"While a flawed picture, Cry Of The Banshee has enough going for it to be entertaining..."
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Among the Edgar Allan Poe-inspired and Vincent Price starring fright films, one that usually is either ignored or just dismissed out of hand is Cry Of The Banshee. But does it merit the silent treatment or an attitude of contempt? We say not. It is a solid gothic horror piece, one that does reflect the waning years of American International Pictures's horror film cycle, and it even has a werewolf! Well, sort of. Thus, we say...
Cry Of The Banshee is not one of Vincent Price's best efforts, but this tale of the black arts, persecution and revenge set in Sixteenth-century England is not the complete disaster it's been made out to be, especially not in the masterfully restored director's cut now available on DVD. In the wake of Michael Reeves’ trailblazing Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General, a slew of witch persecution films hit the screens from 1968 to 1972: Mark of the Devil with Herbert Lom as a sadistic witch-hunter; Mark Of The Devil II (with Anton Diffring as a misogynistic inquisitor); Blood On Satan’s Claw (with Patrick Wymark as a Seventeenth century witch burner); and Gordon Hessler’s Cry Of The Banshee, which reteamed Price and the gorgeous Hilary Dwyer from Witchfinder General.
Price plays Lord Edward Whitman, a leering magistrate who amuses himself with petty cruelties while seeking witches to torture and burn. On the pretext of hunting for witches, Whitman’s rakehell sons terrorize the villagers and ravish the serving girls at the local inn with impunity. Meanwhile, Whitman’s daughter (Dwyer) is getting it on with the stableboy (perennial victim of dark forces Patrick Mower), who, because of his ability to "talk to the animals," is suspected of witchcraft by the menacing village priest (the redoubtable Marshall Jones). Also in the cast is sex star Essy Persson (I, A Woman, Therese und Isabell), who seems to have wandered off the set of a Swedish porno flick as Price’s traumatized (and much younger) wife--particularly in a lurid rape scene. In what was considered a casting coup at the time, German silent screen actress Elisabeth Bergner came out of retirement to take on the role of Oona, the vengeful sorceress who places a curse on the Whitman clan.
Retribution comes to the House of Whitman after soldiers under the magistrate's command slaughter some of Oona’s followers; the coven leader seeks vengeance with the help of Satan. Whitman’s campaign to eradicate the old, pagan religion backfires. A curse is placed on him and his entire family when the sorceress introduces an avenging demon--the "banshee" of the title--into the Whitman household. The hapless stableboy is transformed into a "sidhe" (pronounced shee-day), who proceeds to pick off the family one by one when "activated" by the sorceress in a voodoo ceremony. I must confess to a slight confusion here; before every kill, this banshee howls like a werewolf. So, is the sidhe a banshee or is it a werewolf? When the sidhe finally reveals itself, it is a hairy creature indeed, resembling a lycanthrope more than a banshee. For a truly terrifying banshee, I prefer the swirling, shrieking, faceless wraith-like apparition in Walt Disney’s Darby O’Gill And The Little People (1959), which traumatized me as a child.
While a flawed picture, Cry Of The Banshee has enough going for it to be entertaining. The cinematography and set design of banquet halls, old inns, village squares and crumbling abbeys is superb, considering the film’s low budget. The acting is generally quite good, with Hugh Griffith a standout as an alcoholic gravedigger. Price’s corrupt magistrate is a despicable villain, who eventually inspires pity as his nearest and dearest drop like flies around him, victims of the witch’s curse. It’s interesting to note that all four of Hessler's AIP flicks (the others being The Oblong Box, Scream And Scream Again and Murders In The Rue Morgue), which were extensively recut by the meddling studio head Sam Arkoff, have been restored according to the director's wishes, without him even being made aware of it until the DVDs were on the market.
Hessler only discovered that his original cut of Murders In The Rue Morgue was on DVD when a film writer mentioned it in passing during an interview. Hessler couldn't believe this good news, as he thought the original cut was lost forever, like the fabled master copies of The Magnificent Ambersons and The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes. Much is made in the lengthy interview with Hessler--a DVD special feature--about the poor quality of the original script, which he was forbidden to improve by AIP. Otherwise, Hessler was left alone, as AIP executives were more concerned with the troubled production of De Sade in Germany and basically gave Hessler a free hand shooting his low-budgeter in distant Ireland. The changes to Hessler’s film would come later, with the heavy re-editing and addition of a new score for the U.S. market.
This DVD restores four minutes to the theatrical version. Cry Of The Banshee opens with a Monty Python-like animated title sequence, with Price's head splitting open to emit a flood of demons. It turns out to have been created by Python’s animator Terry Gilliam himself. Besides the restored opening credits, the Midnite Movies DVD version has the original period score by Wilfred Josephs (instead of the boisterous Les Baxter score for the U.S. version) and some extra nudity and violence. Cry Of The Banshee is the last film in AIP’s Edgar Allan Poe cycle, although its connection with Poe is even more tenuous than usual, as the great writer never produced a work--whether poem or short story--with this title or plot. However, certain moments in the film, particularly the scenes in which Whitman forces his subjects to demean themselves at a drunken revelry, are reminiscent of Prince Prospero presiding over the debauched Masque Of The Red Death. And a passage from Poe’s poem The Bells (recited by Price) is tacked on at the beginning of the film.
Price has been accused of going through the motions in this picture, of phoning in his performance. This supposed indifference is often attributed to Price’s dissatisfaction with the poor quality of the AIP scripts he was being offered and the low salary that Arkoff was paying him. However, although not as inspired as his Matthew Hopkins, Price acquits himself well as the beleaguered Lord Whitman, particularly in the final scenes, where he is confronted by the last of his slaughtered brood and carried off to hell in a stagecoach driven by the sidhe. Cry Of The Banshee has taken a few hits because of its lewdness. Buxom barmaids in late-sixties perms have their tops ripped off repeatedly by Whitman’s loutish sons. Indeed, overly enthusiastic actors feel up these wenches quite a bit in the film’s first half hour, but what else can one expect in an exploitation picture? And the point is made that Whitman’s lads are nothing more than opportunists, getting their jollies by molesting women, while putting on a show of chasing witches for the benefit of the benighted villagers.
However, the one scene that did shock me was the gratuitous slaughter of a gorgeous blonde serving girl (Sally Geeson), who rejects the advances of Price’s depraved son. This poor barmaid is branded a witch for carrying unidentifiable herbs. She is then shackled, dragged to the public square, whipped along the way and burned at the stake. Afterwards, we are treated to the sight of a villager raking her ashes over the firepit. Unfortunately, the film’s low budget is a definite drawback when it comes to creating a realistic monster. Most scenes with the sidhe are darkly lit, so as not to reveal too much of the makeup limitations. When fully lit, the banshee reminds one of a Halloween party werewolf costume, and a bad one at that. Other than this imperfection, Cry Of The Banshee is a worthy example of gothic cinema and a respectable addition to Price's lengthy repertoire of atmospheric spine-chillers. Thanks, Harv! Yes, Cry Of The Banshee is not a great film, maybe not a particularly good film, but it is a very watchable film and it does have its genuinely chilling moments. And there's the Vincent Price factor, which brings value to any filmic effort. Considering the dross that passes for horror films today, we'll take this Banshee any old time. Article copyright © Harvey Chartrand |
