Ursula (1961) User Reviews

creepy little short

[FieCrier · 7/10 · 27 March 2005]

Quite a good short film that I saw on the DVD Experiments in Terror.

A tomboyish little girl angers her strict, elderly mother by ruining her dress and playing with small animals. However, by making the lessons cruel ones, the mother is either pushing the child to the breaking point or making the child cruel herself.

Not having read the short story this was based on, I was a little puzzled by the fact that one of the characters was played by an actor by the first name of "Calvin." The actors' names were given without indicating which played which role. Could the tomboyish little girl who's punished for playing with frogs and climbing trees have been a boy who's being raised as a girl? Looking up information about the story online, it seems that is so. There was also another short film (but much longer than this one) adapting the story and sharing its title: Miss Gentilbelle (1999) directed by Tara Miele. It's not on IMDb at the moment.

I'm rather curious to read some of Charles Beaumont's work now - I see one collection that has his stories introduced by the Mathesons, Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, Roger Corman, and many other noteworthies. Clearly a well-regarded writer!

To the point

[Polaris_DiB · 7/10 · 1 November 2006]

Despite the so called "avant-garde" approach to horror in this little short, one of its key successes is the ability to tell a horror story in a way familiar and grounded in known inspiration. Watching this film isn't like looking into some perverse mind, but reminds one of sitting alone at night with a single lamp on reading HP Lovecraft or Edgar Allen Poe.

I also give this short a lot of kudos for surprising me with a dream. Most movies that try to make dreamscapes fail utterly, but considering the world this girl lives in, the dreams seemed to fit.

I like this short because it's concise and creepy. The use of the bird as a device, the way it moves along rapidly, and it's bizarre mise-en-scene really help keep it creepy and engaging. I'm surprised there's not more of this stuff available out there, considering that it would probably be pretty cheap and easy to produce and show before horror features during Halloween time even today.

--PolarisDiB

An avant garde horror film....and there aren't a lot of those!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 1 May 2014]

This film from Lloyd Michael Williams has some promise but it is an odd film--so odd I can see why his career never took off. Filled with lots of strange sounds, images and camera work, it's NOT the sort of movie the average person would enjoy But, as I said, it does show some promise as the story has a lot of spooky elements.

It's all about a vicious psycho of a mother (a mother who looks WAY too old for the part, by the way) and how she disciplines her young daughter, Ursula. When the child disobeys, mother kills Ursula's pet bird! Later, she kills other animals to teach the child (WHAT she's teaching her is the problem!). And, in the end, this lesson is taken to heart by Ursula- -and she, too, becomes a killer.