The Tell-Tale Heart

A much abused young man, driven to desperation & murder, hears his conscience rebel in the beating of THE TELL-TALE HEART.

Edgar Allen Poe's story is turned into a short subject gem, with the magnificent performance of Joseph Schildkraut & the inspired direction of Jules Dassin. This is a prime example of what can be done in a very limited time frame - here, 20 minutes - when inspiration & bravado are used to interpret a great story. The original has been altered & expanded somewhat to explain more fully the reasons for the murder and to create sympathy for the killer. Schildkraut's depiction of growing guilt & Dassin's creation of an oppressive atmosphere do the story more than justice.

Dassin would go on to become a celebrated features director. Schildkraut, already an Oscar winner, would enliven cinema & television roles with his talent for many years.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

This is a very good adaptation of Poe's classic story "The Tell-Tale Heart", with a good, tense atmosphere and a fine leading performance by Joseph Schildkraut. It does very well in capturing the psychology and suspense of the original.

The story is adapted just slightly from Poe's story, in redefining the relationship between the two main characters at the beginning. It was probably a good decision to do so, in that it makes the characters' motivations work better for a screen version of the story. The rest of the story sticks closely to the original, and it relies heavily on Schildkraut, who does an excellent job even while barely speaking. Roman Bohnen also does a good job in portraying the other main character.

The sound effects and visuals are used resourcefully and, in combination with Schildkraut's performance, they make for a memorable portrayal of a very troubled man. Jules Dassin deserves praise for bringing it all together so well.

This is a stunningly beautiful version of the story with exquisite black-and-white cinematography and great performances in what is pretty much a two-person film (until the end). Dassin does a superb job all around and Schildkraut is amazing. I caught this on TCM -- THANK GOD FOR TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES! This should be available on DVD!

The Crime Doesn't Pay series was an MGM short series that would retell some tale of crime and show how the guilty are always punished. Forget that this is not the case, the censors demanded such an ending, so that was the ending you always got. Sometimes the series would talk about career criminals, sometimes it would be an ordinary person swept up in extraordinary circumstances, thinking that they could get away with murder or larceny or some other serious crime.

This is a little different. It is an adapted dramatization of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". In Poe's story you do not know why the person telling the story has decided to kill the old man, but you do get the feeling the guy is insane because he protests so much that he isn't. The source of his malice seems to be a milky eye that the old man has, which the narrator/murderer seems to focus in on as some source of evil.

In this dramatization, Joseph Schildkraut plays a weaver's assistant who is being physically and emotionally abused by the old weaver. From the dialogue it is ascertained that Schildkraut's character came to work for him when he was 14 and never worked for anybody else - probably an orphan. So the weaver is established as a cruel person. When the assistant kills him in the middle of the night to escape his torment, he may have hidden the body well, but he didn't think through an alibi at all. He has no story for where the old man might have gone and when he is coming back, or why he might never come back. Also, the weaver lets out a scream as he is being killed which a neighbor hears and this brings the authorities the next morning.

Schildkraut shows what a fine actor that he is as he is pretty much the center of attention throughout. Recommended as a showcase for Schildkraut's acting and the fine special effects for 1941.

A 30 year old Man is the live-in worker for an old man since he was 14. The old man constantly berates him and he finally snaps. One night, he kills the old man. Then he starts to hear a constant beating from everywhere. Two men shows up looking for the old man and he starts to fall apart.

Joseph Schildkraut is pretty good as a haunted man. This MGM produced Edgar Allan Poe short is more or less a testing ground for director Jules Dassin. It takes advantage of good camera work. One can really feel the constant beating of the tell-tale heart. It's a well-made cinematic exercise.