Case in point, his wretched attitude towards Price was simply unfounded. Not to mention when Vincent Price replied with a long letter apologizing and praising the film, all he could muster up was "Knew you'd see it my way."
Pompous ass.
Where did you get your knowledge of the letter and response, if I might ask? Just curious. I want to know more about the conflict between Michael Reeves and Vincent Price.
The BluRay has a long interview from 1988 where Vincent touches on the conflict between he and Reeves, saying that he did not know how to work with actors and that he would say the one thing you should never say to your actors. He said that Reeves would tell him "don't do that" or "you are doing that again", but could never articulate what exactly it was the Price was doing wrong. It sounded to me like Reeves didn't quite know how to communicate his intentions very well. But Price praises him none-the-less, and says that he believes he ended up delivering one of his finest portrayals here. Maybe it was just an accident of all the frustration and stress that existed between these two men, who knows?
In the making of documentary, it was stated that Reeves wanted Donald Pleasance for the role of Matthew Hopkins. When he didn't get his way and Vincent Price was forced upon him by the studio, he acted pretty much like a spoiled brat. He refused to speak to Price at all and treated him pretty badly on the set from the getgo. I can understand the frustration Reeves felt, but none of that was Price's fault. He was very unprofessional in how he handled it. He was a good director and I don't doubt that he would have gone on to make some truly great films in his career had he not died young, but at this point he was only 24 years old and still very immature.
Whatever the case, Reeve was set to direct Price again in 'The Oblong Box' before his death, so both men must have realized that their collaboration, no matter how frustrating it might have been, could create something unique and special on screen.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
A response, I am most shocked (in a positive way of course)!
Concerning the matter of the letter and response, I read it in the book "Top 100 Horror Movies" by Gary Gerani and Steve Chorney. In their list, Witchfinder appeared in the 80's or so mark, and at the end of the article the mentioned event appears. I'm sorry I can't quote the exact text as I no longer posses the book, but it is readily available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Top-Horror-Movies-Gary-Gerani/dp/1600107079/ref= sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391103696&sr=1-2
As you might guess by my unsubtle avatar, I am a tremendous Vincent Price fan. Vincent was known to be a gentleman and a sweet-heart, as well as very easy to get along with. He worked in some clunkers with bad directors, but he never had arguing sprees and verbal abuse with any of them.
In the case of Witchfinder, it just seemed like Reeves had the knives out for him for not getting Donald Pleasance for the role. While I do enjoy Mr. Pleasance as an actor, it was Price who made the character his own in my view. One time, Price showed up visibly drunk during the day (not surprising considering he had constant fights with Reeves, fell off his horse and was in miserable shape) and Reeves foamed at the mouth, yelling, "How dare he show up drunk to my movie?! I'll Kill him!" and made sure his axe death was particularly painful. Art from adversity they say, but look at so many other Prce films where he got along beautifully with the directors and delivered some of his greatest roles, roles far surpassing Witchfinder.
Still, I do enjoy this film and am curious that had Reeves matured, he and Price could have made "The Oblong Box" an absolutely killer film. Alas, it was not meant to be...
Thanks for the information and the added details of the conflict. It's interesting to review now, but I do really feel badly for Vincent Price during the film's production. I have watched a great many interviews and such recently regarding Price, and he was indeed loved by many and always very kind and polite. I love his attitude towards playing villains, the way he pokes fun at it and jokes. He said you have to do that or it will drag you down. He knew how to roll with the punches, and was the greater person for it. Like I said, it was not his fault that the studio wouldn't let Reeves get Donald Pleasance. That was so very immature of Reeves to act like that. Again, though, I feel that his age had a lot to do with it. He had a lot of personal problems in life and I assume he was most likely not very good at handling stress, much less rejection over his ideas.
The BluRay had an amusing anecdote about a day when the catering truck failed to deliver lunch. They were out in the middle of nowhere, and Vincent and some others took off to the nearest civilization and bought lots of food and ended up cooking for everyone. He was a really thoughtful person. In any case, Vincent always took the high road after all of this was said and done, and even till the last spoke highly of Reeves rather than spending all day trashing him. That took class.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
You are most welcome! As you mentioned so well, Vincent was loved by so many of his fans and friends, the man just radiated warmth. To have him as upset as he was took a lot, and it took an even greater man to respond over time with a letter of praise to the director.
Fantastic that you mentioned that bit of trivia, it rarely comes up! Vincent was an excellent chef and had a passion for cooking. He even wrote a few cookbooks that were best-sellers. The recipes, I'm told, where to "die" for. ;)
Speaking of chefs, one of my favourite Price films is Theatre of Death and he becomes a chef in one scene where he cooks the poodles!
Great acting by him, really chew the scenery. And a great score too.
I'm shocked to see he died at age 25! This film was released the year before his death. It says in his bio "Suffered from depression and insomnia. His death from an overdose of barbiturates, combined with alcohol, was accidental rather than suicide." Maybe that has a bit to do with his behavior. I've only seen this film of his but that's enough for me to know he was a very talented director and it's a shame he passed away so young.
shareYou know, it's been over a year since I made this post and honestly, my view has slightly softened. Granted, I still think he was being temperamental, but I certainly understand his position and viewpoint much better, even if I felt he went about it the wrong way. What I have gained over time is an appreciation for his style and directorial knack. It's a shame he left us, I think he would have had something very interesting to say in cinema.
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Reeves wanted Price off the picture. It was shot on a low budget, but really looks like a medium-budget picture. Every dollar or pound spent is up there on the screen. Reeves planned the film with Donald Pleasence in the lead and did not want Price, who was foisted on him by the American distributors who put up a large part of the budget. Reeves must have wanted to get Price to quit the picture as soon as possible since all his scenes would have to be reshot, thus being added expense, that is if he could get Price replaced by Pleasence. If he had had the power to fire Price, he would have been more gracious, but he didn't; neither could he have known that Price would have finished the picture, no matter how much the director disliked him.
shareCase in point, his wretched attitude towards Price was simply unfounded. Not to mention when Vincent Price replied with a long letter apologizing and praising the film, all he could muster up was "Knew you'd see it my way."
Pompous ass.
I remember reading an amusing anecdote that nicely illustrated the uneasy relationship between the director and his star (unfortunately I forget the source - it may have either been a Vincent Price bio or something on the making of the film). Reeves, fractious and brittle from the pressures of directing and having lost the battle over the casting of his lead character, was constantly trying to dictate to Price how he should play his role, worrying that the veteran horror star would resort to his standard self parodic mannerisms. Price of course was flabbergasted that a very young director was treating him with such a perceived lack of deference and during one such awkward run through for a scene the star finally snapped and sneered something like "Young man I have performed in over 90 pictures - how many have you made?" to which Reeves nonchalantly replied "Two good ones!"
Later of course Price professed his admiration for the film, admitting that he eventually came to respect Reeves as a director of considerable talent. Reeves it seemed lacked the sufficient maturity to accept Price's olive branch with anything other than arrogance, but perhaps it was this unattractive aspect of Reeves's uncompromising nature that drove him to make economical, unflinching and unsentimental films like The Sorcerers and Witchfinder General (or The Conquerer Worm if you prefer).