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‘We defy you to stare into this face’
The Masque of the Crimson Dying is a 1964 horror movie directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Value, Hazel Court docket and Jane Asher. The screenplay, written by Charles Beaumont and R. Wright Campbell, was primarily based upon the 1842 brief story of the identical title by American creator Edgar Allan Poe and incorporates a sub-plot primarily based on one other Poe story, Hop-Frog. A additional sub-plot is drawn from Torture by Hope by Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam. The film was an American-British co-production.
Plot:
Devil-worshiper Prince Prospero invitations a number of dozen of the native the Aristocracy to his citadel for defense in opposition to an oncoming plague, the Crimson Dying. Prospero orders his visitors to attend a masked ball and, amidst a basic ambiance of debauchery and depravity, notices the entry of a mysterious hooded stranger dressed all in purple. Believing the determine to be his grasp, Devil, Prospero is horrified on the revelation of his true id…
Roger Corman later stated he all the time felt The Masque of the Crimson Dying and Fall of the Home of Usher had been the 2 greatest Poe tales. After the success of Home of Usher (1960), he strongly thought-about making Masque because the follow-up. Nevertheless, he was reluctant to make it as a result of it had a number of components much like The Seventh Seal (1956) and Corman was fearful folks would say he was pilfering from Ingmar Bergman.
AIP had a co-production cope with Anglo-Amalgamated in England, so Sam Arkoff and James H. Nicholson recommended to Corman that the movie be made there. This meant the movie may qualify for the British authorities’s Eady levy and enhance the finances – usually an AIP movie was filmed in three weeks, however Masque was shot in 5 weeks.
Corman later expressed dissatisfaction with the ultimate masque sequence, which he described as “the best flaw” within the movie, feeling he didn’t have sufficient time to shoot it. He filmed it in in the future which he stated would have been sufficient time in Hollywood however that English crews had been too gradual.
British censors eliminated a scene the place Hazel Court docket’s character imagines a collection of demonic figures attacking her whereas she lies on a slab. Corman recalled years later:
“From the standpoint of nudity, there was nothing. I feel she was nude underneath a diaphanous robe. She performed the consummation with the satan, but it surely was primarily on her face; it was a pure appearing train. Hazel absolutely clothed, all by herself, purely by appearing incurred the wrath of the censor. It was a distinct age; they in all probability felt that was displaying an excessive amount of. Right now, you could possibly present that on six o’clock tv, and no person would fear.”
The film was not as profitable as different Poe footage, which Sam Arkoff attributed to it being “too arty-farty” and never scary sufficient, nonetheless, Corman says the film is one in every of his favourites.
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“The flawlessly crafted movie is hypnotic and lands a closing crushing blow, which there isn’t any hope of judging. Masque of the Crimson Dying is magnificence and beguilement at its darkest and most macabre.” Mike “McBeardo” McFadden, Heavy Metallic Motion pictures e-book
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Alternative dialogue:
Prince Prospero: “Are you able to go searching this world and consider within the goodness of a God who guidelines it? Famine! Pestilence! Struggle! Illness and loss of life! They rule this world.”
Solid and characters:
Vincent Value … Prince Prospero
Hazel Court docket … Juliana
Jane Asher … Francesca
David Weston … Gino
Nigel Inexperienced … Ludovico
Patrick Magee … Alfredo
Paul Whitsun-Jones … Scarlatti
Robert Brown … Guard
Julian Burton … Señor Veronese
David Davies … Lead Villager
Skip Martin … Hop Toad
Gaye Brown … Señora Escobar
Verina Greenlaw … Esmeralda
Doreen Daybreak … Anna-Marie
Brian Hewlett … Senor Lampredi
Sarah Brackett … Grandmother
Filming places:
Related British Elstree Studios, Shenley Highway, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England
Filming dates:
11 November 1963 – January 1964
Technical spec:
1 hour 29 minutes minutes
Pathécolor
Facet ratio: 2.35: 1
Audio: Mono (RCA Sound Recording)
Trailer:
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