Review #6: The Tell-Tale Heart (1941) - Short film

Ah, Edgar Allan Poe. He didn't create horror literature, but he sure did shape it for many, many years to come. Why with stories such as The Cask of Amontillado and The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe certainly left his mark on the horror genre. Many adaptions of his work have been made, some decent, and many dreadful, but few have successfully captured the suspense in his original stories.

This film is one of the not-so-fantastic ones.

I'm sure you are all aware of The Tell-Tale Heart. The story is a true classic, and one of his most gifted works, I feel. This 20-minute short from 1941 was not a bad film, just to clarify. It's just that, compared to the story, it falls so far from the tree.

Source: YouTube

Length: 20 minutes

Number of Ratings from IMDb: 508

Country of Origin: USA

Director: Jules Dassin [The Tell-Tale Heart]

We begin this short with an introduction to the protagonist, whom is unnamed, looming a rug (had to look that up, truth be told).

He then hears the footsteps of his employer, an old man whom treats him rather unwell.

He confirms this by slapping the young man, for speaking about how he's treated to townsfolk. 

And such is life. Too timid, weak, and, in my opinion, foolish, the boy has been depending on the old man since he was 14 years old. Especially angry at being manhandled earlier, he states to the old man that he intends to "quit him." 

The man scoffs, and goes on a lengthy diatribe about the utter feeble-mindedness of the young man. He ends his tirade by stating "You'll be dependent on me until the day I die."

Bad idea, because as feeble-minded as the man may be, he can add two and two together. An idea is formed.

Preparations are made, and on the following night, he decides to strike. He slowly walks into the room of the old man, holding a custom-made lantern, shining it in the face of his employer.

At first, the old man angrily demands his employee leave his room. Of course, he doesn't. This scares the old man more than anything - always before, the boy had been obedient. Not only is the obedience waning completely, the old man realizes why the young man is there: He intends to kill the miser.

It is in this moment he says the winning line of this short.

Old Man: You're not strong enough to have murder on your soul. You'll never rest.

Whether or not that is true plays little part in the young man's actions - his decision is made already. He kills the man, and listens to his heartbeat slowly fade.

All seems well when he wakes up the following morning at first, but it soon goes downhill. All of the sudden, he hears the pounding of the now-deceased old man. He has a mini-breakdown and faints, and wakes up just in time to host two visitors whom are checking in - a neighbor complained that he heard a scream the previous night.

Things go relatively well despite the young man's overly sweaty and manic face. They seem mildly suspicious, but are about to leave before the young man says the missing employer won't be back until the following day. This is problematic, as the old man promised to be at an auction. From here on out, the young man stumbles and gets distracted so much, I'm surprised it took them seven minutes to realize he was utterly losing it.

My main problem with this film is how much it differs from the original story, which I consider a masterpiece of literature. How many things can be changed from a two-page story? Sadly, too much.

In the original story, the old man was nothing but kind to the young man. He never deserved death at the hands of the boy he cared for. For another example, the young man slowly worked up his confidence by putting his head into the old man's room for a whole week before going in for the kill. The whole murder scene was chillingly well-done, as it took over an hour for him to slowly creep into the room. In this rendition, it's all rather quick. I'm not alone in thinking such, by the way - three threads on the IMDb page talk about the unfaithfulness of this version.

I understand that changes sometimes have to be made, and while some accept this (look at the 1980 The Shining - it barely resembles the book at all, and yet, it is almost universally loved), others take issue with the tactic. I am in the latter. The story was an amazing piece of literature. Don't believe me? Take a few minutes to read it in full here.

On it's own, this short is not bad. It lacks most of the suspense, the protagonist's cunning, and the true insanity of the killer, however. It's not bad, but I cannot help but compare it to it's original source. Maybe that's a mistake on my part, but it's unavoidable. 

It's not an utter waste of time, though, so even if you're inclined to be a little disappointed, there's not much harm in giving it a chance.

My rating: 5.5/10

Here is the IMDb page.

Next time, on Beyond the Darkened Door:

An almost 30-minute short from the mid-1980's. I have to admit, as I've heard it's more on the experimental side, I have no idea what to expect. If interested, by all means, watch out for it.


-Michael