Événement

The Tomb of Ligeia screening at Vincentennial

The Tomb of Ligeia
Roger Corman, 1964, 81 min.; presented in 35mm, with print supplied by MGM
The final entry in Roger Corman and Vincent Price's cycle of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, "The Tomb of Ligeia" is widely considered the most ambitious and mature film in the series, with Price declaring it the best of his eight Corman collaborations. Price plays Verden Fell, an aristocrat haunted by his late wife, Ligeia, whose spirit appears to have entered a troubling cat. When he meets Lady Rowena (Elizabeth Shepherd), Ligeia's seeming double, and the two marry, the doorway is opened for Ligeia's revenge. Corman filmed "The Tomb of Ligeia" at the crumbling Castle Acre Priory in Norfolk, England, and the film benefits from the lack of the stagy, claustrophobic studio sets that marked the rest of the series. Screenwriter Robert Towne, who would go on to win an Oscar for "Chinatown," provided this suggestive ghost story with a sense of realism missing from the earlier Poe films.

With an introduction by Roger Corman and a post-film interview with the director about his collaborations with Price, conducted by Tim Lucas, editor of Video Watchdog.