The Tell-Tale Heart

The fifth version of the venerable Poe horror tale I have watched: two shorts, one cartoon and two full-length adaptations; the latter both emanated from Britain: for the record, I had watched the 1934 version at London's National Film Theatre in January 2007 during their "Quota-quickie" season. This one, then, is not very well-thought of – but the result (though departing from the original text in most respects) is interesting and decidedly underrated. It starts out with a prologue involving a cocaine-sniffing Poe (also played by suitably austere lead Lawrence Payne) having the story come to him in a nightmare. The anti-hero of the main narrative itself, then, is also called Edgar and he lives in the Rue Morgue(!!): an introvert, he falls for sensuous neighbor Adrienne Corri; however, when he introduces her to his best friend, they start an affair behind his back and, when he finds out, his jealousy turns homicidal.The plot (as reworked by Brian Clemens of "The Avengers" fame) has therefore been fleshed out but also rendered somewhat ordinary; that said, the stylized approach successfully evokes the author's psychological 'landscape' – most memorably, the 'pulsating' carpet above the floorboards where the body is hidden.

Like a few of you, I found this on an inconspicuous DVD along with "Chiller," and I just saw it a few hours ago. This film is as good at "stretching out" a short Poe story as the AIP movies (and I'm VERY attached to those). I'm not familiar with Lawrence Payne, but he was great in the part, as were the Dermot Walsh and Adrienne Corri. But I didn't realize Frank Thornton was the barman till I read it here - I'll have to watch for him next time. As for the ending - which I won't give away here - some people might see it as a "cop-out" ending, but I think it works perfectly well. As some of you say, the "risque" side of this film was slightly surprising for a film of 1960 - I kept thinking I was seeing a Hammer film (minus the cleavage!).

When Edgar sees his girlfriend Betty getting up close and personal with his best friend Carl, he murders Carl in a jealous rage and hides the corpse under the floor of his piano room. Comes the night, and Edgar begins to hear strange sounds coming from under the floor...

The problem with this film is that it apparently fell into the public domain, so the DVD copies floating around are pretty rough, and make the film look much cheaper than it really is. A better version (which may never happen), might reveal this to be a lost classic, actually predating Roger Corman's Poe films by a few years.

The costumes and such are very nice, and the story is well-written to build up to the part that Poe covered. While this is obviously a Poe tale, the writer (Brian Clemens) deserves much credit, as the bulk is his creation.

I completely agree with the first reviewer.

A little gem - co-written by Brian Clemens (who went on to create THE AVENGERS, THE PROFESSIONALS etc.)

A surprising 'sexuality' about the proceedings. Utterly passe now, but it must have been a little intense and 'naughty' at the time. The slow-burn attraction between Walsh and Adrienne Corri is quite good. And given that the Danzigers' track record for British B movies is not brilliant - this one certainly tries to deliver the goods. The murder scene, and the gore content, is quite graphic for its time. 1961, remember? (I suspect there would have been British censor trouble then, had the movie been filmed in colour).

Trivia: Co-star Dermot Walsh was married at the time to Hazel Court (of Hammer/Roger Corman movie fame.) Walsh then went on to star in the Danzigers' TV series: RICHARD THE LIONHEART. I can still sing the title song on request. Sad, eh? And how Dermot maintains that high quiff-hairstyle is an astonishment. Laurence Payne (who I've always liked and was co-star in THE TROLLENBERG TERROR/THE CRAWLING EYE),lost an eye in the early sixties during a fencing scene in his British TV series SEXTON BLAKE. Great casting for that part, I always thought. He was always good.)Bar tender Frank Thornton, who has two brief scenes, went on to great success as a comedy character actor in theatre, and British TV (eg ARE YOU BEING SERVED?)

Geisterzug

I actually enjoyed this movie.I am a huge horror fan. I read scary books and love scary movies, Edgar Allen Poe is one of the authors I've enjoyed since I was a child. I received this movie as a gift from work for Halloween.I found out that it had only been a dollar plus it had the movie "Chiller" on it. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. A lot of movie adaptations of classic stories aren't nearly as good as the stories but I believe this one was a well done adaptation. It kept my attention from the beginning until the end.The only flaw I guess was that the main female character was too obvious most of the time while the main character, Edgar, seemed pretty oblivious at the beginning.Other than that, very good acting, I was pretty impressed.