Jun 28th
The Abominable Dr. Phibes**

(GB 1971)

A disfigured magician executes a macabre revenge on the surgeons who failed to save his wife.
Slow and nasty in places but with a commendable abundance of art deco style, in this above average black comedy horror, sparse on dialogue almost to the extent of being a pastiche silent film.

Written by: William Goldstein, James Whitton.
Producers: Ronald S. Dunas, Louis M. Heyward.
Director: Robert Fuest.
Starring: Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten, Virginia North, Peter Jeffrey, Terry-Thomas, Hugh Griffith, Norman Jones, Derek Godfrey, Peter Gilmore, John Laurie, Caroline Munro.
Photography: Norman Warwick.
Music: Basil Kirchin.
Art Direction: Bernard Reeves.

+ sequel: Dr. Phibes Rises Again

THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES. Everything about this film summed up in a single still - beautiful art deco design and macabre horror, with Vincent Price in his element (note the detail of a telephone dial to the right of the Wurlitzer organ).

Preceded by:
Frankenstein*
(US 1910. Edison. 16m. bw. silent; Fading original trick film version of Shelley's novel, not without poignancy and points of interest.; d: J. Searle Dawley; s: Augustus Phillips, Charles Ogle, Mary Fuller.)

FRANKENSTEIN (1910). Charles Ogle as the creature, in a make-up designed by himself.