Until recently I thought that I had seen all of the Roger Corman/Vincent Price collaborations, yet somehow The Tomb of Ligeia snuck under the radar. Apparently this was Vincent Price’s last collaboration with Roger Corman and was significant because of its use of outdoor locations (to cut costs Corman shot many of his Edgar Allen Poe adaptations on sound stages).
If you’re familiar with this series of films and somehow missed this one as I did, you’re not missing much. As with all of these movies the dialogue is heavy on exposition, contains a lengthy dream sequence that feels like filler and ends with everything going up in flames. But what makes watching these films so much fun is the presence of Vincent Price. He was admittedly goofy at times, but tapped into a persona that was uniquely his own. He was (and is) always a joy to watch.
I also noticed that Ligeia (Elizabeth Shepherd) bore an uncanny resemblance to Barbra Steele which got me thinking: how great would it have been if there was a Vincent Price/Mario Bava collaboration?
