Roger Corman's Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

Roger Corman's Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

The Pit and the Pendulum, the second of Roger Corman's Edgar Allen Poe screen adaptations, is today one of the thrifty director's most revered films and stars the incomparable Vincent Price in one his most famous roles as the tortured Nicholas Medina. Filmed in only 15 days on a budget of around 300,000 (which was actually a bit high for a Corman production of its day), the film grossed over $2,000,000 theatrically in the US upon its release in August of 1961 and cemented the popularity of Corman's Poe series, which started with 1960's The Fall of the House of Usher and would continue with Tales of Terror, Premature Burial, The Haunted Palace, The Raven, Masque of the Red Death and Tomb of Ligeia. It was also highly critically acclaimed film and has continued to generate positive reviews from horror fans due to its lush, Gothic scenery and cinematography, menacing atmosphere and marvelous acting headed by master thespian Price.The Pit and the Pendulumhas been quite influential to filmmakers in the horror genre, particularly Italian artists like Mario Bava and Dario Argento. The first two-thirds of the movie bears virtually no resemblance to the Poe story the film borrows its title from, with only the third act of the film making some parallel to Poe's work.

Following a typically psychedelic Corman opening shot of different shades of paint streaming across the screen (which is seen again during the film's closing credits), the audience is introduced to handsome young Francis Barnard (John Kerr), who travels by horse and carriage to the dilapidated castle of his brother-in-law, the mysterious Nicholas Medina (Price), after learning that his sister Elizabeth (Barbara Steele) has died of unknown causes. When he arrives at the creepy palace, he is informed by Medina and Dr. Leon (Antony Carbone) that his sister died of fright in a freakish torture chamber located within the castle and built by Medina's crazed father Sebastian Medina, a long-dead Spanish Inquisitor. Medina's lovely sister Catherine (Luana Anders) decides to help Francis discover the truth of Elizabeth's death after a series of strange, unexplained events begin occurring, such as a piano mysteriously playing one of his dead sister's favorite tunes during the night. Francis suspects that his sister is still alive somewhere within the castle, which turns out to be true. But what no one realizes is that she has been secretly conspiring with Dr. Leon after faking her death and attempting to drive poor Don Medina out of his mind, which does indeed happen in the film's riveting climax when Medina starts to believe he is his own psychotic father ... and subjects anyone within reach to his torture chamber of horrors.

The Pit and the Pendulum is graced with Vincent Price's tour-de-force performance as Nicholas Medina, a mild-mannered man who loses his identity and becomes "possessed" by the mad soul of his evil father. While the majority of film critics in 1961 praised Price for his powerful acting, there was one stray critic -- Charles Stinson of the Los Angeles Times -- who dismissed the film and Price's performance as hammy and unconvincing in an acid review, but then that's just part of the subjective nature of film reviewing. Former actor John Kerr (Tea and Sympathy, South Pacific) is first rate as Medina's suspicious, probing brother-in-law Francis. Barbara Steele, fresh from playing a vengeful centuries-old witch in Mario Bava's Black Sunday, is at her scheming best as Elizabeth and has never looked more sinisterly beautiful. The late Luana Anders (Night Tide, Dementia 13) adds her talent and distinguished beauty to the film as Medina's fear-wrought sister Catherine. The crisp lensing by Floyd Crosby (who also worked on Corman's Fall of the House of Usher, Premature Burial, Tales of Terror, The Haunted Palace and The Raven) is aesthetically gorgeous and gives the film a great gothic atmosphere.

The Pit and the Pendulum is IMO tied with Masque of the Red Death as the very best of the Poe/Corman/Price films of the '60s. I rate it an 8.5 of 10 and recommend it to all fans of the talented gentlemen just mentioned and all connoisseurs of '60s horror films.

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