Watch The Tell-Tale Heart For Free

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Beautiful, moving film.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The fifth version of the venerable Poe horror tale I have watched: two shorts, one cartoon and two full-length adaptations; the latter both emanated from Britain: for the record, I had watched the 1934 version at London's National Film Theatre in January 2007 during their "Quota-quickie" season. This one, then, is not very well-thought of – but the result (though departing from the original text in most respects) is interesting and decidedly underrated. It starts out with a prologue involving a cocaine-sniffing Poe (also played by suitably austere lead Lawrence Payne) having the story come to him in a nightmare. The anti-hero of the main narrative itself, then, is also called Edgar and he lives in the Rue Morgue(!!): an introvert, he falls for sensuous neighbor Adrienne Corri; however, when he introduces her to his best friend, they start an affair behind his back and, when he finds out, his jealousy turns homicidal.The plot (as reworked by Brian Clemens of "The Avengers" fame) has therefore been fleshed out but also rendered somewhat ordinary; that said, the stylized approach successfully evokes the author's psychological 'landscape' – most memorably, the 'pulsating' carpet above the floorboards where the body is hidden.

"Based upon the Edgar Allan Poe story, 'The Tell-Tale Heart' is the story of a writer (Laurence Payne) who finds himself with a romantic rival (Dermot Walsh) for the affections of a young woman (Adrienne Corri)," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. Now, go read the short story… This film fails to fully capture the spirit of the original, filling it out with an ordinary love triangle. The protagonist's fondness for alcohol, tendency for peeping, and collection of dirty pictures are nice touches. There are some nicely staged scenes, and Mr. Morris often employs very good camera angles. The climax is moderately exciting, but the ending is a letdown.**** The Tell-Tale Heart (12/60) Ernest Morris ~ Laurence Payne, Adrienne Corri, Dermot Walsh

The Tell-Tale Heart is one of the best known of Edgar Allen Poe's works; and I was surprised that I had not seen a film based on it. The original story is just a short story, and while there have been many versions of this tale committed to screen; most of them are only shorts themselves; thus making this film one of the few feature length editions of the story. Well...after having seen it, I have to admit that I'm not surprised there aren't more feature length versions because really there isn't enough plot to stretch to such a long running time. Thus, most of the story of this film has no relation to Poe's original story. We focus on a man named Edgar (a bit of a ham-fisted reference if you ask me); a quiet man that lacks experience with women. When he notices a young lady named Betty in a house across the street; he resolves to romance her and asks his close friend Carl for advice on how to speak to women. He and Betty are getting on well; until he discovers that Carl and Betty are also getting on well, and so Carl is murdered.The film is shot in black and white and looks really cheap throughout. Director Ernest Morris appears not to have the resolve to elevate the film above the mundane and also fails to get a good performance out of his any of his (relatively) unknown cast; which renders the whole production rather bland. Of course, the whole film is just build up to the inevitable situation whereby the murderous central character is haunted by the echoes of the beating heart from the man he has killed, and this leaves most of it feeling rather pointless. To the film's credit, however, it does handle Poe's actual story well and things do become much more interesting once we reach the main part of the film. This version of The Tell-Tale Heart never really gets into the psychological side of Poe's original story; and the reason for that really just goes back to the characters, which aren't interesting enough. Overall, this is really a lacklustre effort and I wouldn't recommend tracking it down; this story is more suited to a short film anyway, and I'm sure that at least one of the many short film versions is superior to this effort.

One critic described this film as "A real bore"; I vigorously disagree. It has its flaws - modern audiences would probably find it slow to start, and that blaring backround music detracts from a few scenes - but it does build slowly to some wonderfully creepy and horrific scenes during the second half which are well worth hanging on for. I was also impressed with the sincerely tormented performance of Laurence Payne in the central role.