The Tell-Tale Heart

Roger Corman,although he transferred a lot of Poe's short stories to the screen ,was not really faithful to the writer:sometimes fleshed -out to a feature length film proportions by the script writers ,the movies tended to cover what original stories existed in the first place ("premature burial" )Sometimes it was a mixture of several stories ("the pit and the pendulum").Corman's works are still fun to watch though.The late sixties attempt "Histoires Extraordinaires" aka "Spirits of the dead" saw the three directors Malle,Vadim and Fellini succumb to the same vices.Only Fellini played his game well,transcending Poe with end-of-the-world pictures and a breath-taking virtuosity.

Jules Dassin's rendering of one of POe's famous short stories is a different matter ,because it deals with Poe and Poe only.If you've read the novel,you will feel this maleficent atmosphere dear to the American writer.The pictures show the influence of German expressionism with its use of shadows and light;the soundtrack,with its relentless thump makes you feel it is your own heart which is pounding.Roman Bohnen 's performance compares favorably with the best of those of Peter Lorre.Only 20 min where fear is a man's best friend.

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.

Tell-Tale Heart, The (1941)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Oscar winner Joseph Schildkraut stars in this adaptation of the Poe story. He plays the young man who murders an abusive old man but soon begins to hear his heart beating. This is my favorite story from Poe so I try and watch each version of it that I can and this here is certainly one of the best that I've seen. This was directed by Jules Daissin, who would later make Brute Force and Riffifi, so you know there's talent involved here. He does a very good job with the material and that's especially true when you watch the breakdown scene and how it's put together and edited. As the breakdown and heart beats keep pounding the director really builds up the tension. Schildkraut also does a fine job with the role as he too is responsible for building the tension up. He doesn't have too much dialogue but he doesn't need any as he really sells the character with just his looks.