Favorite Films (lists up to participating site members)

[Stephen Thomas]

Clumsy writing? In "House on Haunted Hill" (right at the start) Vincent Price says 'she's so amusing' twice. It always jars.

Blimey you're observant Robert. I remember an original first run showing of that film that had a plastic skeleton dangled over the audience causing much hilarity and hurling of missiles. One scene, where the old lady appears to glide through the air, I found quite scary. Watching Price movies these days it's amazing how camp his persona was but back then nobody straight knew what camp was .

[Robert]

Hi Stephen

He had a style all his own, didn't he. Wonderful actor.

[Steadmund Brand]

Vincent Price!!!!! what a great idea.. we didn't set up a Price list yet.. probably because it will be sooooooooooooooooo long....ok I'll go first.. I'll go in order of year (this time I’m cheating and looking up dates )

1-Tower of London -1939
2-The Invisible Man Returns- 1940
3- Laura- 1944 (not all have to be horror films right )
4- Shock- 1946
5-Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein- 1948 ( ok only his voice.. but that counts!!)
6- The Three Musketeers- 1948
7- Champagne for Caesar- 1950 (funny forgotten film... worth checking out of you never saw it)
8-House of Wax - 1953 ( and it begins!!! hahaha)
9- The MAd Magician- 1954
10- The Story Of Mankind- 1957 (ok, not so great film, but the last movie to have Groucho, Harpo and Chico in it, sadly not together)
11- The Fly- 1958
12 House on Haunted Hill-1959
13- The Tingler- 1959
14- Return of the Fly- 1959
15 - House of Usher- 1960
16- Pit and the Pendulum- 1961
17- tales of Terror- 1962
18- The Raven- 1963
19- Twice-Told Tales-1963
20- The Comedy of Terrors- 1964
21- The Last Man on Earth - 1964 ( still my favorite version of this...too many versions ..the Will Smith one was ok, Omega Man was ok.. but this is a classic)
22- The Masque of the Red Death- 1964
23- The Tomb of Ligeia- 1965
24- Witchfinder General (Conqueror Worm) - 1968- (another underrated gem.. quite a creepy performance by our dear Mr. Price!!)
25-Scream and Scream again- 1970
26- The Abominable Dr. Phibes- 1971
27 An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe- 1972 ( Just price reciting Poe.. but AMAZING.. I wish I could find this on a good DVD!!)
28- Dr. Phibes Rises Again- 1972 ( not as good as the original.. but possibly more fun)
29- Theatre of Blood- 1973 ( this may be my favorite of all of his films.. he is so amazing going from schlock to camp to horror all in the same role... plus Price as "Butch" the Hairdresser is quite possibly the funniest moment in film history!!!)
30- Madhouse- 1974
31- The Monster Club- 1980 ( goofy, silly and wonderful... and the horror segments are quite good, and Vincent’s final speech is FANTASTIC)
32- Vincent- 1982
33- The Whales of August- 1987 ( so nice to see a horror legend have great roles like this at the end of their life... unlike a John Carradine.. plus you get Vincent Price, Betty Davis and Lillian Gish...)
34- Edward Scissorhands- 1990 ( he was so sick by now, and it was starting to show...but still a great performance!!)

and I know it's not a film.. but I need to mention the television series The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.. Canadian show from 1971... for all of those non Canadian/American border babies I feel bad you didn't get to see this gem of a show... Price was the" Narrator" who would introduce characters and sketches with silly poems... you can see he was having a blast.. I would bet there are clips available on Youtube... won’t make sense unless you know the show.. but still fun

I knew this list would be long well.. let’s hear some reactions or additions.. or arguments.. or any discussion of any of the films or Vincent Price

Steadmund Brand

[Robert]

I saw a clip where Vincent appears with Kermit the Frog, who tells him that he's always turning into vampires in his films. But he doesn't. He is a vampire in the Monster Club. Can't think of another film where he's a vampire.

