the fall of the house of usher (cinema history class)

Session: Pass the Poe -- Hold the Price, week 2
Movie: The Fall of the House of Usher (1949)
Directed by Ivan Barnett
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
A family struggles to avoid falling apart despite a generations-old curse. Hilarity ensues.

Teeing Up:
"Why is this the weirdest film I'm going to show you?" Keith asked rhetorically as part of his introduction. "Because it fucking is." This was an experimental production, with a cast that was almost entirely amateur, and there were strange goings-on and a plot that borrowed heavily from other Poe stories such as "The Tell-Tale Heart." Perhaps the most obvious way it was experimental was that there was only one professional actor -- Gwen Watford -- in the cast. The rest were all amateurs. Keith also warned us that this was a very poor quality copy. Made from a TV print (and probably third (or higher) generation, the sound and picture quality were poor. But this is the best available for this film.

Reaction:
I had a very hard time getting into this one. Mostly because of the poor quality. Others also found it distracting, though it almost seemed as if Joe romanticized it, finding that it brought him back to the days of his childhood, trying to tune in UHF stations from Connecticut. One thing that was interesting is that the fire scenes at the end incorporated actual World War II footage from the blitz. I thought it looked like doll houses. But then, what do I know? To me, the acting seemed passable -- I certainly couldn;t tell that the cast was loaded with amateurs. Others in the class disagreed.

While I couldn't really get into this movie, it was really interesting to see it.

The ratings:

• Joe: 9.4 - 9.5
• Dave:8
• Sean 1 (on a scale of 1 - 4)
• Scott: 3
• Ethan: 5
• Me: 2.5

The Fall of the House of Usher fails the Bechdel Test.

Extras:
Keith warmed us up with two experimental shorts. Il Caso Valdemar was an Italian silent film from 1936. Known as Italy's first gore film, it was an interesting take on "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar." This had a truly amazing (for the time, at least) face-melting climax. The Pit, from 1962 (see highlights video below) was a British experiment. Virtually without sound, it reminded me of "The Empath" (the Star Trek episode) as well as a bunch of other films. It was truly edge-of-your-seat gripping. Films like this become the highlight of taking Keith's class.