The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)

Director:

Roger Corman

Writers:

Edgar Allan Poe (short story)
Robert Towne (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 January 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Even on her wedding night she must share the man she loved with the "female thing" that lived in the Tomb of the Cat!

Plot:

Some years after having buried his beloved wife Ligea, Verden Fell meets and eventually marries the lovely Lady Rowena...

Plot Keywords:

Abbey | Recluse | Beach | Prologue | Dream Sequence

Cast

Vincent Price	...	Verden Fell
Elizabeth Shepherd	...	The Lady Rowena Trevanion / The Lady Ligeia
John Westbrook	...	Christopher Gough
Derek Francis	...	Lord Trevanion
Oliver Johnston	...	Kenrick
Richard Vernon	...	Dr. Vivian
Frank Thornton	...	Peperel
Ronald Adam	...	Minister at Graveside
Denis Gilmore	...	Livery Boy
Penelope Lee	...	Lady Rowena's Maidservant

Also Known As:

Edgar Allan Poe's The Tomb of Ligeia (UK) (complete title)
Last Tomb of Ligeia
Ligeia
Tomb of the Cat

Runtime:

USA:81 min | UK:81 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Germany:16 | UK:12 (DVD rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Castle Acre Priory, Swaffham, Norfolk, England, UK

Company:

Alta Vista Film Production

Trivia:

Roger Corman wanted to break away from his standard technique of shooting his "Poe" features entirely on soundstages. There are many scenes, including the entire first reel, that were shot outdoors.

Quotes:

Verden Fell: The eyes, they confound me. There's a blankness, a mindless sort of malice in some Egyptian. They do not readily yield up the mystery.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Son of Svengoolie: The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) (#1.11)" (1979)

Very moody and stylish.

I was asked recently if I could name any genuinely scary films made before The Exorcist in 1973. The only titles I could come up with were Rosemary's Baby and Night of the Living Dead from the late '60s. I could suggest many horror titles made before 1970, but none were genuinely flesh-crawling enough to make the list. At the time, I had not seen The Tomb of Ligeia. Now I have seen it and, wow! This is one seriously under-rated gem.

It is one of the many Roger Corman films from this era based on an Edgar Allan Poe story. Intelligently scripted by Robert Towne, and acted to perfection by Vincent Price and Elisabeth Shepherd, this film is a treat from start to finish. Shepherd plays a well-to-do lady in Victorian England who falls in love with a mysterious loner (Price) who resides in a crumbling abbey and seems haunted by memories of his previous (now-dead) wife Ligeia. She marries Price, but her chances of love are blighted by spooky happenings which may be the work of the ghost of his jealous ex-bride.

The dream sequence, featuring a dead fox hidden in a bouquet of flowers and a terrifying metamorphosis midway through a passionate kiss, is a marvellous and memorable scene. All scenes featuring the weird black cat are eerily effective. There's also a wonderfully creepy hypnotism episode. The photography is lovely, with colourful outdoor lensing of a real English abbey and superb blending of light and shadows during the ghostly indoor sequences.

So, if you're after a truly spine-tingling film from before 1970 - here you go!