I came in on this movie about halfway, so what was the big secret regarding Corbin Whitley? I get enough of the dialogue to know that the Colour was a meteorite which had come within the last few decade or so at least, so that hasn't anything to dow ith Corbin and whatever turned the town against the Whitley family.
Any help is appreciated... thanks!
I take it you were watching it on TCM? At least that's where I just watched it. More or less, the gist of the story is that the meteorite crashed, Corbin wanted to use it to grow/mutate his land into being especially fertile and full of plants, but the radiation ended up harming the surrounding area and his family - Letitia Whitley along with the man who was treated by Dr. Henderson (I forgot who that was). So I gathered that the townspeople felt the Whitleys aliented them by abusing the land and creating monsters of sorts.
shareCorbin had nothing to do with the meteorite. Apparently, the Witley name was pariah in the town because Corbin was basically a mad devil-worshipper who studied the black arts. I'm pretty sure all the drawings in the basement were done by him. His son (Nahum-Karloff's character) was trying to restore the family's name to prominence by using the meteorite to grow lush gardens and so forth. At least, that's the feeling I came away with.
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I think Corbin died during some kind of satanic incantation right before the meteorite came, and Nahum thought it was some kind of devine gift for which him to use to somehow improve the world and restore the family name. After his wife dies he begins to think his father sent it from hell, knowing he would misunderstand its purpose.
I just finished listening to an audio book reading of the HP Lovecraft story "The Colours Out of Space" (it's on youtube) which the movie is based upon and it's pretty cool, I'm surprised no big-budget films have yet been made based upon it.
Thanks for the explanation Andy. I wasn't sure either about the answer. I enjoyed the movie and am going to check YouTube for the audiobook of the story. I love listening to audiobooks at night when my insomnia is going.
shareRight, it appears Corbin wasn't a good boy, dealing with the "devil" and he was the one who Dr.Henderson treated and saw what happened to him. The town hated the family and Nahum wanted to restore things even saying "I thought, as Corbin knew I would".
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