In 1964’s The Masque of the Red Death, Vincent Price stars as Prospero.
Prospero is a nobleman in medieval Italy, a decadent tyrant who rules his villages with an iron hand and who proudly and openly worships Satan. When an old woman in one of the villages dies of the plague, Prospero orders the village to be burned to the ground. He returns to his castle where, with his mistress (Hazel Court), he plans to throw a masquerade for the local nobility. His plan is for everyone to hide out in the castle until Death has passed. The problem, of course, is keeping Death from sneaking into the castle and claiming everyone within.
Prospero also abducts three villagers, Ludovico (Nigel Green), his daughter Francesca (Jane Asher), and Francesca’s boyfriend, Gino (David Weston). The three villagers find themselves in a decadent world, where Prospero and his attendants are motivated by their own greed and petty jealousies. Keeping Death from entering the castle would probably be a lot easier if the people in the castle would stop trying to kill each other. It’s an odd atmosphere within the castle. Everyone fears Death and yet, everyone seems to be doing all that they can do invite it in with them. Can anyone, even a worshipper of the Damned liked Prospero, truly escape Death?
The Masque of the Red Death is not only the best of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptations but it’s also the best film that Corman ever directed. Working with cinematographer Nicolas Roeg (who was himself destined to have quite a career as a director of enigmatic films), Corman fills the screen with vivid colors and scenes of medieval decadence. Price gives one of his best performances, playing Prospero as someone who is in love with his own amoral nature but whose arrogance quickly gives way to fear when he starts to suspect the Death has somehow managed to enter the castle. The inhabitants of the castle are all memorably eccentric and, in many cases, evil. A man in an ape costume is burned to death and hardly anyone seems to notice or care. Prospero and his nobles think that they’re above death because of their wealth and their place in society but, of course, no one can escape Death.
David Weston and Jane Asher are both well-cast as the two lovers, though Asher is clearly more a product of the swinging sixties than medieval Italy. Patrick Magee and Skip Martin are both memorable as members of Prospero’s court, with Skip Martin giving an especially diabolical performance as a murderous court jester. In the end, though, this film truly belongs to Price, Corman, and Roeg. Roeg’s cinematography is dazzling, with the use of red foreshadowing his later film, Don’t Look Now. Corman’s direction puts the viewer right in the center of Prospero’s court. And Vincent Price gives one of his best performances as the self-amused but unashamedly evil Prospero. The Masque of the Red Death remains a classic of 60s pop art and the best of Corman’s many films.
Through the Shattered Lens 