23 - The Oblong Box

The Oblong Box is a 1969 British horror film directed by Gordon Hessler, starring, The King of the Grand Guignol

The Merchant of Menace, The Master of Horror: Vincent Price, as well as Christopher Lee and Alister Williamson. This was the first film to star both Price and Lee.

Loosely based on the 1844 short story "The Oblong Box", it explores and combines several themes typical to the work of Edgar Allan Poe, such as premature burial and masked figures, with the non-Poe theme of voodoo ritual killings.

The film was produced by the British subsidiary of American International Pictures. Price, Davies and Dwyer had recently appeared in Witchfinder General, under the direction of Michael Reeves, and on 18 November 1968, the four also began work on the Oblong Box. The original script had the Markham brothers as twins, both played by Vincent Price.

Christopher Wicking was bought in to do some additional dialogue. He says AIP were keen to put the film into production to take advantage of Witchfinders success and that they had also promised him When the Sleeper Wakes and a film about Christ coming to the modern day. Wicking says Oblong Box "was the carrot".

However, Reeves fell ill during pre-production, so Hessler stepped in and made a number of substantial changes. With the help of Christopher Wicking, he reworked the screenplay to incorporate the theme of imperial exploitation of native peoples in Africa. This theme gave the film a "pro-black" appearance that would later cause it to be banned in Texas.

The leading role of the film was given to character actor Alister Williamson, his first. Although he has the largest amount of screen time, more than either Price or Lee, his real voice is never heard (it was redubbed by another actor) and his face is covered for the majority of the film.

Hessler says AIP insisted he use Hilary Dwyer.:

I don't know what the situation was, but they liked her and they kept pushing you to use certain actors. I guess the management must have thought she was star material or something like that.[1]

Shooting took place at Shepperton Studios, with sets were designed by the art director George Provis. The score was composed by Harry Robertson, who later worked on several Hammer Horrors.

Price and Christopher Lee were born on the same day (May 27th) and Peter Cushing was born on the 26th. 

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