October 2013 Edition #16: THE HAUNTED PALACE

Director: Roger Corman
Screenplay: Charles Beaumont, based on “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” by H.P. Lovecraft
Starring: Vincent Price, Debra Paget, Frank Maxwell, Lon Chaney Jr., Elisha Cook Jr.
Release Date: August 28th, 1963



Roger Corman and Vincent Price are two names that, whenever I see them paired together, I know that what I’m about to watch is something special, and THE HAUNTED PALACE is certainly no exception. Though generally accepted as an entry in the pair’s cycle of Edgar Allen Poe adaptations, and even bearing the title of one of Poe’s poems, the film is in reality an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”. Having experienced great success with his previous Poe films, Corman decided he wanted to change things up a bit with his next film, and though his producers at American International Pictures initially agreed, they eventually forced the title change in order to tie the film in with their prior successes. None of that really matters though as, this minor inconsistency aside Corman, in collaboration with screenwriter Charles Beaumont, crafts an atmospheric, lushly photographed and very literate translation of Lovecraft’s seminal tale, aided in no small part by the, as usual, electrifying performance of Vincent Price.

110 years after the residents of Arkham, Massachusetts burn suspected warlock Joseph Curwen (Price) at the stake, their ancestors are horrified when hisgreat-great-grandson, Charles Dexter Ward (also Price) and his wife Anne (Paget) come to the village to claim his inheritance, Curwen’s expansive palace which still looms over the town like some dark omen. Fearful of the curse cast on the town by Curwen with his dying breaths, the villagers plead with Ward to leave the town immediately. But their pleas fall on deaf ears and, with the help of Dr. Willett (Maxwell), the only person in town not intent on driving them away, finds his way to the palace with the intent of only staying one night. Once there they encounter Simon (Chaney Jr.), the mansion’s caretaker, who persuades them to stay a bit longer…..long enough, that is, for the mild-mannered Charles to find the portrait of Joseph Curwen, Simon’s true master, and become possessed by the spirit of his demonic ancestor. Though initially only able to control Ward for minutes at a time, Curwen’s power grows with each passing day and, with the help of Simon and another assistant he sets about enacting vengeance upon the descendants of his murders, resurrecting the corpse of his long-deceased lover, and continuing the experiments he was conducting in the dungeons of the palace before his death. Curwen, you see, worships not Satan, but the Elder Gods who dwell beyond man’s mortal grasp and, with the aid of the Necronomicon, invokes the like of Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, and other dark beings to mate with human women and create a master race of super-beings. As Curwen’s power grows and Ward’s sanity begins to fray, his relationship with his wife begins to fall to pieces. Anne turns to Dr. Willet for aid, leading to a climax involving a mob of angry villagers and a gaping pit to the netherworld as the man of science battles the dark magician over the soul of not only Charles, but the village of Arkham and, perhaps, the very fabric of the existence.

Though the source of inspiration may differ from Corman and Price’s previous collaborations, THE HAUNTED PALACE offers up very much the same gothic look and deviously spooky tone as those pictures, which is perfectly fine by me. I’m an easy guy to please when it comes to these types of film. All I need to see is a lot of dry ice cascading through a moonlit graveyard while a thunderstorm crackles in the distance, and you’ve got my money. Corman and frequent production designer Daniel Haller once again deliver the gloomy goods, squeezing every penny out of their limited budget to make their limited sets seem far more expansive and ornate than they really are. Just like his Poe pictures, THE HAUNTED PALACE is, if nothing else, visually arresting.

Where this film truly differentiates itself from the pack is in the dual performance of Vincent Price. Though it was not rare for him to play the protagonist in many of his films, Price excelled at portraying many facets of villainy, from the tragically sympathetic Roderick Usher to the utter heinous cruelty of witch finder Matthew Hopkins. Here, however, Price is given the opportunity to shift dramatically between two opposing personalities, a feat he pulls off with great success. Charles Dexter Ward is a very amicable, sophisticated gentleman, much as Price was in reality, contrasted with Curwen, a fierce, prideful man willing to risk the failure of his entire plan in order to enact petty vengeance. The most impressive scene in the film, in my eyes, occurs when Ward first lays eyes on the portrait of his grandfather. As the spirit of the warlock takes over, Price conveys the transition through the subtlest shift in facial expression, turning a moment that could have been hammy in lesser hands into something very chilling. The rest of the cast, while not bad, is going through the motions by comparison, though I did get a kick out of seeing an aging, bloated Lon Chaney Jr. basically playing Larry Talbot for the umpteenth time. And Elisha Cook Jr., that great character actor who turned up in just about every damned movie and TV show from 1950 onward, has a fairly prominent role as a befuddled, often drunken villager who Curwen takes vengeance on in a most unpleasant manner.

I must admit that “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” is one of the rare tales of H.P. Lovecraft’s that I haven’t gotten around to reading, but what wound up on screen here aligns perfectly with the themes of cosmic horror and loss of control that permeates Lovecraft’s works. This overall eerie ambience combined with some sumptuously spooky production design and a delectably devilish performance from Vincent Price has shot THE HAUNTED PALACE very nearly to the top of my list of favorite Price/Corman collaborations, which is fitting since this marks the last film of this cycle that I have seen. While I am slightly saddened that I will no longer be able to discover them films anew, I can take solace in the fact that these eight awesome films do exist.

That’s all for, now, however. I’ve had a great time writing this unfortunately very abbreviated edition of my blog this year, and while I can make no guarantees, I hope to return in full form next October. I can’t think of a better film than THE HAUNTED PALACE to go out on, as it contains all of the elements of macabre fun that makes me remember what it was like to be a kid on those gloomy autumn nights, as the leaves rustled in the chilly air beneath the moonlight, and my overactive imagination couldn’t shake the exhilarating possibility that someone (or someTHING!) might be lurking in the shadows, eager to send me to my doom.

My Rating:
8/10