Monday, October 19, 2009

The Oblong Box

(1969) ***

In an African village, a terribly stereotypical, African tribe is performing a voodooistic ritual which will somehow harm a pudgy British guy. We don't see exactly what happens to him, but at the end, Edward Markham (Vincent Price) rushes in to see. We then must judge what happened to the man by the horrified expression on Markham's face. Fast-forward some months to the mansion in London where Price and his somehow disfigured brother live. Just to be safe, Markham has chained his brother up in his bedroom, believing his mind to be ill, along with his face. Little does Markham know though, that his brother is scheming to escape and further involvement with a member of the African voodoo tribe who has made his way to the UK.

This qualifies as a respectable work with an involving story that, as long as you don't mind the sometimes maddeningly slow pace that is common among films of this era, keeps you entertained. The best part is easily the red velvet hood that makes the villain much creepier than he really is. In fact, at the end of the film, when he is finally unmasked, his disfigured face is far less scary than he looks while wearing the hood. Vincent Price is of course, marvelous, in a role where he is actually the hero, rather than the scheming villain. A little unbelievable as he is supposed to be a young wealthy man. His fiancee in the film looks about 20, whereas Price was 58 when making this film. Entertaining for what it's supposed to be.

6 comments:

JPX said...

"as long as you don't mind the sometimes maddeningly slow pace that is common among films of this era" You're not kidding. Horror movies from the late 60s/early 70s seem to suffer from the use of technicolor and glacial pacing (obviously there are major exceptions).

Octopunk said...

Hey, what's wrong with technicolor?

Here's an excellent turn of phrase: "...believing his mind to be ill, along with his face."

Catfreeek said...

"The best part is easily the red velvet hood that makes the villain much creepier than he really is. "
Love it!

I adore this film, another of my old childhood favorites. I think I had a crush on Vincent Price.

Johnny Sweatpants said...

I'm not a big fan of Price although he has a couple of great ones (Last Man on Earth & House On Haunted Hill). He's not scary. He just comes across as a pedophile.

I'm more of a Christopher Lee guy myself. It's like the Beatles or the Stones. You have to choose.

DKC said...

I choose Vincent Price. I think he's faboo.

Johnny Sweatpants said...

No surprises there, Brain.

Malevolent

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