1964’s The Masque of the Red Death is a Sumptuous Feast of Color and Dread
Photo credit: Alta Vista Productions
The Masque of the Red Death became a little more weirdly real after this tweet, y’all:
After 2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine, I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time. pic.twitter.com/cIFP7Nv5bV
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) October 27, 2020
I do wish her and her friends well, though. Kim has done a lot for prison reform. Just weirdly reminiscent of this week’s movie.
Or is it just that all insanely wealthy people are just weird?
Edgar Allan Poe
Based mainly on Poe’s story of the same name, it also uses his “Hop-Frog” as well.
The Premise
I have tasted the beauties of terror.
-Juliana
The movie starts with a Man in Red(John Westbrook) sitting against a tree. An elderly woman is gathering sticks for fire, and he gives her a red rose and a message: the villagers will soon be free. A wealthy and corrupt Prince Prospero(Vincent Price) invites his rich inner circle of friends to stay in his castle as protection from the Red Death that plagues the land.
Along the way, he abducts the beautiful villager Francesca(Jane Asher), his goal to corrupt her innocence and faith in God. To keep her close, he also takes her love, Gino(David Weston), and Ludovico(Nigel Green), her father, hostage after burning down the village. The old woman had died of the Red Death.
Prospero is a Satanist, you see, and believes his pact with the devil keeps him-and those in his castle-safe from the plague. His consort, Juliana(Hazel Court), also worships the devil, and strives to become his immortal bride.
Beautiful use of light, shadow, and color to convey the morals of the characters. Photo credit: Alta Vista Productions
Photo credit: Alta Vista Productions
Who will die, and who will be safe in the end, after the Prince’s Midnight Masque?
A Beautiful Film
The sets, the lighting, everything about this film is colorful and beautiful. There are monochromatic rooms used to torture and give rest in white, purple, yellow, and black. Even the candles match. The castle is well lit; it is as bright as the Prince’s heart is dark. The costumes are covered in gems and bright patterns. The sets were leftovers from Becket, and really add to all that represents the incredible wealth of Prospero.
Photo credit: Alta Vista Productions
Photo credit: Alta Vista Productions
The sets, though. Photo credits: Alta Vista Productions
The Dread
The Red Death is an ugly plague. Its victims bleed from every pore, and go mad from pain.
We all know what is going to happen, but to whom?
The evil Prospero wants every beautiful thing corrupted, every bit of faith destroyed. Francesca is pushed to the edge by his machinations, and we never know if she will give in.
Photo credit: Alta Vista Productions
Lots of Allegory and Symbolism
Allegory.
Photo credit: Alta Vista Productions
Perhaps to get around censors, perhaps just to be in keeping with Poe’s story, in The Masque, sex is alluded to a lot, yet never shown. The dancing of the Prince’s guests represents an orgy, especially when he calls them animals, after making several guests act like animals for his amusement.
The initiation hallucination that Juliana has, though. Hoo, boy. There are men of different cultures(Aztec, Chinese, Egyptian, African. I think I got them right) all bloodlessly stabbing her with daggers. You don’t have to be Freud to figure that one out.
It’s actually fun to try to find the symbolism on a second viewing, such as the movie starts with a red rose and a promise; Juliana ends with the same.
What Actually Was The Red Death?
I researched this question, and got a lot of theories:
- Cholera
- Rabies
- The Black Death
- Tuberculosis
Come on, y’all. Poe was a writing genius. He basically invented the detective novel. I think he can amalgamate a few diseases into one for a story.
A Few Oddities
Hop Toad(Skip Martin) is painted a slightly metallic yellow during his time with the “gorilla”. He says his costume is that of the gorilla’s owner, but claims he is from deepest Africa. But he also has his face painted with gold symbols, and his outfit looks like something out of Arabian Nights. So I don’t know if this is racist or just part of his costume to disguise him somewhat, as even Esmeralda doesn’t recognize him, and royalty did love keeping little people(see my previous statement about insanely rich). Kudos to Roger Corman for not going full on racist blackface.
Speaking of Esmeralda, she is supposed to be an adult; it is plainly obvious the actress(Verina Greenlaw) portraying her is not. The dialogue is dubbed by an adult woman in post.
While the Prince explicitly forbids anyone to wear red at the Masque, revelers can plainly be seen wearing the color. The only thing I can figure is he meant no red masks.
Metal and Doom Metal bands have used sample dialogue from this film in their music.
Last year, this film was preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
Did you like The Masque of the Red Death? Let us know!
The Masque of the Red Death is available on Shudder; check your streaming service to see if it is available to you.
