The Tell-Tale Heart (1962)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

This little film has been lurking on my shelves for several years now, but hasn't got played, simply because the quality of the DVD is atrocious. If I say it is on the 'Alpha' label, I am sure there will be those who will fully understand what I am getting at. The picture quality is streaked with lines and spots and makes for uncomfortable viewing. I feel therefore, that I will not be alone in being pleased that this film has now been accorded a respectful release on DVD by 'Pegasus Entertainment' The quality is vastly superior to the 'Alpha' and gives us a golden opportunity to at last, obtain a decent print of this film. As to the film itself, much of it's merits have been already touched upon by previous reviewers. Suffice to say that whilst this is not an earth shattering film it is nevertheless a neat little black and white thriller with some nice touches thrown in, plus good performances from Laurence Payne and Adrienne Corri.

This story is one of the all time favorites of mine, whether on film, or in the book, you can't help but be drawn to it. Always have been a big fan of Edgar Allen Poe , going all the way back to childhood. This particular movie i think does the book a lot of justice, although the female lead character is kinda a little over the top obvious , but other than that, hey the movie really works for me, it doesn't really drag, you feel so sorry for Edgar plodding along in the movie after that girl, i kept telling him Edgar don't tell her about you're best friend, why would you do that, guess he doesn't have to much brains with woman at the time. the plot in the movie was great. although a bit worn, but the music, omg was excellent, very creepy, well done, really there ain't nothing hardly wrong with the movie, if you can overlook the female lead's obvious obnoxiousness then you got it made.

Like a few of you, I found this on an inconspicuous DVD along with "Chiller," and I just saw it a few hours ago. This film is as good at "stretching out" a short Poe story as the AIP movies (and I'm VERY attached to those). I'm not familiar with Lawrence Payne, but he was great in the part, as were the Dermot Walsh and Adrienne Corri. But I didn't realize Frank Thornton was the barman till I read it here - I'll have to watch for him next time. As for the ending - which I won't give away here - some people might see it as a "cop-out" ending, but I think it works perfectly well. As some of you say, the "risque" side of this film was slightly surprising for a film of 1960 - I kept thinking I was seeing a Hammer film (minus the cleavage!).

I actually enjoyed this movie.I am a huge horror fan. I read scary books and love scary movies, Edgar Allen Poe is one of the authors I've enjoyed since I was a child. I received this movie as a gift from work for Halloween.I found out that it had only been a dollar plus it had the movie "Chiller" on it. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. A lot of movie adaptations of classic stories aren't nearly as good as the stories but I believe this one was a well done adaptation. It kept my attention from the beginning until the end.The only flaw I guess was that the main female character was too obvious most of the time while the main character, Edgar, seemed pretty oblivious at the beginning.Other than that, very good acting, I was pretty impressed.