Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Tell Tale Heart 1960

This is my favorite cinematic take on Poe's wonderful story of the same name.

A mentally unstable librarian discovers that the woman he is infatuated with has dumped him for another man - His best friend. (No spoiler here) In a fit of rage, he murders his rival, burying the body under the floorboards in his home

The murder goes undetected, but Edgar can not silence the sound of the beating heart of his victim, which echoes louder and louder, driving him insane.

Lawrence Payne gives a masterpiece performance as 'Edgar' - The shy rich man who falls head over heels in love with Betty Clare - (Played gracefully by Adrienne Cori) - [a new girl in town who moves next door to Edgar] goes homicidal on his best friend Carl Loomis. (played by the debonair Dermot Walsh)

What makes this one different than all the rest is the acting and sheer fact that for such an early year, it has one of the darker elements of the lot. This is definitely worth picking up. The Alpha Video version (on dvd) is of decent quality that may have been tweaked a hair. It was released in 2004 and probably swings for about five bucks at a dollar bin somewhere.

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