The Fall of the House of Usher (1950)
A traveler arrives at the Usher mansion to visit his old friend, Roderick Usher. Upon arriving, however, he discovers that Roderick and his sister, Madeline, have been afflicted with a mysterious malady: Roderick's senses have become painfully acute, while Madeline has become nearly catatonic. That evening, Roderick tells his guest of an old Usher family curse: any time there has been more than one Usher child, all of the siblings have gone insane and died horrible deaths. As the days wear on, the effects of the curse reach their terrifying climax.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Similar titles
Reviews
Creaky, low budget British adaptation of the Edgar A Poe story As a horror fan of over 35 years I have just watched this one for the first time, with it turning up on British TV on the Talking Pictures channel. It appears to be quite rare. It oozes gothic horror but sadly it's not a very good film. The acting is painfully wooden, the story is a tad confusing at times and the day for night scenes are awful (OK, Hammer later did the same but not quite as bad as here). There is an old hag, who is pretty creepy. Overall this is a bit of an oddity but watch the Corman version instead.
Rough around the edges 40s Brit version of the Usher Poe story has some variable, stagy acting and a rather awkward opening (English gentlemen gathered at a retirement club decide to read a ghoulish story, and choose the Usher story for the night), but the stark, B&W photography centered around a gloomy, darkened manor in the middle of a countryside nowhere is a knockout. Add a crazed ancestor inside a temple soon to be loose with a creepy mask (she wields a mean knife, too) and a potential buried-alive scenario that leads to the one trapped in a coffin entombed to break free with revenge on the mind thanks to a possible poisoning, there are positives to take from this lesser known version of the Poe story. I think with better actors this could have been a real winner, but the presentation (absent the creaky score which is just too choppy) is aesthetically striking enough to perhaps at least offer an alternative to (but not an improvement of) Corman's famous version.A young man visits his "melancholy chum" at his ancestral castle and encounters unexpected horror. He's motivated by Roderick Usher to follow him and his butler (with knowledge of secrets regarding the family the children now alive at the estate couldn't have possibly imagined) to a temple which actually serves as the prison of a mad relative who could prove to be quite homicidal if turned loose on the world. Roderick's sister Madeleine is in love with Roderick's friend, Jonathan, trying to locate him when the butler and Roderick return without him (due to Jonathan walking into a bear trap and being left to face the crazy woman alone). Maddy is inadvertently responsible for the mad woman's release, soon returning home only to fall prey to an abrupt illness that takes her life. When Roderick begins to suspect she didn't die, the guilt torments him into his own mania. Jonathan is party to all of this, with the butler also trying to get involved in the safety of Roderick. It doesn't end well for most of them in this bleak portrait of a family falling to ruins due to sins of the past. The butler insists that burning alive the mad woman's head will relinquish the curse of the Ushers, so Roderick and Jonathan oblige him in the attempt to do so. Well, that doesn't go according to plan. The mad woman in the temple is photographed with grim touches that give her quite a look that coincides well with the morose atmosphere of the castle and rural grounds.It ends with the home struck by lightning, crumbling as Jonathan looks on. He has seen those very close to him destroyed. It is an appropriate conclusion, particularly considering the tragedy that seems destined to envelope the Ushers.
The plot of this curious version of the Poe classic differs considerably from the original story, including a number of plot elements and characters that are not in Poe's story at all. Some of the acting seems almost amateurish at times, and the entire production was clearly carried out on a very small budget. However, where this film excels is in its' sense of creepy atmosphere. Indeed, in that respect it reminded me of Carl Theodore Dryer's 1932 film, "Vampyr". Those who have seen that most peculiar horror film will understand to what I refer. In that film, as well as in this one, style and atmosphere completely dominate character and story to the point where the latter two elements almost cease to matter at all. Both "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "Vampyr" are prime examples of how much a creative director can achieve even without benefit of special effects or a large budget.
I stayed up the other night until 2am so I could see The Fall of the House of Usher, believing it to be the Vincent Price/Roger Corman classic. When I found out it wasn't I gave this film a try, being an Edgar Allan Poe fan. For my troubles I got this tripe, a boring film with a skewered storyline, cardboard acting (especially the actors in the gentlemen's club!), & a cheap imitation on a literary classic (note daylight in the night scenes!). This kind of film would make Edward Wood Jr. blush, and makes films like the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series look lavish & expensive. Please, if you ever think of watching this, don't, it is pure rubbish!