Vincent Price: The Art of Fear (2003), Denis Meikle.

Jane Asher and Vincent Price, antique shopping in London while filming The Masque of the Red Death (1964).

I had always taken Vincent Price's place in the Hollywood pantheon for granted.  Yet in his book Vincent Price: The Art of Fear Denis Meikle ably points out that Price was almost a victim of bad timing, maturing as an actor while the studio system he came from was collapsing.  "Like those of his contemporaries who similarly were moulded by the studio system," he writes, "Price's screen persona was larger than life, and he was best suited to roles which were larger than life also... he was not the kind of actor to whom naturalism came easily, and this ensured that he would be sidelined by the horror cinema of the mid-fifties until a vehicle came his way for which he was better fitted."  The acting styles coming into favour during this time period - the method acting of James Dean or Marlon Brando - was in complete contrast to Price's.  This book explores how Price managed his film career in the margins by sticking for so many years with low budget masters like William Castle and Roger Corman.

As I was unfamiliar with his writing, Denis Meikle's assertive, intelligent prose took me slightly by surprise.  For example, I'd never thought of Price as "gangling." "Like many tall men weighed down by their own stature," Meikle reveals, "Price was not a very physical actor and the more strenuous were the requirements of a specific script the more incapable he became of fulfilling them.  He was at his best moving stealthily around a stylish set, relying on gesture and facial expression."  Meikle repeatedly makes sharp-eyed observations that (like his central thesis about Price's genre work) go beyond the cliche.   The relationship between Price and American International Pictures group consumes the most pages and Meikle also devotes attention to the British reception to these films, many of which were filmed in the UK (and many of which were themselves butchered by a British censor unfriendly towards the horror genre).

The book has been thoughtfully constructed: Meikle has bookended his work with essays by Richard Matheson (author of I Am Legend; he also adapted many of the Poe works used in AIP films) and Roger Corman.  I'm a strong believer in the value of photographs as supporting documents that bolster good research (especially for books on visual topics like film - it never ceases to surprise me the number of books dedicated to film that seem to take no interest in images!) and The Art of Fear is full of photos, including the delightful one shown above.  I'll be sure to be hunting out Meikle's other books.  I'm really hoping that maybe if I read more Meikle, maybe the ability to construct a smart sentence or think an original thought will rub off on me!