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| “ | The more I find to punish, the more I find to discover. | „ |
| ~ Lord Edward |
Lord Edward Whitman is the villainous protagonist of the 1970 horror film Cry of the Banshee. He is a sixteenth century English magistrate who harshly persecutes women suspected of being witches only to run afoul of a real witch coven when he finds their gathering.
He is portrayed by the late Vincent Price, who also played Matthew Hopkins in Witchfinder General, Professor Henry Jarrod in House of Wax, Cardinal Richelieu in the 1948 film adaptation of The Three Musketeers, King Richard III in the 1962 remake of The Tower of London, Zigzag in The Thief and the Cobbler, Egghead in the 1960s Batman TV series, one of the Sub-humans in Fire and Ice, himself in Escapes, Sinister Man in Bloodbath at the House of Death, Dr. Goldfoot in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine and Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, Prince Prospero in The Masque of the Red Death, Anton Phibes in The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Mr. Scratch in The Story of Mankind, January Q. Irontail in Here Comes Peter Cottontail, and Professor Ratigan in Disney's The Great Mouse Detective.
Biography[]
Lord Edward is introduced presiding over the trial of Margaret Donald, a kitchen maid accused of heresy on the evidence that her employer was burned as a witch seven days prior. He declares that heathen charms were found in her room, heavily implying that he arranged for them to be planted there when she denies the charges. When she continues to deny the charges, Lord Edward has her branded on the breast with an "H" and sentences her to be flogged through the streets and placed in the stocks until she confesses. While watching the punishment with his son Sean, Lord Edward is informed by the townsfolk of a mad dog reputed to be sent from Hell killing the sheep. He denies that it's anything more than a wolf, offering a 20 crown reward for the wolf's head.
That night, Lord Edward holds a banquet for his family and friends. Sean and his lackeys Burke and Bully Boy return from a hunt with two teenagers, Timothy and Sarah, who have been arrested as suspected heretics. In order to entertain his friends Lord Edward orders Timothy to play some music and forces Sarah to dance to it on the table, over his wife Lady Patricia's objections. However, the mad dog is heard howling during the dance, causing Burke to accuse Sarah of summoning a banshee and leading to her being dragged off the table and sexually assaulted by Sean, Burke and Bully Boy while Lord Edward and his friends laugh. Sarah appeals to Lord Edward for help, and he briefly feigns sympathy before forcefully kissing her and stabbing Timothy in the stomach with a table knife when he pulls her away, killing him. Sarah attacks him with a carving fork and is shot dead by Burke. This prompts Lady Patricia to call Lord Edward a murderer and leave the party.
Lord Edward's other son Harry returns from Cambridge and is ordered to help hunt down the witches. Meanwhile, Sean accidentally stumbles across a member of the witch coven and interrogates her, learning that the witches are lead by a woman named Oona as well as the location and date of their next meeting. Lord Edward leads a group of witch-hunters to the location of the meeting, coming across the coven engaged in a ritual involving dancing and chanting. The soldiers kill several of the witches, but Lord Edward chooses to spare Oona and the other survivors as a warning to other witches. Oona vows revenge and uses her magic to curse House Whitman, ordering Roderick, a spirit summoned by her disguised as the Whitman family steward, to become a werewolf and kill members of the Whitman family.
Harry attempts to convince Lord Edward to leave because the villagers hate him and Lady Patricia appears to be suffering from mental issues (actually trauma from being raped by Sean) but he refuses to leave until he is sure all witchcraft has been stamped out. He then comes across his daughter Maureen returning from a tryst with Roderick and slaps her for leaving the house without his permission, leading to a physical confrontation with Harry. Meanwhile Roderick becomes a wolf for the first time and kills Sean. The mad dog is blamed and Lord Edward personally leads a hunt to find it.
The mad dog is tracked down by Whitman's soldiers and shot by Harry. Its head is mounted on a pole and Lord Edward invites all the villagers to a banquet to see it in order to reassure them that it really is dead. Lady Patricia is brought down to celebrate but goes insane, possibly due to witchcraft, and declares the Whitman House cursed while laughing insanely. Lord Edward realizes it was a mistake to let Oona go and orders her tracked down. Margaret Donald, the only lead on Oona's possible whereabouts, is tortured for information by Burke and Bully Boy. Harry objects to the torture and confronts Burke, resulting in a fight that ends in Burke's death. Lord Edward is displeased but before he can punish Harry he realizes that Margaret is attempting to confess; she manages to say "born by fire, dies by fire" (meaning Roderick) but dies of her injuries before she can give Oona's location.
Roderick becomes a wolf again and kills Lady Patricia. At her funeral, Lord Edward opens the coffin and finds that her skin and hair have turned blue-white, a sign that she was killed by a werewolf. He and Bully Boy announce to the townsfolk that they are looking for Oona, declaring that they are prepared to kill as many people as necessary to find her. Bully Boy singles out a serving wench named Bess as a suspected witch because she refused his advances earlier and has her tied to a wheel in the town square and interrogated. When she fails to give up any information due to not knowing it Bully Boy burns her alive at Lord Edward's instruction.
Lord Edward returns home and finds Maureen in bed with Roderick. Flying into a rage, he beats Roderick with his cane while calling him "gypsy vermin" before having Bully Boy take him down to the dungeons and chain him up. At the same time Harry has found the coven's hiding place and sees Oona magically order Roderick to become a werewolf and kill Maureen. He kills Oona, but Roderick still becomes a werewolf and breaks free of his restraints. Upon being informed of the situation by Harry Lord Edward goes down to the dungeon, where he finds Maureen injured but alive after being mauled by Roderick and has her locked away for her own protection before sending Harry and Bully Boy out to find Roderick. Lord Edward himself searches the house; beginning to go insane from fear, he calls for Sean and Burke and asks them to "make this house as bright as dawn". In the meantime, Roderick tricks Maureen into letting him in and leads her away. They encounter Lord Edward, who attempts to shoot Roderick but is choked by him; however, Maureen sees that he is turning into his wolf-man form and, realizing he's still going to kill her, shoots him with Lord Edward's gun.
The following day, Lord Edward presides over Roderick's burial. However, he realizes that when Margaret Donald said "dies by fire" she meant that Roderick could only be killed if he was burned and runs back to the graveyard, leaving Harry, Maureen and Bully Boy in his carriage. Upon opening the coffin, he sees that Roderick is gone and runs back to the carriage, where he finds Maureen and Harry mauled to death. Lord Edward begins to scream for Bully Boy as the carriage drives away with him inside and the camera pans out to reveal that Roderick has killed Bully Boy and is driving the carriage.