Tag Archives: Vincent Price

Watching 1939: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult. 

1939 film:  The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

Release date:  Sept. 27, 1939

Cast: 
Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Crisp, Alan Hale, Vincent Price, Henry Stephenson, Henry Daniell, James Stephenson, Nanette Fabray (as Nanette Fabares), Ralph Forbes, Robert Warwick, Leo G. Carroll

Studio: 
Warner Brothers

Director: 
Michael Curtiz

Plot:
The film is a dramatic depiction of the political and romantic relationship between Queen Elizabeth I (Davis) Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex (Flynn). While Queen Elizabeth I is in love with Essex, her duty to her country comes first.

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Classic Movies in Music Videos: Thriller by Michael Jackson

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We have another installment of music videos that feature either classic movie stars, movies or reference classic movies.

I’m not sure how during I forgot about “Thriller” relating to classic film.  This one is so obvious and I forgot about it until my sister and I were listening to Michael Jackson’s greatest hits in the car.

Vincent Price, known for his horror roles in the 1960s, talks in the middle of the song around 6:30 in the video.

You can see Vincent Price’s name on the movie marque and movie posters of his films around the movie theater at the beginning of the video.

Vincent Price in the horror film "The Bat" (1959)

Price started in Hollywood in the late 1930s and can be seen in “Elizabeth and Essex” (1939) and “Song of Bernadette” (1943). Audiences started to notice him more in film noir movies like “Laura” (1944) and “His Kind of Woman” (1951) as the suspicious man who started out likable but ends up being bad.

But Price made his mark when he starred in “The House of Wax” (1953) and “House on Haunted Hill” (1959). Price found his niche in horror movies and continued to capitalize off of creepy characters until his last on screen film appearance in “Edward Scissor Hand” (1991).

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