Reviews & Ratings for
Bucket of Blood More at IMDbPro »The Tell-Tale Heart (original title)

1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Dialogue problems, 19 January 2007

Author: Igenlode Wordsmith from England

The main trouble with this production is that while the young male lead may have the profile of an Ivor Novello and may demonstrate considerable conviction of movement during the lengthy silent sequences, he simply can't speak his lines -- or at least, can't seem to say them with anything approaching a natural inflection. When he has to appear demented or distraught, he's not so bad, but when he has to take part in even the briefest conversational exchange, he sounds incredibly stilted, amateur and uncomfortable; the effect is to set the listener on edge, but probably not as intended. In the silent era he might well have had at least a minor career ahead of him, but on this showing he would have been a complete wash-out in the era of sound.

Apart from this admittedly major flaw, the film as an atmosphere piece is reasonably good, although I did feel that even at this brief length it drags. The special effects for the diseased eye that provides the main motivation for the plot are convincingly repellent, especially in an early scene where it is seen, horribly, to move, though I'm not sure the character's concomitant and vital sensitivity to sounds is sufficiently brought out; it seems to re-emerge only on demand. I haven't read the original story but suspect this is an element which is easier to render on the printed page.

0 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
What a drag, 25 January 2007

Author: malcolmgsw from london

this film was shown as part of the NFTs Quota Quickie season.I have to say that with all the material that they have in the archives it beats me why the BFI thought this pile of rubbish was worth inflicting upon an audience.It seemed to me that the director,Brian Desmond Hurst,who went on to rather bigger and better films,had spent a lot of time watching and being influenced by German expressionist films of the 20s.In fact he seemed to be so obsessed with style that he completely forgot about the content.Also there is the problem that the actors are amateur,although this in keeping with most of the rest of the production.I have never known 49 minutes to go so slowly .I would like to give this film a big fat zero but regrettably i cannot so i have given it a 1/10 which is 1 more than it deserves.

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