Edward Kendall Sheridan Lionheart (Vincent Price) had thought he was the greatest Shakespearean actor of his day. Abetted by his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg), Lionheart sets about murdering, one by one, a group of critics who had both ridiculed his acting throughout his career and declined to award him their "Critic's Circle Award for Best Actor", which Lionheart felt was merited by his final season of performances in various Shakespearean plays.
Humiliated in the aftermath of the awards ceremony, he attempts suicide and is presumed dead. Unbeknownst to the critics and the police, Lionheart survives the suicide attempt and is adopted into a community of meths-drinking vagrants who do his bidding.
The manner of Lionheart's revenge on each critic is inspired by deaths of characters in the plays of Lionheart's last season of Shakespeare.
In most cases the critic is first duped by Lionheart's acting initially to "play the part" before Lionheart's murderous intentions are revealed, followed by a forced recantation and an ironic, humiliating and grotesque dispatch of the critic.
The All-Star British cast includes:
Ian Hendry
Harry Andrews
Coral Browne
Robert Coote
Jack Hawkins
Michael Hordern
Arthur Lowe
Robert Morley
Dennis Price
Milo O'Shea
Eric Sykes
Madeline Smith
Diana Dors
The film was Directed by Douglas Hickox; who also directed Sitting Target (1972) starring Oliver Reed, Brannigan (1975) starring John Wayne, and Sky Riders (1976) starring James Coburn. The Screenplay was written by Anthony Greville-Bell; who also wrote Perfect Friday (1970) and The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie (1972).
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice as well as his serio-comic performances in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career. The actor, writer, and gourmet was born in St Louis, Missouri, to Marguerite Cobb (Wilcox) and Vincent Leonard Price, Sr., president of the National Candy Company. He traveled through Europe, studied at Yale and became an actor. He made his screen debut in 1938, and after many minor roles, he began to perform in low-budget horror movies such as House of Wax (1953), achieving his first major success with House of Usher (1960) directed by Roger Corman. Known for his distinctive, low-pitched, creaky, atmospheric voice and his quizzical, mock-serious facial expressions, he went on to star in a series of acclaimed Gothic horror movies, such as Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971). He abandoned films in the mid-1970s, going on to present cooking programs for television - he wrote "A Treasury of Great Recipes" (1965) with his second wife, Mary Grant - but had two final roles in The Whales of August (1987) and Edward Scissorhands (1990). He also recorded many Gothic horror short stories for the spoken-word label Caedmon Records. Vincent Price died at age 82 of lung cancer and emphysema on October 25, 1993.
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE (born 20 July 1938) is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for the role of Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers, which she appeared in from 1965 to 1968. She has also had an extensive career in the theatre both in Britain and America. Rigg made her professional stage debut in 1957 in The Caucasian Chalk Circle and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959. In 1971, she made her Broadway debut in Abelard & Heloise. She played Medea in 1992 at the Almeida and Wyndham's in London and again in New York, where she won the 1994 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. On television, she starred in the 1989 BBC miniseries Mother Love, for which she won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress and the 1997 adaptation of Rebecca, which won her an Emmy Award. Her film roles include, Helena, in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968), Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) opposite George Lazenby, Lady Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper (1981) and Arlene Marshall in Evil Under the Sun (1982). Rigg was made a CBE in 1988 and a Dame (DBE) in 1994.
This film was reportedly a personal favourite of Price, as he had always wanted the chance to act in Shakespeare, but found himself being typecast due to his work in horror films. Before or after each death in the film, Lionheart recites passages of Shakespeare, giving Price a chance to deliver choice speeches such as Hamlet's famous third soliloquy ("To be, or not to be, that is the question..."); Mark Antony's self-serving eulogy for Caesar from Julius Caesar ("Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears...");
"Now is the winter of our discontent..." from the beginning of Richard III; and finally, the raving of the mad King Lear at the loss of his faithful daughter.
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