Corman/Poe Month: 1. House of Usher (1960)

Okay, let’s get this out of the way right off the bat: I’m doing these reviews in chronological order, both because I like keeping things neat and organized, and also because I’m more focused on recounting my personal experiences and opinions than trying to recommend any of these films to somebody else. I watch these things in the order they were made every October, and that experience is what's driving these blogs. But I still have to say, if you're a total newbie and AREN'T already committed to watching the whole cycle of films, I do NOT recommend letting House of Usher be your first of Roger Corman Poe movie. Yes, I know this was the movie-going public’s first taste of the series, and they liked it enough to justify at least seven more, but I can’t for the life of me see this movie the way that audiences in 1960 did. It’s like when I try to go back and watch Dr. No, and can’t shake my knowledge of just how much bigger and wilder later James Bond movies ended up being. When my expectations are set to the extravagance of later Bond films, Dr. No strikes me more like a low-budget Bond knockoff like Agent For H.A.R.M. than a "real" Bond flick. Likewise, while House of Usher isn’t the worst of Corman's Poe movie by any means, I can’t make it through a watch without thinking about how much better later outings would handle this same type of material.

The single biggest problem, or at least the one I’m always most conscious of, is the very man we all come to these movies to see: Vincent Price himself. Actually, no. The problem isn’t Price himself, but rather a cataclysmic blunder that director Corman and screenwriter Richard Matheson have forced upon him via his character. Early on, Price’s Roderick Usher is established to have abnormally acute senses, and is thus so averse to loud noises that he scarcely raises his voice above a whisper. Granted, Price’s “whisper” is still stagey enough that it’s roughly boisterous as a normal person’s regular speaking voice, but that’s not the point. House of Usher takes Vincent Price, the grandmaster of ham, the mad genius who perfected the art of over-acting to a fine science, and deliberately tells him to TONE IT DOWN. It’s like casting Brian Blessed as a deaf mute. Why would you even DO that? It’s more trouble than just not bringing him in at all! Don’t get me wrong, Price is fine in the role of a repressed, haunted weirdo crumbling under his neuroses, and there’s a handful of moments where he allows some madness to slip through the cracks of Roderick’s shell. But for the most part, it’s a role that plenty of lesser actors could have filled just as well. Worse, it’s a role that denies the audience of the very screen-filling energy that only Price could bring, which make his misuse here simply wasteful.

And it’s all the more disappointing when held up against the REST of he cast. Again, I wouldn’t say the handful of other stars are “bad,” exactly, but they don’t do anything that really catches my attention. The unnamed narrator of Poe’s original story is refashioned into the film’s leading man, Philip Winthrop, as played by Mark Damon. I’m not surprised at all that Damon found much more success behind the scenes as a producer, because he’s bland to the point of forgettable while on screen here. Likewise, Myrna Fahey as Philip’s fiancée and Roderick’s sister, Madeline Usher, is pleasantly benign and utterly inconsequential (even at the end, despite supposedly being murderously insane at that point). Both give generic, workman-like performances that would absolutely have been overshadowed by Price operating at full power, yet also desperately need just such a magnetic presence to make up for their own blandness. Oh, and there’s also Harry Ellerbe as butler Bristol who’s only contribution is wheezing the words “Mister Winthrop” so often that, if I were to make a drinking game out of it, I’d absolutely die by the time the credits roll.

But while all the above probably makes it sound like I hate House of User… I really don’t. I just know there’s other movies that do the exact same things a lot better. Corman is clearly having a lot of fun working with a bigger budget than usual, throwing in some trippy visual indulgences that treat the very notion of filming in color like a stunning new special effect. While the “nightmare” sequence is goofy and overlong (and, regrettably, a staple of these movies), the scene where Roderick shows off the creepy Usher family portraits is a very effective piece of atmosphere and mood. (Also, it’s a real shame that Burt Schoenberg’s paintings had to be burned in the film’s climax) Indeed, that’s the thing I remember the most about House of User: the atmosphere. The combination of gothic gloominess with lurid color, lush historical finery marred by dingy decay, this will always be the look that immediately springs to my mind when somebody says “Halloween” to me. Even when this movie is trying its darndest to make the house look decaying and decrepit, Corman clearly can’t help showing off the fact that he’s working in color for once. The screen is constantly awash with lush, fancy costumes and trinkets, filling out the dank blackness with bright reds and yellows and purples. As much as the movie wants the mood to be eerie and oppressive, and does succeed at that, there’s still a part of me that wants to just wrap myself up in this gothic finery like a big comfy blanket.  It’s just a shame than the visual aesthetics couldn’t be complimented with a better set of performances.  Indeed, this wound up being one of the shorter blogs of this set, just because I don't have all that much to say about House of Usher. Rest assured, that won't be a problem later on...