Tuesday 14 October 2008

Day 14: Dragonwyck

If Hitchcock’s Rebecca is a spooky film about a haunted marriage, Dragonwyck looks to be an all-out gothic horror movie about said subject. Gene Tierney stars as Son Goku, a monkey-tailed boy on a quest to recover seven magical artefacts known as— Oops, no, sorry, that’s Dragon Ball... Dragonwyck is more concerned with family curses, locked rooms and mysterious deaths. It was on BBC2 recently and I missed it. I’m a dummy.

Like several of the unseen films I’ve mentioned this Sham Shocktober, Dragonwyck (1946) has carved out a little niche in my mind thanks to its evocative title. It was made at a time when Vincent Price could still be regarded as a romantic lead – albeit a sinister one – and I bet he excels. I’ve seen him in the same year’s Shock, in which he plays a murderous doctor, and his suave menace was hard to shake. I’m guessing Dragonwyck plays on this same quality.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Vincent Price's good looks were so underrated, so you got me here with Romantic Lead. I too, believe he would be good in a role like that. btw, Gene Tierney (sp?) and Price were also together in the excellent thriller Laura! Speaking of romantic leads - Dana Andrews - ME-OW!

You definitely piqued my interest in this one.