The last of the Roger Corman Poe cycle was The Tomb of Ligeia. I haven’t seen all eight films in the set, at least I don’t think I have. A couple don’t sound familiar to me but I didn’t keep track of all the movies I watched growing up. Although critics were, well, critical of a number of the films, at least three of them weren’t bad. In that number I would count Ligeia. The usual problem with making Poe films is that Poe wrote short stories. Getting them to the length necessary for a feature required padding, sometimes by borrowing against some other Poe tales. Ligeia isn’t too far off from Poe’s original and although Corman reportedly didn’t want Vincent Price in the star role, because of his age, he pulls off what seems to me a winner. Atmospheric, and well-acted, the story is a touch slow, but manages to bring in some solid horror themes.
I’ve been pondering Poe as a horror writer lately. I suspect that the master himself would’ve been surprised, and probably not pleased with the characterization. Yes, he wrote stories that would become horror hallmarks, but his fiction output included detective stories (a genre he invented), something akin to science fiction, drama, and comedy. Some of his funny stories retain their humor today. I suspect that one reason he became remembered as a horror author was H. P. Lovecraft’s adoration of him. Lovecraft wrote mostly what we consider horror today, although there’s variation there too. But since Lovecraft saw the horror, so did others. When Corman began shooting movies he soon fell into the horror trend and, known for that genre, incorporated Poe. By the end of the sixties, Poe was a horror writer.
What makes The Tomb of Ligeia work is Price’s tormented performance of Verden Fell. His Byronic character is caught in the realm between death and life. Unable to free himself from Ligeia, and she, unwilling to renounce her will, they are caught in a belief that a local declares blasphemy while Verden calls it “benediction.” The theme of resurrection—presented mostly in the form of Egyptian artifacts—is an inherently religious one. The setting in a ruined abbey—original to Poe—also plays into the sublimated resurrection theme. Critics didn’t care for the movie, but separating Corman’s Poe cycle out over time allows a viewer to consider each piece separately. In this light, this appears to be one of the best three. Of course, I haven’t seen all of them yet.