The Tell-Tale Heart

Only recently rediscovered, this dramatised reading of Poe's short story by a dashing young Stanley Baker addressed straight to camera recalls the introductions intoned offscreen on behalf of Roger Corman by Vincent Price a few years later, enhanced by nice high contrast photography and moderately expressionist sets.

So far we have had fairly mediocre films from Adelphi films on DVD. Now that there is at last a minor masterpiece from that studio I wonder if it will reach a buying public. Yes, you can see it on the BFI player for free but has it crossed BFI minds that this deserves a public that is willing to buy it and own it? I think they also have another decent Adelphi film called 'Intimate Relations' which is an English version of Jean Cocteau's 'Les Parents Terribles'. There is a rumour that it is not very good, but it does have a good script with good credentials as the play upon which both films of it that have been made is excellent. Surely it deserves a chance for the public to decide. And so should the public decide and be able to own this version of the Poe story. The spare visuals are excellent, with a reasonable performance from Stanley Baker. He hams a bit, but then that has in my opinion always been his problem. But as film this is very good indeed, and its camera movements reminded me of Carl Dreyer at his most ominous. The film must have cost peanuts, but then so did some of Dreyer's best films. It has the same haunting close up style that makes 'Gertrud' such a great film. Adelphi certainly succeeded with this one and along with 'Intimate Relations' please let us see what they can do with serious subject matter and first class source material.