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!”
WTF Factor: *** necrophilia rates an extra star
Notable Pronouncement:
Verden, quoting Ligeia: “Man need not kneel before the Angels nor lie in death forever but for the weakness of his feeble will.”
Synopsis: (1821) At the funeral of his wife Ligeia (Elizabeth Shepherd) on the grounds of a crumbling abbey, Verden Fell (Vincent Price) tells the local priest that his wife will not rest because she is not dead. Suddenly a black cat screeches and, in the coffin, Ligeia’s eyes flick open. A nervous contraction, says Verden, “Nothing more.” Heh. That’s one way to get a little extra Poe in there. Roll credits, backed by spooky drawings, each with a black cat.
Lady Rowena Trevanion (also played by Shepherd) rides away from a fox hunt to explore the ruined abbey, stopping near Ligeia’s tombstone. Suddenly a black cat frightens the horse and Rowena falls, fainting when Verden appears from behind the headstone. Her friend Christopher (John Westbrook) rides up but Verden scoops her up and carries her back to his gothic home in the abbey. Rowena is already flirting with him.
Verden is not amused by this or anything else. Rowena’s father and Christopher arrive after the hunt, with an unusual fox trophy. Verden tells them it is an Egyptian fox, Ligeia’s pet. Legend has it that the fox lies at the feet of the Egyptian goddess of ill-omened marriages. Heh. The dead fox disappears while they talk, but Verden says the cat has stolen it.
Strange conversation:
- Christopher: “Do you like him?”
- Rowena: “I don’t think so. But what has that to do with it?”
- Christopher: “To do with what?”
- Rowena: “To whom one is drawn to. Who one loves. Even who one marries.”
Despite his gothic manner and appearance, Rowena finds herself drawn to Verden and revisits the abbey the next day. She startles Verden, who attempts to strangle her. Rowena finds this intriguing, apparently. As they flirt in the kitchen, this exchange occurs:
Verden: “I have nothing to offer.”
Rowena: “You make me want to offer you something.”
Verden tries to send her away, then calls her back. When they try to kiss, the cat jumps up and claws Rowena’s face. Verden tells his servant Kenrick (Oliver Johnston) to destroy the cat.
He then meets with Christopher, his lawyer. He shows Christopher that Ligeia’s date of death has been erased from her headstone, and he fears that he did it unknowingly and that Ligeia has returned.
Verden: “Christopher, not ten minutes ago I… I tried to kill a stray cat with a cabbage, and all but made love to the Lady Rowena. I succeeded in squashing the cabbage and badly frightening the lady. “
Meanwhile, the cat steals a pair of Verden’s signature dark glasses and uses them to lure Rowena into the bell tower, where Verden rescues her from a long fall.
For some reason, Rowena ends up marrying Verden, and it seems that they have a lovely honeymoon. Verden is smiling and doesn’t need his dark glasses. He plans to sell the abbey as soon as possible. However, when they return there, he immediately dons his glasses again. Christopher informs Verden that there is a problem selling the abbey; everything is listed in Ligeia’s name and there is no death certificate.
Verden takes to disappearing regularly, telling Rowena that he does not remember what he does during the night. Meanwhile, inexplicable things happen to Rowena. She hears brushing sounds and finds long black hairs similar to Ligeia’s in her hairbrush. The dead fox reappears, and she finds a saucer of milk at her bedside, although the evidence disappears before anyone else sees it.
At a dinner party, Verden hypnotizes her and after recalling pleasant childhood memories of her mother, she begins to speak in Ligeia’s voice.
At breakfast with Christopher, Rowena complains that she never sees Verden, and wonders if Ligeia has returned to Verden. Christopher questions Kenrick, whose answers are less than satisfactory. Christopher is not pleased with any of this and digs up Ligeia’s coffin. Ligeia is gone, but there is a wax dummy in her place.
That night in Rowena’s dreams, when she is kissing Verden, he changes into Ligeia, who tries to strangle her. After she wakes up, the cat attacks and Rowena runs through the abbey, followed by the cat. A mirror shatters and she finds a secret passage. It leads to a chamber with a fire pit in the center; Verden emerges from behind bed curtains but in a stupor. She then finds Ligeia’s corpse on the bed.
