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| Vincent Price |
Many years ago the wife of Dr. Anton Phibes died on the operating table,and he himself was incinerated in an auto crash. Or was he? Now the members of the medical staff who attended Mrs. Phibes are being murdered one by one, in manners that relate to the ten biblical curses of the Pharaohs. One poor man is attacked by blood-thirsty bats, while another is given a toad mask to wear that eventually crushes his head. Terry-Thomas has all of the blood removed from his body, quart by quart. The head surgeon, Dr. Vesalius (Joseph Cotten) is warned by Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey) that his first-born son (Sean Bury) may be in deadly danger... The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a zesty, well-acted black comedy that is as gruesome as it as comical. Price [Tower of London], Cotten [Half Angel] and Jeffrey are all excellent. Phibes' lovely assistant Vulnavia (Virginia North) has no dialogue, and neither does Caroline Munro, who stands in for the late Victoria Phibes. Followed by Dr. Phibes Rises Again. Fuest also directed the terrible Devil's Rain.
Verdict: As delightful as it is appalling, and definitely not abominable. ***.
One of the biggest laughs I ever had was watching this on a Saturday afternoon on a local Atlanta station. During the break the voice over announcement said "We will return to the Abominable Dr Feebees right after this".
ReplyDeleteThat's been almost 40 years and it still cracks me up.
Very entertaining movie as well!
"Feebees!" -- that's great!
ReplyDeleteYayy, this film is on MGM HD all this month for Halloween! Bill, you have whet my appetite to see this one again!
ReplyDeleteLots of other Vincent Price classics are on all month long too....
I'll have to check out MGM HD immediately. Thanks for the heads up!
ReplyDeleteI agree on all counts with you, and IMO this is one of Vincent's most entertaining roles. I SO wish there had been more than one sequel (which I also think is outstanding) as this might have been a terrific series. One of my most beloved images of Vincent is of him twirling the telescope away and clapping when the airplane crashes. So well edited and well done! Favorite murder: the unicorn horn through the door. Wow. I recall a girl behind me moaning, "NO! NO! UH-UH! NOOO!" as they unscrewed the victim. Priceless (no pun intended, really!).
ReplyDelete--Mark
It's a classic horror-comedy with Price in absolute top form. Would have been nice if he had returned for a third or fourth movie, but alas ...
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