Product Description

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER: Audio Commentary by Director Roger Corman Original Theatrical Trailer THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM: Rare Prologue

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4454 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2005-02-15
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 160 minutes

Amazon.com
The Fall of the House of Usher's success in 1960 spurred American International Pictures to quickly launch another production based on an Edgar Allan Poe story. While producer-director Roger Corman had hoped to next adapt "The Masque of the Red Death" (which wasn't produced until 1964), Pit and the Pendulum (the onscreen title) became the second in AIP's long-running Poe series. Set in post-Inquisition Spain, the film stars John Kerr as a young Englishman who travels to the seaside castle of his brother-in-law (Vincent Price) to uncover the circumstances behind the death of his sister (a dubbed Barbara Steele). Price is tormented by memories of his mother's premature burial by his inquisitor father (also Price) and fears that this sadistic legacy has contributed to Steele's demise. Furthermore, he believes that Steele was also buried alive--a belief compounded by the mysterious destruction of her room, and the sound of her harpsichord playing in the night...

Structured almost identically to Usher, Richard Matheson's script fleshes out the brief original text with a fast-paced and twist-filled plot that never loses sight of the psychological themes of Poe's work. It also provides Price with the richest of his many AIP/Poe roles, a sympathetic, deeply emotional man who is unhinged by the sins of his father. Corman's direction is equally driven and fluid, and features some impressive quasi-psychedelic visuals in the tense climax. Also noteworthy is art director's Daniel Haller's impressive design of the title set piece. MGM's widescreen DVD features commentary by Corman, which focuses primarily on the film's technical aspects. Also included is the original trailer and a prologue (shot by Norma Rae producer Tamara Asseyev) featuring costar Luana Anders, which was added to fill out the film's 1968 television broadcast. --Paul Gaita

Customer Reviews

When AIP went color
These two films revolutionized AIP. No longer were they pumping out black and white Academy aspect ratio films that became double features. Now they were making color cinemascope features. Both of these films feature Poe stories with Vincent Price in the lead and Roger Corman behind the lens. And they truly remind us that Corman made some great movies during his time at AIP. The Pendulum is truly a scary set.

These are essentials for your DVD collection if you have a Psychotronic shelf.

Side B
I love the Pit and the Pendulum, and the set is a good bargain as well as a good match. I can never get my 10 year old son to watch older movies with me. I had also tried to engage him in Poe stories in book form. But when his teacher read them in class, he finally became interested enough to see these, and he really likes Poe now.
On the DVD they place one movie on one side of the disc, and the the second movie "the Pit and the Pendulum" on the reverse side, side B. I have other movies like this and it seems to work OK. Make sure you at least "test" the DVD when it arrives, I failed to do so until too late, only to learn that the side B of my copy did not work. It was a good enough story for me to bite the bullet and buy another copy.

Keep It Up MGM
I just about fell over backwards when I bought my copy of this DVD. As part of the special features, it includes an audio commentary by Roger Corman!

MGM Midnight Movies keep coming out, and my collection keeps growing. When I think of Vincent Price and Roger Corman, this gem is the movie that comes to mind. It is the perfect late-night horror film. If you've seen this movie on VHS, you know what I mean, but you're not getting the whole thing until you get this widescreen DVD.

The quality of the film it perfect. I saw no noticable wear of picture quality. The sound it fantastic. Vincent Price's perfomance as the tortured and soon demented son of a mad Spanish Inquisitioner is perfectly played out. The lonely castle setting is pure gothic. The interiors of castle give the feeling of wondering in a huge and rambling castle. Barbara Steele is pefectly wicked and sexy. The love story between the hero and heroine never really developes, but who cares! We want to see Vincent go mad and take his revenge.

After I watched the film, I watched it again with the audio commentary turned on. It was fun hearing Roger Corman explain some of his movie tricks for giving depth and beauty to one of his low-budget masterpieces. Normally, the MGM Midnight Movie films only include scene access and the theatrical preview as the extras, so this was a fantastic extra for no extra cost!

Keep 'em coming MGM. You put them in the store, I'll put them in my collection!