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Theatre Of Blood (1973)
Topic Started: Mar 29 2008, 06:02 AM (381 Views)
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What a difference a good copy of a film makes.

I'd only seen this Vincent Price-Diana Rigg horror film once, in a not-very-good VHS pan & scan version, and the film looked cheap and tacky. It's still arguably cheap and tacky, but no longer LOOKS that way.

Price is nutso actor Edward Lionheart, thought to be dead but back from the grave and killing the great stage critics of London in very narsty and unpleasant ways. Diana Rigg is his daughter Edwina, who may or may not be in on the plan. The various victims include Ian Hendry, Robert Morley, and a fat & old Diana Dors.

I didn't remember the surprising bits of humor that pop up in the film, mainly jokes at the expense of the film's completely inept police department. Price and Rigg are wonderful in the movie, and the murders -- based on murders from Shakespeare's canon -- are grislier than anything you'll find in the similar Dr. Phibes movies. In fact, our FNF crowd didn't like this film, finding it too tasteless, particularly the scene in which Mr. Morley is forced to eat a pie made from his two poodles. I don't care, I liked it anyway.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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I love it when Morley says "Where are my babies? Where are my doggie-woggies? I must share this with them." One of my favorite Price movies, this is tasteless in really creative ways -- bet they had a big time making it. On the other hand, it's certainly not for the kiddies. Incidentally, the film didn't look cheap or tacky on first release: as I recall the photography was highly saturated due to very slight underexposure -- a cool trick. THEATRE was the last horror film I really liked -- then the Dario Argento crap took over, and lost me.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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panzer the great & terrible
Mar 29 2008, 09:28 AM
"bet they had a big time making it."

Can you IMAGINE the conversations off-camera between Mr. Price and Miss Rigg? What I wouldn't give to have been able to listen in on a little of that!

The kids kept saying, "Who IS she? She seems familiar." The adults would say, "She was in THE AVENGERS." I countered with, "She's one of the great actresses EVER." It insults her talent to suggest she is only going to be remembered for a TV series she did for a couple of years early in her career, although alas she is going to be.

By the way, I got a special kick out of the Richard III "drown in a vat of wine" scene. Vincent Price could've done that sequence in his sleep, no doubt, having played the Duke of Clarence in 1939 and Richard in 1962.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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panzer the great & terrible
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She was bloodcurdling as Goneril in the Olivier KING LEAR (which I'm glad to say got filmed). Goneril is a purely evil character, and Rigg made you feel that evil, while looking beautiful as always. Lear is the only Olivier Shakespeare movie I recommend. Forget what you've heard about the others.

Funny, isn't it: 50 people can die in a movie and it doesn't bother kids at all, but if a character hurts a dog, or even threatens to hurt a dog, they're up in arms. I wonder why that is?
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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Frank Hale
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I saw this last summer and didn’t like it at all. A bright central premise but the gore is way over the top in what should have been a straight comedy.

It was especially devastating to my psyche when I read somewhere that this is Miss Riggs’ favorite film. I prefer to think that’s because of her rapport with the other actors rather than the final product.

I assume your question about dogs vs people is rhetorical. If it isn't, the answer is that dogs would never make a picture like this.
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Her film career has been rather spotty; my guess, though, is that if this is her favorite film, it's because she enjoyed working with Mr. Price so much!
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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shelbyvinje
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Price even commented in the Mid mar book that it was one of his favorite films.
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