| The Haunted Palace | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Credits | |
| Title: | The Haunted Palace |
| Director: | Roger Corman |
| Writers: | Charles Beaumont |
| Producers: | James H. Nicholson; Samuel Z. Arkoff; Roger Corman; Ronald Sinclair |
| Composer: | Ronald Stein |
| Cinematography: | Floyd Crosby |
| Editors: | Ronald Sinclair |
| Production | |
| Production company: | Alta Vista Productions |
| Released: | August 28th, 1963 |
| Rating: | Approved |
| Running time: | 87 min. |
| Country: | USA |
| Language: | English |
| Navigation | |
| Previous: | — |
| Next: | — |
The Haunted Palace is an American independent feature film of the supernatural thriller subgenre of horror. It is loosely based on a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, written in 1839, though it actually has more in common with the short story "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", written by H.P. Lovecraft in 1927. It was directed by Roger Corman with a screenplay written by Charles Beaumont. It was produced by Alta Vista Productions and released in the United States on August 28th, 1963.
Synopsis[]
In 1765, the inhabitants of Arkham, Massachusetts, are suspicious of the strange phenomena surrounding the grand "palace" that overlooks the town. They suspect the palace's owner, Joseph Curwen, is a warlock.
A young girl wanders up to the palace in a trance-like state. She is led by Curwen and his mistress, Hester, down into the dungeons. The girl is subjected to a strange ritual, in which an unseen creature rises up from a covered pit. The townspeople observe the girl wandering off, and they storm the palace to confront its owner. Though the girl appears unharmed, the townspeople surmise that she has been bewitched to forget what happened to her. They drag Curwen out to a tree where they intend to burn him. The mob leader, Ezra Weeden, insists that they do not harm Hester (to whom he had been previously engaged to marry). Before being burned alive, Curwen puts a curse on Arkham and its inhabitants and their descendants, promising to rise from the grave to take his revenge.
In 1875, 110 years later, Curwen's great-great-grandson, Charles Dexter Ward, and his wife Anne arrive in Arkham after inheriting the palace. They find the townsfolk hostile towards them and are disturbed by the horrific deformities that afflict many of Arkham's inhabitants. Charles is surprised by how well he seems to know the palace and struck by his strong resemblance to a portrait of Curwen. He and Anne meet Simon, the palace caretaker, who persuades them to stay at the palace and to forget the townspeople's hostility. Charles becomes more and more obsessed with the portrait of Curwen, and at times seems to change in his personality.
Charles and Anne befriend the local doctor, Marinus Willet. He explains the circumstances surrounding Curwen's death, and that the townspeople blame the deformities on the curse. He tells them of a black magic book, the Necronomicon, believed to have been in Curwen's possession, and which Curwen used to summon the Elder Gods Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth. Curwen's plan was to mate mortal women with these beings in order to create a race of super-humans, which led to the deformities. The townspeople are terrified that Curwen has come back in the form of Charles to seek his revenge. Dr. Willet advises Charles and Anne to leave the town.
Charles seems to be falling under the control of something and insists that they stay in Arkham. One night, Charles is possessed by the spirit of Joseph Curwen. Curwen reunites with two other warlocks, Simon and Jabez, who also have possessed their descendants. They make plans to continue their work and resurrect Hester. Curwen's hold on Charles is limited, and he tells Simon and Jabez that Charles is fighting him.
Curwen begins his revenge on the descendants. He kills Ezra Weeden's descendant Edgar by releasing Weeden's monstrously deformed son from his locked room and attacks Micah Smith's descendant Peter with fire. Curwen takes complete control of Charles and he attempts to rape Anne. Anne seeks help from Dr. Willet, whom Curwen then attempts to persuade that Anne is insane. Curwen and his associates succeed in resurrecting Hester.