Kenrick and Christopher tell Rowena to come away, that Verden is beyond help. Kenrick says it’s not Verden’s fault; Ligeia hypnotized him on her death bed to make him believe she could not die, that he must come to her at night and not remember.
Now things get confusing. Rowena tells Verden that she is Ligeia, trying to re-hypnotize him into believing that Ligeia is really dead. Rowena faints and then apparently dies. Verden throws Ligeia’s body in the fire. Verden asks Christopher and Kenrick to leave him and Rowena alone. He places Rowena on the bed and suddenly she is alive again. Then she isn’t. Ligeia rises from the bed and calls to Verden, who attacks her while she laughs. Christopher and Kenrick return and find Verden actually strangling Rowena.
Verden tells Christopher to take her away from there. Verden then goes after the cat, who attacks and scratches his eyes out. A fire breaks out as Christopher’s carriage drives away from the abbey. The cat attacks again and Verden strangles it. In the carriage Rowena revives. Or is it Ligeia? Her smile is ambiguous. Verden lies in Ligeia’s arms as they burn together. Will anyone live happily ever after? Hard to tell.
Thoughts: This movie was adapted from the short story “Ligeia” by Edgar Allan Poe and was the last of the American International Pictures “Poe series” directed by Roger Corman. Corman felt that after eight Poe-based movies he was starting to repeat himself. Certainly those movies had recurring flourishes that were characteristic of Corman’s approach to the material. For example, in this movie he includes a typical off-kilter, slow motion dream sequence, similar in dream sequence in The Masque of the Red Death (also 1964, but filmed first). Corman moved next into motorcycle films without the Gothic atmosphere.
One striking difference in The Tomb of Ligeia that distinguishes it from Corman’s other efforts was the extensive use of outdoor settings, which were not used in his previous Poe efforts. The ruined abbey was shot at Castle Acre Priory in Norfolk, UK, dating back to ~1090. This is a National Heritage monument open to the public. Other locations were chosen for their authentic atmosphere of the English countryside.
The script for The Tomb of Ligeia was written by Robert Towne, who went on to win an Academy Award for best screenwriter a decade later for Chinatown (1974). In addition to writing other movies and TV shows, Towne was an uncredited scriptwriter for many major films over the following decades. Roger Corman has said in interviews that this movie was Towne’s first complete script, but Towne was also credited as the writer of an earlier Corman movie, Last Woman on Earth (1960). In that movie he also played one of the lead characters.
While Price gives an excellent performance, it’s not one of my favorites. Price is quite restrained as Verden Fell, an unrelentingly serious role, and I guess I like my Price with at least a touch of twinkle in his eye. For reference, my all-time favorite Price performance is in Theater of Blood (1973). When writing the script, Towne originally envisioned Richard Chamberlain, who was two decades younger than Price. Corman also thought Price was too old for the role, but cast him anyway. A younger Verden might have made Rowena’s attraction more understandable, but I would never pass up a chance to watch Vincent Price.
This was Elizabeth Shepherd’s first leading role(s) and she does an excellent job here as well. Her presence and relatively deep voice lend a certain gravitas to her character that would have been missing in a more typical ingenue. On a side note, in 1965, Shepherd was cast as the original Emma Peel in the British TV show, The Avengers. Two episodes were filmed before Shepherd was replaced by Diana Rigg, due to differing visions of the character between Shepherd and the producers. Those two episodes were reshot with Rigg and the rest is history. Sadly, the versions with Shepherd no longer exist; I would love to see her interpretation of Mrs. Peel.
Quick bits:
- Corman made the most of his, in reality, fairly small indoor sets through the use of wide angle shots.
- The impressive set design was mostly accomplished by an uncredited Daniel Haller, who designed almost all of Corman’s Poe adaptations. He is also known as the director of two loose H. P. Lovecraft adaptations, Die, Monster, Die! (1965; from The Colour Out of Space) and The Dunwich Horror (1970).
- For the scenes of the abbey burning, Corman used footage shot for (The Fall of the) House of Usher (1960), where the film crew burned down a wooden barn.
Suggested double feature: Really, any of the Corman Poe adaptations. The closest in spirit is probably (The Fall of the) House of Usher (1960).
Tagline for Coming Attraction: “No woman alive is safe from the most frightening fiend in the history of horror!”
