The Fall of the House of Usher (1950)

Directed by Ivan Barnett [Other horror films: N/A]

This is a movie I’ve been wanting to see for some time. Sure, seeing another rendition of a classic Edgar Allan Poe story is nice, but it’s more the time period this came out that drew my attention. As it is, while the movie has potential, it also feels a wee bit on the lifeless side.

There are two periods of time in which horror films were close to nonexistent, being the late 1930’s (specifically 1937 and 1938) and the late 1940’s to early 1950’s. Exceptions exist, of course – Sh! The Octopus, The Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen, The Terror, Uncle Silas, Things Happen at Night, Inner Sanctum, The Queen of Spades, The Invisible Man Appears, and El hombre sin rostro – but it’s a rather dry period, and so any film released around that time is of immediate interest to me. Ever since I ran across this one on IMDb, I’ve been curious, and though it’s a somewhat disappointing version of the story, I am happy to have finally seen it.

I think the main issue is that the movie feels quite stagy, as though we’re watching a play. Some of the acting is exceedingly melodramatic, especially toward the end, and though there are promising portions – the temple of torture, and the old woman entombed within, are good examples – much of the film doesn’t seem that engaging, and the finale, while containing some action, seems too little too late.

Also, I find it somewhat amusing that while Irving Steen’s character is narrating the story, his character is absent for much of the plot, and he never actually does anything at all, really, aside from painting and reading with Kaye Tendeter’s character. Oh, another odd thing – this main story is framed by a group of gentlemen at a club, with one of them reciting the Poe story The Fall of the House of Usher – at the end of the film, these men discuss what the finale of the story means, and it’s just an odd way to present the film.

As for the faithfulness and veracity of this rendition, I cannot speak, nor would I dream of doing such, of whether the story possessed within conforms to it’s source. That said, I did rather enjoy Steen’s narration, as it definitely had that style of writing down that I do tend to associate with Poe. It was melancholy, dreary, dramatic, and all the more fun for it, and arguably, the best part of the movie.

Really, that’s what Irving Steen brings to the film – a quality narration. Given his character doesn’t do anything else, it’s good to have a part. Kaye Tendeter was nowhere near as engaging as Price was in the role of Roderick Usher, and as I said, he was both dramatic and, conversely, stilted, at times. Actually, many of the performances felt stilted – again, this whole film feels somewhat lifeless.

Gwen Watford (in her earliest role – she was also in Taste the Blood of Dracula, The Ghoul, and Never Take Sweets from a Stranger) didn’t seem to have that much in the way of agency, but she had an okay scene or two. Vernon Charles was actually relevant to the plot, which was at least nice, but his performance was probably the worst here. Lucy Pavey looked creepy, so kudos.

There were some cool shots of the temple – a fact I think they knew, as we saw the same angle about four times throughout the film – what with the silhouettes of people walking toward it from the moors. The backstory of the curse the Ushers are under was pretty gruesome, and I dug it. Most of story is even decent – it’s just that the execution here is both stilted and dry.

While I did enjoy this version more than the 1928 French movie, it doesn’t have the charm of the 1960 Price movie. It’s a curiosity insofar as it’s release date, but beyond that, I don’t really think it’s a movie that will be all that memorable.

6/10