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The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)
"Lately I seem to be slipping into reveries..."
I'm really not sure what people aren't seeing in this film. This is truly a magnificent film, the best of the Corman/Price collaborations. The atmosphere, visuals, and even the characters yield a fantastic experience from beginning to end. Some have said only Price's performance is worth anything, but I found Sheppard, Francis and Johnston to be just as convincing (Westbrook seemed the only weak link, but not enough to detract). Sheppard's coolness adds to the personality of her character-- Rowena is poised, curious, iron-willed and unpretentious. A great departure from normal damsels trapped in a technicolor horror.
And Vincent Price as the tortured Verden is a revelation. Remarkable in the way one pities his character, who has such depth that we are fully immersed in his world, from the obsession with Egyptian artifacts to the familiarity with his kitchen, to the loneliness that compels him to rest in cobwebs and darkness. His happiness on marrying Rowena and honeymooning presents such a stark contrast to his solitary life that one wishes they would have left the constrictive hold of the house and Abbey before they even wed.
Particular standouts include the dreamy exploration of Rome and Stonehenge, the actual dream sequence that foretells Rowena's fate (the puppet cat's shadow being the only laughably bad effect in the film), but the best is easily Rowena's journey to the bell tower. Price's narration here is brilliantly magnified by Corman's camera work, highlighting how similar--and in some cases dissimilar-- Rowena and Ligeia are.
I haven't read the source Poe story, but I'm going to have to now. This film is truly a work of art that lives up to the themes Poe wrote about the tragedy of the human condition. Like Rowena and supposedly Ligeia, some people walk through the darkness of life like a solitary candle, brightening all around it. But without darkness, we cannot have that light to guide us, so our goodness would be worthless without the potential for evil, even within ourselves. I really admire how this film subtly captures this idea, and Poe would be proud.