After the sad news that Roger Corman has passed away, we look at his legacy and how he changed cinema…
Roger Corman leaves behind an imperious résumé, with over 500 credits. Most prolific as a producer, Corman was also a director who made some incredible films (most notably his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations) and even popped up in front of the camera with roles in big swinging Hollywood pictures like The Silence of the Lambs and Apollo 13. More on just why he had featured parts in those films will become clearer soon.
Without Corman’s passion for movies and trailblazing redefinition of how movies could be made, we’d probably have no Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson. Corman’s approach to making movies on shoestring budgets to attract a mainstream audience changed the face of cinema. Among a few other stalwarts of the B picture boom of the 1950s, Corman was able to shift into a well-oiled production machine quite unlike anyone else doing it. Prolific is an understatement. He began as a filmmaker in chief for American International Pictures, before taking the step to set up his own company (the first of several through his career), The Filmgroup.
By 1960, Corman had flitted largely between low-budget Westerns like Five Guns West (his directorial debut) and The Gunslinger, as well as Sci-fi and low-budget horror such as Day the World Ended, Attack of the Crab Monsters and The Beast With A Million Eyes. Then came a film which would slowly take on a cult following, enough to spawn into a stage musical production and an adaptation of that stage show some 26 years later. Corman’s version of Little Shop of Horrors may not have the showstopping numbers but it was laden with B-movie charm and was effectively the first major role for a young Jack Nicholson, who hadn’t quite developed his inimitable presence but still had a definite je ne sais quoi.
There’s no doubt that Corman had an eye for talent in front and behind the camera either. He gave a platform to a host of young creative talents who were looking for a chance to dip their toes in the world of film production. Among those were Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich as well as Jonathan Demme and Ron Howard. The latter two of course, directed the aforementioned The Silence of the Lambs and Apollo 13.
For Scorsese, though Boxcar Bertha won’t rank as one of his better films, it was still a fairly sizeable production at $600,000 for a director so young, coming off even smaller indie productions. It was enough to prove he could be trusted to make his breakout film, Mean Streets. He gave Coppola a foot in the door with several production jobs in the 60s, as well as the chance to direct part of The Terror.
Whilst Corman’s notable work producing iconic B movies like Death Race 2000, Grand Theft Auto and Piranha made use of theatrical double bill showings and the drive-in craze, he continued to evolve his models and stay relevant through the VHS boom and later into the DVD premiere market too. Corman was always a producer who sought to give new talent a platform to rise, whether they would become legendary icons of the business like Nicholson, or whether it was the latest action titan to populate video store action sections, like Don “The Dragon” Wilson, who headlined a slew of films for Corman (most notably the Bloodfist series).
It would be remiss to only associate Corman with what the more snobbish of critics historically called bad movies because aside from playing a key role in getting many notable films released in the US (such as Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo), and championing new talent, he paved away for many companies following his work ethic and movie making model, most notably Troma and The Asylum, who took the Corman approach and doubled down on violence and sleaze.
A post-2010s boom in rambunctious indie horror filmmakers in the UK are also working in a way that’s not unlike the Corman way. Studios like Dark Temple Films, Creativ Studios, Proportion Films, Jagged Edge Productions, Champdog Films, Hex Studios and the late Andrew Jones’ North Bank Entertainment create films beneath the studio system, against the closed-door mentality that’s especially prevalent in the UK film industry now. This defiant middle finger to the elitism of the film business all goes back to Corman. Most importantly of all though, Corman was a good director in his own right.
Corman made eight Poe films in all with excellent versions of House of Usher (which is well worth seeing for fans of the recent TV adaptation from Mike Flanagan), The Raven (my personal favourite Poe story, thank you Bart Simpson). Perhaps the best of his Poe selection comes in the form of The Masque of the Red Death which like many of Corman’s Poe selections, starred Vincent Price. It also features a young Jane Asher, the British horror starlet turned cake maker (before returning to acting again to provide elegant gravitas whenever called upon).
It’s a bold, dazzling and colourful film which really does stand up well, particularly with some of the great modern restorations on Blu-ray. Those colours really pop and the same can be said of The Pit and the Pendulum, based on one of Poe’s most macabrely gripping stories, and once again starring Price. It’s a superb film.
Corman didn’t just stop at B movie genre pictures and Westerns though. One of his best films starred a pre-Enterprise, William Shatner in probably his best performance. The Intruder sees Shatner as a charismatic and persuasive man in a fancy white suit who comes into a small town on the eve of court-ordered integration to incite racial hatred among the townsfolk.
Coming out in 1962, the film courted some controversy and came during a time in American society when racial tensions were still high. This was pre-Black Panthers and six years before the death of Martin Luther King. Corman’s film was a social commentary that aptly captured the unfounded rage and division that could be stirred by just one voice starting it. It’s still prevalent today. As yet, the film doesn’t have a US or UK Blu-ray, but there are some decent restorations on Blu-ray in Europe and hopefully, we’ll get a deserved release in the near future.
Corman’s prolific producing career only really slowed in 2021 with his last produced film being the as-yet-unreleased Jungle Demon. Before that he exec produced the Scott Adkins sci-fi action film Abduction. As director, Corman’s final film is a slightly madcap reinvention of the lore with Frankenstein: Unbound. It’s brilliantly barmy with the film beginning in 2031 before a Doctor (John Hurt) is transported back to 1817 and encounters Dr Frankenstein (Raul Julia) and the monster (Nick Brimble). It’s an oddity which has certainly seen its appeal grow in time as a cult classic and it’s well worth checking out.
Corman’s indefatigable passion for movies powered a prolific career, and the innumerable amount of future stars cutting their teeth with him showed that Corman really did have a gift for talent spotting. He’ll be greatly missed but his legacy is undeniable. What’s your favourite Roger Corman film? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
