The Death of Poe

This film's journey through the final days of Edgar Allan Poe is a gem. It has an almost hypnotic silent film feel with its frame compositions, and its literate scripting carries the viewer along admirably.

Balanced between some fine comedic moments, as Poe tries to gain financial support for a publication he wants to launch, and his ghastly demise, are delightful set pieces and scene work - the conversation by the pier, and a well-drawn near-horror scene involving an election day.

Mark Redfield is wonderfully understated playing Poe, a man failing in his attempts to stay sober. Redfield handles the transitions with clarity and firm choices as the sometimes befuddled traveling poet arcs into more dark recesses of madness, pained memories and death presaged.

The music by Jennifer Rouse is well-composed, in places playful, and appropriate. The period is handled seamlessly without ostentation, and the supporting cast whirls in and out of Poe's fevered world in memorable turns - Wayne Shipley's taciturn Henry Herring, and Kevin G. Shinnick's Dr. John Moran are particularly notable.

Buy or rent this film and you will not be disappointed.

I saw the movie at "The Charles Theatre" and it was excellent! Mark Redfield made "Poe" come to life, and I connected with the character sharing his pain and it is so unfortunate that some artists only get appreciated after their death. The movie depicted the struggle this incredible talent went through in order to share his vision with the world - just heartbreaking, but a pleasure to be a part of. All of the acting was superb - by everyone involved! It was intense and captivating...I was lost in the story. I truly enjoyed this piece of art work and it was so original - it should be viewed by everyone, but especially as an educational piece for students really learning not only about artists, but how tough it is to be recognized as an artist, and that amazing talent can be virtually dismissed if it is ahead of its time! Edgar Allen Poe had a special gift to "see" into the future and connect with a reality that most of us do not understand...what a shame he did not know his affect on people! Lets hope that the artists of today do not have to suffer that same abandonment! In order to appreciate true original creativity, you may need to look outside the Hollywood of the moment. Sandy O'Brien

The last week in the life of the great American poet and master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe, is illustrated in this fascinating independent film. Anyone who has studied the details of Poe's death knows what a contentious and controversial subject it has become. There are many theories for his demise ranging from alcohol and drug abuse to assault and even rabies! Interestingly, writer/director Mark Redfield, who also provides a compelling performance as the doomed poet himself, gives the first explanation to Rufus Griswold, a newspaper editor and enemy of Poe's whose lurid and mean-spirited obituary did much to destroy the man's reputation for nearly a century. The rest of the film, which could more accurately described as a fevered dream-within-a-dream than a straight forward biography, ultimately gives a more rounded and plausible explanation for Poe's untimely demise. The film also offers Poe's life as a template of the universal struggle of the artist to fund his work and reach his audience.

The film features an intriguing mix of color and black and white images, and a moody and effective score by Jennifer Rouse, who also plays the wife of the last doctor to treat Poe. Kevin Shinnick gives a fine performance as Poe's last doctor, and George Stover, a veteran of many John Waters and Don Dohler films, gives perhaps his best performance as twin brothers Poe seeks out as investors.

Well worth checking out!

Fascnating and compelling, THE DEATH OF POE not only gives the author his due and creates a remarkable evocation of its era, it echoes Poe's themes unobtrusively within its dramatic construct. The "sorrows of the lost Lenore" (the loss of his teenage wife) are apparent in Poe's subjective hallucinations; the duality of "William Wilson" is an influence in the scene noted above with Redfield and fellow Baltimorian George Stover; the panic and confusion of the protagonist in "Pit and the Pendulum" crops up in Poe's jail scene and his "missing days," and maybe I'm wrong, but I see a whiff of M. Valdemar in the last, near-comatose days of Poe in hospital. But the evocations are not blatant, they are suggestive.

The screenwriters know not to overload their actors with too much period dialogue. Like GANGS OF NEW YORK, there is enough to give the feel of period without making everyone sound like a walking cinematic cliché. Poe himself is almost taciturn on screen, though well-represented in voice-over: a good choice, since the sparseness of dialogue makes a leading character more intriguing.

Costumes, sets and photography are superb, just what is needed. Additional material on the DVD, with appropriate new accompanying music by Jennifer Rouse, is uniformly excellent.

Let's be honest. As a film school project, made without budget and "real" actors, this is a passably interesting film. As something to be released on DVD for an innocent viewer, it's a very poorly produced product. If I would be idly changing channels and happened to catch this film accidentally, it would probably arrest my eye and attention for a while. As a person who bought this DVD under the impression that I would be getting a proper cinematic product, i.e. a film, I feel deeply disappointed. It's a videotaped TV play, something along the line of old sixties serials, but without that certain charm. Aside from the leading man Mr Redfield (who also is the director), the other actors seem to be either chaps from the campus (a bit too old for that actually), or members of the director's household, who appear before the camera without any help from not only the acting couches, but also the make-up artist or hairdresser (a bonnet over outgrown permanent bangs or a top hat over mullet is a very long way from creating 1840s). It's all shot using a motionless mounted camera in a small, bare studio, sometimes using blue screen for outdoors backgrounds. Synthesizer generated uninspired score of lame "period" inspired romantic karaoke insults the viewers ears on more than one occasion. The film attempts to be "dreamlike", whereas in fact it's merely conceptionless collage of those shots that made it to the editing (and believe me, the standards weren't too high to start with). There are interesting dialogs every now and then, but overall it's pretty lame and two-dimensional production in more than one way with no flashes of genius from either the director or any members of the crew. That's how "artsy" films attempted to look in the 80s. Mr Redfield does a much better job as an actor than the director.