The townspeople discover Peter Smith's charred corpse and storm the palace. Dr. Willet and Anne try to rescue Charles and discover a secret entrance to the dungeons. They are ambushed by Curwen, Simon, Jabez, and Hester. Anne is offered as a mate to the creature in the pit, while the residents break in and begin to raze the palace. The portrait of Curwen is destroyed, breaking Curwen's hold over Charles. Charles releases Anne, then urges Dr. Willet to take her away from the palace. While Curwen's associates seize Charles, Dr. Willet shepherds Anne from the burning palace. He returns to rescue Charles, and finds that Simon, Jabez, and Hester have escaped and left him to die. Charles and Willet barely escape the flames. Charles and Anne fervently thank Willet for saving their lives. However, it is apparent that Joseph Curwen still inhabits Charles' body.
Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Vincent Price | Charles Dexter Ward/Joseph Curwen |
| Debra Paget | Ann Ward |
| Lon Chaney | Simone Orne |
| Frank Maxwell | Marinus Willet/Priam Willet |
| Leo Gordon | Edgar Weeden/Ezra Weeden |
| Elisha Cook | Peter Smith/Micah Smith |
| John Dierkies | Benjamin West/Jacob West |
| Milton Parsons | Jabez Hutchinson |
| Cathie Merchant | Hester Tillinghast |
| Guy Wilkerson | Gideon Leach/Mister Leach |
| Stanford Jolley | Carmody, coachman |
| Harry Ellerbe | Minister |
| Barboura Morris | Mrs. Weeden |
| Darlene Lucht | Miss Fitch |
| Bruno Ve Sota | Bruno, the bartender |
Notes & Trivia[]
- The Haunted Palace redirects to this page.
- The tagline to this film is "A warlock's home is his castle... forever!"
- This film has also been marked as Edgar Allan Poe's The Haunted Palace.
- There are a total of fifteen credited cast members in this film.
- Production on The Haunted Palace began on April 10th, 1963.
- The Haunted Palace premiered in Cincinnati, Ohio on August 28th, 1963. It was then screened in Kansas City, Missouri on September 11th, 1963. It was then screened in Detroit, Michigan on September 18th, 1963. After that, it was screened on January 29th, 1964 in New York City, New York.
- This film is included in the Vincent Price Collection Blu-ray, which was released by Shout Factory on September 22nd, 2020.
- The Haunted Palace was re-released on Region 1 DVD by Cheezy Flicks Entertainment on March 14th, 2023.
- Actor Lon Chaney, Jr. is credited as Lon Chaney in this film.
- Actor Elisha Cook, Jr. is credited as Elisha Cook in this film.
- Actor John Dierkes is credited as John Dierkies in this film.
- Actor I. Stanford Jolley is credited as Stanford Jolley in this film.
- Actor Bruno VeSota is credited as Bruno Ve Sota in this film.
- This is the final film work for actress Debra Paget. With her career on a downward spiral, she retired from acting shortly after this film.
- On the movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Haunted Palace has a Tomatometer rating of 71% based on seven critic reviews, averaging 6.80 out of 10. It has an audience score of 66% based on more than 1,000 verified user ratings, averaging 3.6 out 5.
- On Letterboxd, The Haunted Palace has a weighted average rating of 3.47 based on 9,172 user ratings.
- Actor Andrew Jackson was born on the same day that The Haunted Palace was screened in Kansas City, Missouri, which was September 11th, 1963.
- The central setting for this film is Arkham, Massachusetts in the year 1875. A prologue sequence takes place in the year 1765.
- Actors Lon Chaney, Jr. and Vincent Price are both luminaries of the Universal Monsters series of films. Chaney played multiple characters in the franchise, but is best known for playing Larry Talbot - a man cursed with lycanthropy in The Wolf Man in 1941. Vincent Price played Geoffrey Radcliffe - the main antagonist from The Invisible Man Returns a year earlier in 1940. Both Price and Chaney worked on the 1948 horror comedy film Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, though the actors did not share any scenes together.
Recommendations[]
- Abominable Dr. Phibes, The
- Diary of a Madman
- House of Usher
- Raven, The
External Links[]
- The Haunted Palace at AMG
- The Haunted Palace at TCM
- The Haunted Palace at IMDB
- The Haunted Palace at Wikipedia
- The Haunted Palace at Letterboxd.com
- The Haunted Palace at Themoviedb.org
- The Haunted Palace at Rotten Tomatoes
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