[Steadmund Brand]

Monster Club he was a Vampire... and on an episode of a terrible TV show called F-Troop he was a vampire once... other than that.. I can't recall him as one.. he was the only Non-Vampire in Last Man on Earth hahah

Steadmund Brand

[barnflatwyngarde]

Vincent Price was probably one of the truly great screen actors.
By that I mean that he imbued every performance with a respect and gravitas, while some actors simply would not have bothered.

I saw him in a very strange film called "More Dead Than Alive".
It was a western, and also starred Clint Walker (who was quite a big actor in the 60's).
Price played the leader of a travelling gunfighter show, with Walker as his reluctant latest recruit.
My memories of it are that Price played it absolutely straight, and in keeping with the mode of the times, liberal use was made of exploding slo-mo blood pellets throughout the film.

A true guilty pleasure!

[Steadmund Brand]

Vincent Price was probably one of the truly great screen actors.
By that I mean that he imbued every performance with a respect and gravitas, while some actors simply would not have bothered.

I saw him in a very strange film called "More Dead Than Alive".
It was a western, and also starred Clint Walker (who was quite a big actor in the 60's).
Price played the leader of a travelling gunfighter show, with Walker as his reluctant latest recruit.
My memories of it are that Price played it absolutely straight, and in keeping with the mode of the times, liberal use was made of exploding slo-mo blood pellets throughout the film.

A true guilty pleasure!

Thank you so much!! this is the kind of feedback I love, because now I get to put another film on the list to search out

I agree, Price was/is very underrated as an actor....one of the reasons I love Theatre of Blood so much.. ashe gets to show off some real acting chops while totally camping it up and mocking " Acting" at the same time... from what his daughter says (I saw in an interview she did with the wonderful Svengoolie!!) Theatre of Blood was one of his personal favorites as well

any other films you would like to add to the list.. or even start your own list? please everyone feel free

Steadmund Brand

[Mayerling]

Well mainly yes, some are junk

I finally watched "Out of This World"*, the 1946 sequel of "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (the 1941 film with Robert Montgomery and Claude Rains). It was in Technicolor, and had a musical score (the silly story dealt with a Broadway musical that the Grace, "Terpsicore" - Rita Hayworth - is insulted by because of how it treats her as a character), and realized that it was not worth having been made. From what Robert Osborne said about it in introducing the film, Rains could not play "Mr. Jordan" and so they had Roland Culver play him (made up to look like Rains looked in the first film), but had both James Gleason and Edward Everett Horton back for this film in their original roles. Made after "Gilda" appeared, Rita was added to the film with George Macready (he played the sinister husband "Balin" in "Gilda") as a gambler backing the musical, and Larry Parks (just fresh from playing "Al Jolson" in "The Jolson Story") as the author/lyricist/director of the musical. And results were dull and witless. The film should not have been made.

Many sequels should not have been made.

Jeff

*Oddlly enough, a musical modern take on the Amphytrion legend was a Broadway musical in 1951 called "Out of This World" with songs and lyrics by Cole Porter. It was not a success, but curiously, despite his recent success with "Kiss Me Kate", which was made into a successful film musical, no option was taken on Porter's "Out of This World".

[barnflatwyngarde]

"The truth is what is, and what should be is a fantasy. A terrible, terrible lie that someone gave to the people long ago."- Lenny Bruce

Steadman,
Just a quick note re Lenny Bruce.

He used to do a routine (if my memory serves me right), where he spoke about his love for Laurel and Hardy, and their very obvious love for one another.

Lenny pointed to the many times that Stan and Ollie shared a bed on film, and said that no 2 other men in Hollywood could have gotten away with it at that time.

In Lenny's opinion it was only their obvious love for one another that stifled any moral outrage.

A nice little observation on 2 of my comedy heroes, by another of my comedy heroes.

