I confess. I'm a literature nerd. I take issue when a film veers so much from the original work, as is the case with this film. While I love the period look, all the wonderful trappings, even those are totally opposite of what Poe wrote. His story focuses on the sparse, the essentials only. I did watch the film all the way through, to see how the climax was handled.
The copy of the film I watched was plagued with dialogue out of sync for the first half or more of the film. This really surprised me since the Danzigers, in 1949, started out by operating a sound studio in New York that specialised in the dubbing of foreign films for US release.
I like the black and white. It felt to me more like an early 1930's film, or even a silent film, without dialogue shown on screen. In the first half, no dialogue with the action, I kind of enjoyed "fill in the blanks". I had to watch, no multi-tasking while the film is playing. It was simple to follow the story from some good takes by the actors, and an appropriate shooting sequence by the director. Another reviewer mentions interesting camera angles. Ditto. For a quickly shot, low budget film, it looks pretty darn good.
I thought the early instances of Marsh hearing things, then various items being jostled was too much, but I did like the chess reference. That would have meant more to me had it been the only physical manifestation shown. I thought the heart looked better than average and had a, thankfully, subtle effect. Worked for me.
I did not find the film at all suspenseful or scary. I agree with another reviewer that trying to stretch Poe's very short story into a full length film is not a good idea. Hence, the new story line altogether. While I'd rather a totally unrelated, common story line not be used to stretch the concept and heart of Poe's story (Yes, I see what I did.), I read that the Danzigers' studio was in the business of movie making rather than the making of professor-proof adaptations of classics. Many of the Danzigers' films were thriller, horror focused, so using a Poe theme is not a stretch.
I appreciate that historical films such as this are being watched and preserved. Were I to watch it again, I'd simply shut off all the sound. I think it works best that way. There's a lot of eye candy in this film in sets, props, costumes, hair, lighting, and decent acting to figure out what's happening. It does what a film is supposed to do; it shows the story. Maybe that was the Danzigers' forte?
The copy of the film I watched was plagued with dialogue out of sync for the first half or more of the film. This really surprised me since the Danzigers, in 1949, started out by operating a sound studio in New York that specialised in the dubbing of foreign films for US release.
I like the black and white. It felt to me more like an early 1930's film, or even a silent film, without dialogue shown on screen. In the first half, no dialogue with the action, I kind of enjoyed "fill in the blanks". I had to watch, no multi-tasking while the film is playing. It was simple to follow the story from some good takes by the actors, and an appropriate shooting sequence by the director. Another reviewer mentions interesting camera angles. Ditto. For a quickly shot, low budget film, it looks pretty darn good.
I thought the early instances of Marsh hearing things, then various items being jostled was too much, but I did like the chess reference. That would have meant more to me had it been the only physical manifestation shown. I thought the heart looked better than average and had a, thankfully, subtle effect. Worked for me.
I did not find the film at all suspenseful or scary. I agree with another reviewer that trying to stretch Poe's very short story into a full length film is not a good idea. Hence, the new story line altogether. While I'd rather a totally unrelated, common story line not be used to stretch the concept and heart of Poe's story (Yes, I see what I did.), I read that the Danzigers' studio was in the business of movie making rather than the making of professor-proof adaptations of classics. Many of the Danzigers' films were thriller, horror focused, so using a Poe theme is not a stretch.
I appreciate that historical films such as this are being watched and preserved. Were I to watch it again, I'd simply shut off all the sound. I think it works best that way. There's a lot of eye candy in this film in sets, props, costumes, hair, lighting, and decent acting to figure out what's happening. It does what a film is supposed to do; it shows the story. Maybe that was the Danzigers' forte?