[psycho d]

Pit and the Pendulum (1961).A true classic, this was more of a collaboration of other Poe themes into one film. The story was simply wonderful. The atmosphere and lavish sets belie any indication that this was a lower budget affair. In fact, those costumes were rich and elegant beyond words. And speaking of elegant, Barbara Steele played an incredible, if too brief, role in this undertaking. Of course it was Vincent Price that plays the main role, and he plays it with customary aplomb. John Kerr gets some rather nasty reviews for his role. His woody dialog is almost too much to bear. Otherwise his acting skill were decent enough. Roger Corman's direction was simply awesome, using in full the sets and colors to best effect. The one technicality might be the rather rugged editing here and there, but no matter, this was still a wicked good time. Ashe.