[Mayerling]

Vincent Price!!!!! what a great idea.. we didn't set up a Price list yet.. probably because it will be sooooooooooooooooo long....ok I'll go first.. I'll go in order of year (this time I’m cheating and looking up dates )

1-Tower of London -1939
2-The Invisible Man Returns- 1940
3- Laura- 1944 (not all have to be horror films right )
4- Shock- 1946
5-Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein- 1948 ( ok only his voice.. but that counts!!)
6- The Three Musketeers- 1948
7- Champagne for Caesar- 1950 (funny forgotten film... worth checking out of you never saw it)
8-House of Wax - 1953 ( and it begins!!! hahaha)
9- The MAd Magician- 1954
10- The Story Of Mankind- 1957 (ok, not so great film, but the last movie to have Groucho, Harpo and Chico in it, sadly not together)
11- The Fly- 1958
12 House on Haunted Hill-1959
13- The Tingler- 1959
14- Return of the Fly- 1959
15 - House of Usher- 1960
16- Pit and the Pendulum- 1961
17- tales of Terror- 1962
18- The Raven- 1963
19- Twice-Told Tales-1963
20- The Comedy of Terrors- 1964
21- The Last Man on Earth - 1964 ( still my favorite version of this...too many versions ..the Will Smith one was ok, Omega Man was ok.. but this is a classic)
22- The Masque of the Red Death- 1964
23- The Tomb of Ligeia- 1965
24- Witchfinder General (Conqueror Worm) - 1968- (another underrated gem.. quite a creepy performance by our dear Mr. Price!!)
25-Scream and Scream again- 1970
26- The Abominable Dr. Phibes- 1971
27 An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe- 1972 ( Just price reciting Poe.. but AMAZING.. I wish I could find this on a good DVD!!)
28- Dr. Phibes Rises Again- 1972 ( not as good as the original.. but possibly more fun)
29- Theatre of Blood- 1973 ( this may be my favorite of all of his films.. he is so amazing going from schlock to camp to horror all in the same role... plus Price as "Butch" the Hairdresser is quite possibly the funniest moment in film history!!!)
30- Madhouse- 1974
31- The Monster Club- 1980 ( goofy, silly and wonderful... and the horror segments are quite good, and Vincent’s final speech is FANTASTIC)
32- Vincent- 1982
33- The Whales of August- 1987 ( so nice to see a horror legend have great roles like this at the end of their life... unlike a John Carradine.. plus you get Vincent Price, Betty Davis and Lillian Gish...)
34- Edward Scissorhands- 1990 ( he was so sick by now, and it was starting to show...but still a great performance!!)

and I know it's not a film.. but I need to mention the television series The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.. Canadian show from 1971... for all of those non Canadian/American border babies I feel bad you didn't get to see this gem of a show... Price was the" Narrator" who would introduce characters and sketches with silly poems... you can see he was having a blast.. I would bet there are clips available on Youtube... won’t make sense unless you know the show.. but still fun

I knew this list would be long well.. let’s hear some reactions or additions.. or arguments.. or any discussion of any of the films or Vincent Price

Steadmund Brand

Looking at your list Steadmund there are few titles I could add.

1) The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" - as Sir Walter Raleigh
2) Dragonwyck - "Bow to the patroon."
3) The Bribe - his only film, I believe, with Charles Laughton and Robert Taylor
4) Leave Her To Heaven - as the vindictive District Attorney against Cornell Wilde.

There is a fifth film that co-starred Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell and Raymond Burr - "His Kind of Woman"? - where Price had a meaty supporting part. He had just done in real life a miserable film with Errol Flynn, "The Adventures of Captain Fabian", and in this film his character is a successful Hollywood actor like Flynn except that nobody takes him seriously. Price is actually quite touching, realizing that the screen persona he has gotten has made him a kind of joke in the real world. He actually rescues Mitchum at the end, organizing a large posse to storm Burr's yacht to save him. It is an odd but nice different role for him.

I agree with you about "Champagne for Caesar", which may be Price's funniest comedy (and a good send-up of quiz shows). It is a nice film for Ronald Colman and Celeste Holms too.

