The Tell-Tale Heart

I recently saw a copy of this at the BFI and I have to disagree with the other reviews on this page. Although some of the dialogue (by Edgar Allan Poe) may come across as slightly stilted, this is a small distraction from what is, essentially, an undiscovered curiosity (it is not currently commercially available). Director Brian Desmond Hurst (John Ford's cousin, according to urban myth) went on to bigger things, most notably Alastair Sim's classic Scrooge (1951) adaptation, but maybe not more interesting. This is an expressionistic tour-de-force, on a par visually at least with the revered 'horror'classics of that school (really!), The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari. Nosferatu etc The camera-work is fluid and expressive and both the sound and visual editing is excellent, all the more remarkable in an era when few British film-makers, Hitchcock and a very select group of others aside, were seen to have mastery in true visual expertise. Even reviewers of the time, usually reserved in their praise of British film-makers, recognised that this was a truly unique exercise in British film. In short, this film demands to be seen on so many levels.

This was a movie I discovered when searching for horror from 1934. I'm not shocked to learn that there was an early adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story. My first introduction to this story was through an Insane Clown Posse song called Evil Eye. We also listened to it during an English class in junior high. I was curious to see how this would play out.

Synopsis: a young man is driven mad by his obsession with the repulsive diseased eye of the old man who cares for him.

We start this in a cell. The boy is played by Norman Dryden. He has drawn varying sizes of eyes on one of the walls. It is a similar drawing. This was a good indicator to show that it is haunting him. He is taken in to see a doctor, played by Colonel Cameron. The boy states that he's not crazy and a good touch here, he starts to recite the Poe work. We then see things play out.

The boy is seeing Yolande Terrell. They go out to the woods to rest as well as take a boat down river. There are different things that the boy sees that remind him of an eye. There also seems to be an old man who is following them, he's played by John Kelt. This old man lives in the same building as the boy and the girl. He checks on the boy one night to ensure that he's okay. I get the idea that this old man isn't following them. Since they live so close together, it just seems that way.

I should also point out that we see this eye that is haunting the boy. It sticks out of the socket and there does seem to be something wrong with it. The boy knows that if he doesn't do something about it, it will drive him insane. The problem though, the only thing he can think of is killing this old man, despite never wronging the boy. This is also just the start of his troubles.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I'm assuming most everyone reading this is aware of this story to an extent. It is part of pop culture for those that are familiar with the genre and Poe. I was curious as to how this would play out, since I don't recall the story being all that long. This also only runs 55 minutes. I believe the version I watched was 48, so I'm curious what was missing from what I could find.

Now that I've set that up, something I always forget is that this eye haunting our lead is part of the same story about the tell-tale heart. When I settle in to watch variations on this story, that's when it clicks so I know certain beats that they need to hit. It also makes me wonder how filmmakers will set their version apart from others. Now this one being from 1934, they have an advantage. There haven't been a lot of adaptations yet from what I know. That allows them to do a bit less. I did like that this one starts in the mental hospital, so we know he was caught for his crime. It is also interesting that the boy doesn't think he's crazy. What he does would say otherwise. It does seem like temporary insanity at least.

I'll say that the acting here was fine. No one is great so I wanted to preface with that. They don't do anything though in a negative way. Something I love with the writing is having Dryden recite the Poe lines, which made me smile. It is a good touch with his delivery. Kelt has a good look as the old man. Terrell is fine to help create a baseline with their day spent together. I did like that since it shows the boy is having issues from the start, but he is leading a normal life. Thomas Shenton and James Fleck are as solid as the two investigators who have a solid sequence with the boy. They help build tension. I'd also say that Cameron was fine in his role, as was H. Vasher the asylum superintendent.

All that is left then is filmmaking. The biggest thing here is this eye that haunts the boy. I thought what they did was fine. We're early into cinema so it was done practical. It's not great looking, but still creepy. Other than that, I thought they did good things with superimposing an eye on different things as nature. That works to show it is haunting the boy. I'd say the rest of the cinematography was fine. It doesn't stand out, but due to technology of the time I won't hold that against it. What is great though is the sound design. I love setting up so that the boy can hear the old man's heart beating while he's alive. They reference that his senses are heightened. That sets the stage for the tell-tale heart sequence. That sound haunting him was also good.

That should be all I needed to say here so in conclusion, I thought that what this did was fine. The adapting of the work is good. There were things added to what I know to give it more length. I thought that was good to frame things. This is an interesting story and how things are set up with the boy being haunted first by the eye, then by his heartbeat is good. The effect of the eye isn't great, but I won't harp on it. I did like the sound design of the heart beating. This is made well enough. The acting isn't great, but it fits what was needed. What I'll say is that this is a solid, early adaptation of the Poe story. I'd recommend it if you enjoy cinema from this era or of this amazing writer.

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

A pure classic! Quirky, terrifyingly delicious.

It speaks to the mind and heart in the "Twilight Zone" / "Night Gallery" sort of way, with a good mix of Alfred Hitchcock.

The brilliance shines through with every viewing of this movie.

The main trouble with this production is that while the young male lead may have the profile of an Ivor Novello and may demonstrate considerable conviction of movement during the lengthy silent sequences, he simply can't speak his lines -- or at least, can't seem to say them with anything approaching a natural inflection. When he has to appear demented or distraught, he's not so bad, but when he has to take part in even the briefest conversational exchange, he sounds incredibly stilted, amateur and uncomfortable; the effect is to set the listener on edge, but probably not as intended. In the silent era he might well have had at least a minor career ahead of him, but on this showing he would have been a complete wash-out in the era of sound.

Apart from this admittedly major flaw, the film as an atmosphere piece is reasonably good, although I did feel that even at this brief length it drags. The special effects for the diseased eye that provides the main motivation for the plot are convincingly repellent, especially in an early scene where it is seen, horribly, to move, though I'm not sure the character's concomitant and vital sensitivity to sounds is sufficiently brought out; it seems to re-emerge only on demand. I haven't read the original story but suspect this is an element which is easier to render on the printed page.

Brian Desmond Hurst's first movie is a poor quota quickie. It is amateurishly acted by performers, most of whose screen credits consist of just this movie -- although John Kelt as the murder victim had some silent credits, and Thomas Shenton as one of the investigators later had a career as a make-up artist. It's clear that Hurst had seen UN CHIEN ANDALOU; he borrowed extensively for his shots and images.

It is of interest because Hurst would quickly get better, and would direct one easily seen masterpiece: SCROOGE. The rest of his catalogue has been difficult to find, although a few others have become available over the last decade, and have proven him a capable film maker. This one, however, adds no luster to his career. It's of interest to completists, connoisseurs of bad movies, and other madmen such as I.