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‘We defy you to stare into this face’
The Masque of the Purple Demise is a 1964 horror movie directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Worth, Hazel Court docket and Jane Asher. The screenplay, written by Charles Beaumont and R. Wright Campbell, was primarily based upon the 1842 quick story of the identical identify by American writer 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 fortress for defense in opposition to an oncoming plague, the Purple Demise. Prospero orders his friends 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 crimson. Believing the determine to be his grasp, Devil, Prospero is horrified on the revelation of his true id…
Roger Corman later mentioned he all the time felt The Masque of the Purple Demise and Fall of the Home of Usher have been the 2 greatest Poe tales. After the success of Home of Usher (1960), he strongly thought of making Masque because the follow-up. Nonetheless, 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 nervous individuals 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 steered to Corman that the movie be made there. This meant the movie may qualify for the British authorities’s Eady levy and improve the price range – 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 at some point which he mentioned would have been sufficient time in Hollywood however that English crews have been too sluggish.
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 believe she was nude beneath a diaphanous robe. She performed the consummation with the satan, nevertheless it was primarily on her face; it was a pure performing train. Hazel totally clothed, all by herself, purely by performing incurred the wrath of the censor. It was a distinct age; they in all probability felt that was displaying an excessive amount of. Right this moment, you possibly can present that on six o’clock tv, and no one would fear.”
The film was not as profitable as different Poe photos, which Sam Arkoff attributed to it being “too arty-farty” and never scary sufficient, nonetheless, Corman says the film is one among his favourites.
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“The flawlessly crafted movie is hypnotic and lands a last crushing blow, which there isn’t any hope of judging. Masque of the Purple Demise is magnificence and beguilement at its darkest and most macabre.” Mike “McBeardo” McFadden, Heavy Metallic Motion pictures guide
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Selection dialogue:
Prince Prospero: “Are you able to go searching this world and imagine within the goodness of a God who guidelines it? Famine! Pestilence! Battle! Illness and demise! They rule this world.”
Solid and characters:
Vincent Worth … 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 areas:
Related British Elstree Studios, Shenley Highway, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England
Filming dates:
11 November 1963 – January 1964
Technical spec:
1 hour 29 minutes minutes
Pathécolor
Side ratio: 2.35: 1
Audio: Mono (RCA Sound Recording)
Trailer:
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