Prospero leaves the village, orders his men to burn it down, and takes Ludovico, Gino and Francesca as his prisoners.Īgain, I can’t stress this enough: so far, almost none of this has any relationship to Poe’s story. Just then they are interrupted by a scream, and Prospero and his guards find the old woman who brought the prophecy of deliverance has died of the plague known as the Red Death. Two of the village men, Gino (David Weston) and Ludovico (Nigel Green), stand up to Prospero, and he is on the point of having them executed when Francesca (Jane Asher) pleads for clemency.
The people of the village live in poverty as Prospero reigns over them. She returns to the village, just as the wicked Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) is arriving. The figure in red hands the woman a rose, and tells her to take it to her village and inform them that their day of deliverance is at hand. And right away, we suspect there is something odd going on, because Edgar Allan’s story makes no mention of any peasant women gathering wood. The film begins with an old woman gathering firewood in a bleak landscape when she encounters a strange figure clad entirely in red. Don’t worry it’s very short, and it’s one of the greatest stories ever written. If you haven’t read it, now would be a good time to do so. The combined effect is superb and makes the film a memorable experience.This film is based on the famous short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The dwarf's revenge on Alfredo during the masque is as chilling as anything which came before in films such as 1932's 'Freaks' while the film shimmers with beautiful cinematography (especially the coloured rooms) and simmers with corruption. In support Hazel Court as the would-be Bride of Satan Juliana, and Patrick Magee as the corrupt Alfredo are particularly worthy of note. His characterization of Prince Prospero in this movie is brilliant - a man without a soul or heart who is only conquered when a girl of equal faith enters his castle (the wooden Jane Asher as Francesca). Vincent Price was a gloriously hammy actor who played horror roles with the utmost seriousness. Possibly the best of the Roger Corman-Vincent Price series of film adaptations of the stories of Edgar Allen Poe, 'The Masque of the Red Death' is a chilling and malevolent tale of decadent devil-worshippers holed up in a castle while the Red Death claims its victims in the village outside.
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