a Satan-worshipping prince (Vincent Price) approached for help by two local villagers (David Weston and Nigel Green) sentences them to death unless a young woman (Jane Asher) &#8212; Weston&#8217;s fiance and Green&#8217;s daughter &#8212; chooses which one will live. When she refuses, Asher is taken to Price&#8217;s debauchery-ridden castle, where his lady (Hazel Court) attempts to marry the Devil, and a court performer known&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=48194\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48194"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95320,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48194\/revisions\/95320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}