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Donald Winthrop travels from Boston to the Usher household
to visit his fiancee Madeline. Upon arrival, her brother Roderick,
who suffers from an an acute heightening of the senses, tells
him she is confined to her bed. She is weak and sensitive,
and Roderick refuses to allow her to leave the house. He fears
for her because most of the Usher ancestry fell into madness.
In the crypt empty places await Medeline and Roderick, the
last in the family line. A plague has blighted the once fertile
lands and fresh waters around the house, caused by the evil
of degradation of generations of killers, smugglers, assassins,
harlots and other unsavoury Ushers from the past. It soon
materialises that Roderick's motive for keeping his sister
in the house is his fear of her having children and continuing
the line of evil. Madeline's much weakened heart finally gives
out. Donald Winthrop is obliged to help Roderick carry her
casket down to the crypt. He is ready to return to Boston,
but learns via the old retainer that Madeline was subject
to periodic cataleptic states, when she appeared to be dead.
Roderick has knowingly buried his own sister alive. By the
time Winthrop learns the truth she has escaped and fallen
into madness...
All
the way back to 1960 for this film adaptation of the classic
Edgar Allan Poe horror tale. Having seen Vincent Price in
literally dozens of horror flicks, I have to say that his
convincing portrayal of Roderick Usher here is excellent,
and offers an added strength to the steadily building plot.
There is a certain ambiguity regarding certain events, so
that we never quite know whether they are only in the mind
of Roderick or represent a real and present evil from the
past which permeates the house, bringing the building into
degradation. The widening crack which extends the height of
the house, the periodic vibration and sounds of movement,
and the number of dangerous near-misses inside create a tension
not often found in films from this period. A cast of only
four would in most circumstances fail to carry a feature length
movie, but here it creates a suitably more claustrophobic
atmosphere.
I have only three minor quibbles. At a couple of poignant
moments ghostly howls are heard on the soundtrack; this is
somewhat hammy and totally unnecessary. Secondly, the picture
has not been cleaned-up for its transference to DVD; scratches
and sound-marks appear in various places, but they are not
severe. Lastly, I may be accused of splitting hairs here,
but the film title is The House of Usher, whereas the
DVD cover gives Poe's full story title of The Fall of the
House of Usher.
This is one of Roger Coreman's better productions, suitably
aided once again by the master wordsmith Richard Matheson
(Duel, Hell House, The Shrinking Man, Nightmare At 20,000
Feet, etc.) who wrote the screenplay. His influence exudes
class into this project, which never tries to achieve too
much.
"And the deep and dank tarn closed silently over the fragments
of the House of Usher" - Poe.
Ty
Power
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