I did like his Russian nobleman in "The Whales of August", which gave five elderly stars good parts: Price, Gish, Davis, Ann Southern, and Harry Carey Jr. I wonder how many producer/directors would try that kind of elderly cast today (and it only came out in the late 1980s).

There is an interesting story about "Laura". In the 1970s Merv Griffin still had his television talk show, and Price was the guest. Price had been seated, and Griffin (starting to ooze that false charm needed by some talk show hosts to set the stage) tells Price how he had been watching "Laura" recently, and he could not believe that Price was the killer. Price stared at him with shock, and said, "But I wasn't!" (it being Clifton Webb, of course).

Jeff

[Mayerling]

Monster Club he was a Vampire... and on an episode of a terrible TV show called F-Troop he was a vampire once... other than that.. I can't recall him as one.. he was the only Non-Vampire in Last Man on Earth hahah

Steadmund Brand

I liked the episode with Kermit the Frog, because suddenly Kermit has fanged teeth, and jumps onto a horrified Price's throat!

F-Troop may have been silly at times, but it had it's moments. As a matter of fact though, you were wrong. Price has come to "Fort Courage" to settle from his home in Transylvania, and when Captain Palminter's girlfriend "Wrangler Jane" vanishes after seeing Price, the Captain and Corporal Agarn, and troopers Dobbs and Duffy try to prove Price has done something to her as a vampire. Instead she turns up okay - she had to leave town suddenly. Price explains to them he had to leave Transylvania at the demands of his family. They are vampires - he isn't.

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

His Kind of Woman,... ok, now I have to find this film too... I'm not familiar with this, sounds fun.

I LOVE that Merv Griffin story, I never heard that... that’s awesome.. I have to try and find this clip!!!

And ok, I couldn't remember the F-Troop details... All I remember was I watched it only for Price many years ago as I never liked the show at all...But that’s just me….

Steadmund Brand

[Steadmund Brand]

"The truth is what is, and what should be is a fantasy. A terrible, terrible lie that someone gave to the people long ago."- Lenny Bruce

Steadman,
Just a quick note re Lenny Bruce.

He used to do a routine (if my memory serves me right), where he spoke about his love for Laurel and Hardy, and their very obvious love for one another.

Lenny pointed to the many times that Stan and Ollie shared a bed on film, and said that no 2 other men in Hollywood could have gotten away with it at that time.

In Lenny's opinion it was only their obvious love for one another that stifled any moral outrage.

A nice little observation on 2 of my comedy heroes, by another of my comedy heroes.

I do remember that bit... Oh Lenny... the world could use you now!!!

funny, my comedy Yin and Yang are Harpo Marx and Lenny Bruce... one never spoke and the other spoke too much (for some people anyway)

Steadmund Brand

[Robert]

Over here there was a very, very popular duo called Morecambe and Wise, and they used to sometimes set their sketches in bed. But eventually people started making snide remarks so they dropped it. The reason they set sketches in bed was, in their early days before they became stars they had to share a bed because they couldn't afford anything else. Indeed I seem to remember reading that in the early days of the Rolling Stones, before all the hits, two or three of the band members would lie in bed together simply to stop themselves freezing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Daz9fFrL-Y

[Mayerling]

Over here there was a very, very popular duo called Morecambe and Wise, and they used to sometimes set their sketches in bed. But eventually people started making snide remarks so they dropped it. The reason they set sketches in bed was, in their early days before they became stars they had to share a bed because they couldn't afford anything else. Indeed I seem to remember reading that in the early days of the Rolling Stones, before all the hits, two or three of the band members would lie in bed together simply to stop themselves freezing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Daz9fFrL-Y

Those were the two Ernies. I liked some of their routines. The heavier one, once did a solo routine where he is a politician making a public statement or speech, and is totally drunk while doing so. In fact he keeps getting small slips of paper which he thinks are questions, and reads out loud. instead they say things, "Get off the podium you great Git!"

Jeff