The Oblong Box (1969)

Director:

Gordon Hessler

Writers:

Lawrence Huntington (screenplay)
Christopher Wicking (additional dialogue)

Release Date:

11 June 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

For the first time... the classic tale of the restless dead and their unspeakable hungers!

Plot:

Aristocrat Julian Markham keeps his disfigured brother, Sir Edward, locked in a tower of his house....

Plot Keywords:

Hood | Body | Doctor | Voodoo | Flashback Sequence

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Vincent Price	...	Julian
Christopher Lee	...	Dr. Newhartt
Rupert Davies	...	Kemp
Uta Levka	...	Heidi
Sally Geeson	...	Sally
Alister Williamson	...	Edward
Peter Arne	...	Trench
Hilary Heath	...	Elizabeth (as Hilary Dwyer)
Maxwell Shaw	...	Hackett
Carl Rigg	...	Norton
Harry Baird	...	N'Galo
Godfrey James	...	Weller
James Mellor	...	Holt
John Barrie	...	Franklin
Ivor Dean	...	Hawthorne

Also Known As:

Dance, Mephisto
Edgar Allan Poe's The Oblong Box (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

USA:91 min | USA:97 min (DVD)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Iceland:16 | Germany:16 (re-rating) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Norway:18 (1972) | Sweden:15 | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG | Australia:R

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

American International Productions

Trivia:

Alister Williamson is dubbed.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Sir Edward murders Heidi the prostitute, the special effects knife clearly sprays blood onto the actresses' neck well before it actually touches her.

Quotes:

Trench: Sir Edward. I thought you've been-
Sir Edward Markham: Buried. Yes. Waking up in that horrible oblong box, no air to breathe, trapped and no escape. Earth raining down on the lid, every shovel full burying you more deeply.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Out of this World Super Shock Show (2007) (V)

Fantastic Gothic Horror

Gordon Hessler's "The Oblong Box" of 1969 starring the great Vincent Price is a creepy, and excellent Horror tale with a great atmosphere. The movie, whose cast also includes another great horror icon, Christopher Lee, is only loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same name, a fact that, in my opinion, does not downsize the quality of this eerie and obscure film. "The Oblong Box" combines all kinds of elements a fan of Gothic Horror cinema could desire: Voodoo, disfigurement, premature burial, and of course a constant eerie atmosphere and a bunch of bloody murders.

In 18th century England, Sir Julian Markham (Vincent Price) keeps his brother Edward (Aliester Williamson) locked in a chamber in the tower of his mansion. Edward had been disfigured during a voodoo ceremony in Africa, and since gone completely insane. With some help, however, Edward manages to fake his own death in order to flee his prison, using methods which include a premature burial...

Vincent Price is my favorite actor of all-time and his performance is, as always, superb, and no other actor would have fit in his role as Price does. Christopher Lee also delivers a great performance as a body-snatching doctor, a role in which he once again proves that his reputation as a horror icon is more than justified. The cast furthermore includes the beautiful Hillary Dwyer, who had already starred besides Price in Michael Reeves' masterpiece "Witchfinder General" in 1968, and who would play besides Price again in 1970, in "Cry Of The Banshee", also directed by Gordon Hessler, in the female lead.

An excellently written and directed and superbly acted movie, "The Oblong Box" is a film which fans of Gothic Horror can't afford to miss. "Witchfinder General" director Michael Reeves was originally considered to direct the film, but died before the shooting began, and although I have utmost respect for this promising director, who sadly passed away at such a young age, I must say that I cannot imagine anyone to do a better job directing "The Oblong Box" than Hessler did. An excellent little tale of terror, "The Oblong Box" is a must-see for every Horror-fan. 9/10