The Pit and the Pendulum Charles III and Charles IV only four persons were condemned. The Inquisition was, however, abolished during the period of French intervention (1808–13). The original source of the pendulum torture method is one paragraph in the preface of the 1826 book "The history of the Inquisition of Spain " by the Spanish priest, historian, and activist, Juan Antonio Llorente. relating a second-hand account by a single prisoner released from the Inquisition's Madrid dungeon in 1820, who purportedly described the pendulum torture method. Most modern sources dismiss this as fantasy. One theory is that Llorente misunderstood the account he heard; the prisoner
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961 film) poetic." "The Hollywood Reporter" described it as "...a class suspense/horror film of the calibre of the excellent ones done by Hammer...It is carefully made and has full production values...Vincent Price gives a characteristically rococo performance..." "The Monthly Film Bulletin" was negative, writing that the production values "cannot prevent a strong impression of "déjà vu"," and that Kerr, Anders and Carbone were all "glumly wooden" in their performances. Charles Stinson of the "Los Angeles Times" was notably unimpressed by the film: "The uncredited scenario violates Poe's gothic style with passages of flat, modernized dialogue…But the pecadilloes of the script pale beside