Vincent Price makes good manners unsettling, and we value the wit that keeps his villains from turning solemn. His theatrical delivery can become overemphatic, but Laura shows how persuasive he can be without insisting.
Fi1m perspective
In Laura (1944), Vincent Price makes Shelby Carpenter agreeable without making him trustworthy. We were unsettled by how readily we warmed to him: his accommodating charm made the company enjoyable without giving us much reason for confidence. That ability to make good manners suspect is the quality we value most in Price, even when the voice and the theatrical delivery threaten to take over.
Otto Preminger knows how long to leave us with each performer before another personality freshens the scene. Louis R. Loeffler’s editing keeps the changing impressions of the characters clear, so Price’s charm has consequences for how we read the mystery. Clifton Webb makes admiration sound threatening, while Judith Anderson’s unsentimental directness keeps the longing from becoming solemn. Price belongs comfortably in this company, and it is useful to see him working within an ensemble before approaching the films built around his menace.
House of Wax (1953) made him a horror star, though the subsequent typecasting narrowed the parts available to him. His plummy voice and self-mocking air suited the debonair villain, with William Castle’s House on Haunted Hill (1959) putting the wit and menace together. Roger Corman directed him in seven Edgar Allan Poe adaptations between 1960 and 1964, starting with House of Usher (1960). That work allowed for theatricality and comedy, with The Raven (1963) a comic entry in the series alongside Karloff and Lorre. We like his willingness to be expansive, but the delivery can become hammy; once we are watching the flourishes rather than the character, the effect begins to wear off.
Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990) casts him as the Inventor, a late cameo that brought him to new audiences. Our affection for the film rests chiefly on Johnny Depp and Dianne Wiest, who earn its tenderness despite some blunt plotting. Start with Laura if you suspect there was nothing to Price but the voice.
Biography
Vincent Price was an American actor. Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, on 27 May 1911, he graduated from Yale University with a degree in English and fine arts, then studied art history at the University of London before entering the theatre.
He made his screen debut in 1938 and appeared in more than one hundred films across genres including film noir, drama and horror. He is known for roles such as Shelby Carpenter in Laura (1944), Baka in The Ten Commandments (1956), François Delambre in The Fly (1958) and Frederick Loren in House on Haunted Hill (1959). Later work included the voice of Professor Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective (1986), narration for Vincent (1982) and Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983), and his final screen role as The Inventor in Edward Scissorhands (1990).
Price also worked in television and radio, lectured and wrote on art, and founded the Vincent Price Art Museum. He died in Los Angeles on 25 October 1993.
