Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Roger Corman

Writers:

Richard Matheson (writer)
Edgar Allan Poe (story)

Release Date:

12 August 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Until now no one has dared to film this ...... the most diabolical classic of all time!

Plot:

Francis Barnard goes to Spain, when he hears his sister Elizabeth has died. Her husband Nicholas Medina...

Plot Keywords:

Death | Castle | Spanish Inquisition | Buried Alive | Cult

Cast

Vincent Price	...	Nicholas / Sebastian Medina
John Kerr	...	Francis
Barbara Steele	...	Elizabeth
Luana Anders	...	Catherine
Antony Carbone	...	Doctor Leon
Patrick Westwood	...	Maximillian
Lynette Bernay	...	Maria
Larry Turner	...	Nicholas as a child
Mary Menzies	...	Isabella
Charles Victor	...	Bartolome

Also Known As:

The Pit and the Pendulum (USA)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #19988) | USA:Unrated (video release) | Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Norway:16 (1961) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | West Germany:18 | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Palos Verdes, California, USA

Company:

Alta Vista Productions

Trivia:

The film never had an original prologue. It was added when the film was sold to TV and a further few minutes were required to pad out the running time. Only Luana Anders from the original cast was available so an extra scene of her in a madhouse was filmed and tacked on to the beginning. This scene does not really tie in with the rest of the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Elizabeth Medina starts to open her coffin you see her hand reach out and grab the side edge but in the next shot her hand is gone.

Quotes:

Don Nicholas Medina: You will die in agony. Die!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Son of Svengoolie: Pit and the Pendulum (1961) (#1.66)" (1980)

Nice Poe follow-up to "House of Usher"...Price is terrific...

Once again VINCENT PRICE is harboring a dark secret about a torture dungeon, a father who sadistically used it during the Inquisition, and a wife who has died mysteriously. JOHN KERR is a young man from England who comes to Spain to find out what happened to his sister.

When the story of the Spanish nobleman's boyhood is related to Kerr, you can understand why Price is about to go insane, haunted as he is by witnessing the death of his mother and uncle in the chamber. The plot thickens when it turns out that two of his loyal friends are at the heart of a cruel deception.

All the Gothic elements are here in all their clichéd glory: the hidden passageways, the steep stairways, the cobwebs and spiders, the handsome castle interiors and all of the interiors beautifully photographed. Les Baxter's music provides an appropriately chilling background score. Roger Corman's direction is a major asset and BARBARA STEELE does nicely as the adulterous wife.

Kerr is adequate as the young man inquiring into the death of his sister, but it's Price's show all the way. His mad scene at the end is extremely well handled, a bit over-the-top in many ways, but still effective. The pendulum scene is a nail biter.

Summing up: Top rate Gothic mystery makes good combination of Poe, Corman and Price once again.