Obituary
That great Hollywood titan, “pulp genius” Roger Corman, has left us at the grand old age of 98.
Peter Bradshaw has written a fine tribute,
“Roger Corman was the powerhouse of B-pictures and pulp classics, who in a staggeringly prolific career lasting from the 1950s to the 2010s produced more than 400 movies, and directed more than 50 – films such as The Wasp Woman, A Bucket of Blood, The Wild Angels, The Fall of the House of Usher, Little Shop of Horrors and The Man With the X-Ray Eyes. And with his collaborations with Vincent Price on a number of inspired Edgar Allan Poe adaptations in the 1960s, Corman helped to make Poe a canonical figure within American literature and a figure of enduring pop-cultural importance, revered by academics who have made campus careers out of the author.”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/may/12/roger-corman-cinemas-pulp-genius-whose-talent-to-shock-was-rocket-fuel
I have wonderful memories of seeing Corman’s films at the South Harrow Odeon who were notoriously laissez-faire about checking your age when you went to an X film.
The Masque of the Red Death was a particular favourite.
Yeah, my favourite Corman film–and Nicolas Roeg was involved with that as well.
RIP Mr Corman
The list of top name directors and actors who got their break in the movie business by either making or appearing in the production line of B movies his American International Pictures company churned in the 1960s and 70s is positively jaw dropping
His :”How I made 100 movies in Hollywood and never lost a dime” is one of the best autobiography titles ever
I must look out for that autobiography @Jaygee.
Googling it led to this interview with Alex Stapleton who made a doc about RC’s life.
https://moveablefest.com/alex-stapleton-cormans-world-interview/
“A lot of people in the snobby film world just dismiss Corman movies,” said Alex Stapleton. “They’re like, ‘yeah, he made ‘Women in Cages,’ ‘Private Duty Nurses’ or “Caged Heat” and I don’t really think I need to get to know who Roger Corman is.”
I wonder how many people, on watching Mike Flanagan’s Fall Of The House of Usher will be seeking out, again, the panoply of Corman/Price Poe films. (I will/am!)
Mr Corman went his own way! My cinephile pal in Cobham shared this gem from the Grauniad:
“The American film director Roger Corman was a great innovator (Obituary, 12 May (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/may/12/roger-corman-obituary)). He often reversed the process of making a film. If someone came to him with an idea, he would give it a title, get a poster made, then test it on audiences. If they responded well, he would get someone to write a script based on the poster. The better I knew him, the more I admired him. I shall miss his advice and knowledge of film-making.
John Boorman
Albury Heath, Surrey “