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The Tell-Tale Heart (1960)


One of the perennial favorites when it comes to horror in general is Edgar Allan Poe.  His tales of the macabre and the unusual provide fertile soil for directors and actors when it comes to cultivating the heebie jeebies in people...

Edgar is a quiet, retiring sort of person- much too shy of a person to ask his beautiful neighbour out for a date.  On the advice of his friend Carl, Edgar asks Betty out... only to find out later that the two have started an affair behind his back.  Taking matters into his own hands, he soon discovers that the heartbeat of guilt is a difficult one to stop...

This "What Movie Wednesday" winner (part of last Wednesday's double feature), is a loose adaptation of Poe's famouse short story.  While there are several major differences between this movie and the source material, the spirit and core premise is still there.  For such a simple movie, the story is strong and solid.  Normally, the ending (similar to that of "Point of Terror") would've irritated me- but I didn't mind it with this one.

The acting was fairly good.  Laurence Payne suited the role of Edgar very well.  He looked the part, sounded the part, and acted the part beautifully.  You come to feel for him- even after his horrendous actions.  He also gives a good example of "crazy eyes" that really looked insane.  The beautiful Adrienne Corri played Betty.  She really made you feel that her character was only dating Edgar because she had no other friends.  She looked great with blonde or black hair, too.  Even though Dermot Walsh isn't in the movie much as Carl (he's dead for at least half of it), he still turned in a good performance.  You could tell that his character was trying to be the best friend he could be to Edgar, and was fighting the temptation offered to him by Betty.  His performance really helped to his end a tragic one... and makes you glad when revenge is finally his.

There isn't much to say about the camera work.  It's fairly standard, static fare for the 1960's- but does use light and dark really well to create a suspensful scene.

I'm going to place "The Tell-Tale Heart" in The Good.

Special Shout Out:

I want to thank everyone that voted in this week's "What Movie Wednesday"- especially those that voted for "The Tell-Tale Heart":

Jessica Hewlett
Mathew Little (of "The Wayward Tarheel")
Jason Wiggins

The next "What Movie Wednesday" will take place 20th February 2013!

And don't forget to join me Friday nights at 7:00 pm (PST) on Twitter (@camethebasement) as I tweet along to NON-horror movies!


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