Enjoyable anthology film. The Black Cat was quite humorous.
Corman keeps things interesting along the way in his series of E. A. Poe adaptations. This time we get an anthology flick adapting three of Poes tales, each one quite enjoyable on its own and the middle part incorporating some effective oldschool comedy. More or less by design, it doesn’t quite reach the coherent vision and dark atmosphere of his first two poe adaptations, but it’s a thoroughly fun ride regardless.
Review by whitsbrainVIP 6BlockedParent2022-01-15T17:04:54Z
My obsession with anthologies grows even more after watching Roger Corman's "Tales of Terror". This Vincent Price vehicle is geared toward horror but adds some humor to the mix.
Of the three stories here I'll give the nod as the best to the funny and eerie "The Black Cat". The story stars Price and Peter Lorre. Lorre is an always drunken husband who is mostly abusive to his beautiful wife. One day Lorre stumbles into a wine-tasting competition and matches skills with the overly-stuffy and elite Price who plays a wine-tasting expert. The techniques of the two are so totally different and Price is so awesomely outrageous that it makes the film worth watching on it's own.
The final tale called "The Case of Mr. Valdemar" features Price and Basil Rathbone. It is a genuinely spooky tale about keeping a man alive at the very moment of his death. Price's telepathic telling of his afterlife experiences as they are happening is chilling stuff.
The first act is called "Morella" which is tragic but kind of stuffy and overly-dramatic. There's nothing very scary about it but it is entertaining enough as it moves toward it's climax.
I like some of the camera tricks scattered throughout the three stories. They were fun even though they did distract me from time to time.