The Tell-Tale Heart

Just tonight I saw this short in a presentation of animated films as part of the Milwaukee International Film Festival. I found myself literally watching this with my mouth hanging open in awe. The animation is not groundbreaking in the various techniques used, but the ways they are used, and the ways they are merged to create brilliant, original techniques in their own light, are astounding. The use of numerous versions of a full paintings to animate things like the changing of a light source is shocking in it's simple, yet immense effectiveness. The music is very minimalistic, but very appropriate for the film. James Mason is haunting in his narration. This film is one of the most beautiful, unconventional, and effective uses of the animation art form in American film history. It is a shame that it is not available on video, though it may be that the only way to really experience it fully is in a theater. In that case it is a shame that it isn't played very often.

UPDATE...

The film is now available as an extra on the DVD for the original theatrical version of the film Hellboy. The only reason I can see for this is that Hell Boy director Guillermo del Toro must be a fan of it. The film Hellboy isn't bad, but the DVD is worth it for this short alone. And it can be had quite readily in used shops for a very good price (I've seen them as low as $9.99).

This short, nominated for an Oscar, is very atmospheric and quite spooky. It's actually a perfect choice for the limited animation style that UPA frequently used and the choice of James Mason as the narrator was absolutely inspired! It captures the mood, tone and feel of Poe's story perfectly and is an incredible piece of work. Most highly recommended. It was released on one of the Columbia Classics series of videos. It's worth hunting down.

Whew. It's as spooky as ever, and James Mason's reading brings to it an hysterical drama that is absent from his movies.

Sometimes the stark images illustrate the events and sometimes they're surrealistic images of moons, branches, upright things draped in cloth.

I don't know how Poe could bring these stories off. Here, for instance, he begins with the otherwise nice old man whose filmy white eyeball the narrator simply can't stand and which eventually drives him to murder.

If I had written it, I'd have to have had to explain what the living arrangement was. Did they come to share a flat? How did they handle the rent? Who did the cooking and who washed the dishes? And how the hell did the unnamed narrator ever wind up in a situation like this? Poe dispenses with all this irrelevant details, a device in accord with his theory that everything could, and should, be thrown out the window in favor of effect.

Some effect!

Tell-Tale Heart, The (1953)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Oscar nominated animated film has James Mason narrating the action set to Edgar Allan Poe's classic story. I had heard great things about this film so I was very happy when I came across a copy and was even more thrilled when the film turned out to be so good. The movie does a brilliant job in its animation and I must say the look of the film seems so far ahead of its time that it looks more like a Pixar movie. Another terrific thing is the editing, which really seems ahead of its time and this also adds some nice tension to the film. Mason's vocal performance is where the heart is as he really gives it all and delivers a dynamite role. His breakdown towards the end has to be heard to believed as he is so incredibly good.

A boarder becomes increasingly horrified by the nasty eye of his landlord, and plans to kill him. However, he hasn't taken the power of a guilty conscience into consideration. One is faced with a challenge when adapting something that is already impeccable in its original form. To make one's work worth producing and, for others, to take in, one must truly do justice to what made it so. Poe's short story has chilled countless people for more than a century, with its downright disgusting descriptions, how direct he is in the rendition of pure terror, and of the immersion into madness. Many of his words are used here, with a pristine performance by James Mason bringing them to life. The sound FX and eerie music further enhance this retelling, and completing the trifecta is the vivid, at times surreal animation. Never a tale of people but one of states of mind, of emotion and mood, this barely shows faces, it is not a clear, chronological narrative, no, rather, you feel what our narrator felt, and while you undoubtedly want to distance yourself from his actions, you can't look upon the situation from the outside, with judgment and clarity, you are pulled in, and drown in the insanity. The dark, dingy colors, the sparse detail, indeed, at one point, even... sheer black. Silence. This is how you adapt this magnificent author, R.I.P. There is disturbing content in this. I recommend this to any fan of Gothic horror. 8/10