Why so much hype?

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This is an animated short. There's not a lot of movement in the short--it's mostly these dark sinister paintings and it's all narrated by James Mason. It's all seen through the eyes of a madman. He lives with an older man who he can't stand. So he decides to kill him. He succeeds but he goes even crazier.Very eerie and spooky. It was rightfully nominated for an Oscar for Best Short and is in the National Film Registry. Supposedly this was shot in 3-D (which would account for some of the strange camera angles) but there's no proof that it was released in that format. It doesn't matter though--it works great in 2-D. The short has a constant air of madness and depression about it and Mason's narration perfectly fits what we're watching. It's not the entire short story but it works. Well worth seeing. Not really for kids--especially small ones.

Tell-Tale Heart, The (1953) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Oscar nominated animated film has James Mason narrating the action set to Edgar Allan Poe's classic story. I had heard great things about this film so I was very happy when I came across a copy and was even more thrilled when the film turned out to be so good. The movie does a brilliant job in its animation and I must say the look of the film seems so far ahead of its time that it looks more like a Pixar movie. Another terrific thing is the editing, which really seems ahead of its time and this also adds some nice tension to the film. Mason's vocal performance is where the heart is as he really gives it all and delivers a dynamite role. His breakdown towards the end has to be heard to believed as he is so incredibly good.

With it's delicate (but, shall I say "pounding"?) use of language, Edgar Allan Poe's THE TELL TALE HEART remains his most perfect story in terms of verbal effect and thrills. It is possibly the most anthologized Poe tale (maybe THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER" is more frequently reprinted, or "THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"). Still for it's effects in language nothing else Poe wrote as a story approaches it. It has also been used again and again in the movies. Besides the 1941 short with Joseph Schildkraut (which I reviewed some months ago), there is D.W. Griffith's early film, THE AVENGING CONSCIENCE (a clumsy retitling and retelling of the story). There was even a borrowing of the story in an episode of THE SIMPSONS ten years ago, where a jealous Lisa sabotages a new schoolmate's science project, until she hears the throbbing of the heart.I ran across this excellent (to use a term that Charles Montgomery Burns would use) version of the story on YOU TUBE - which has some nice moments of animation (two of which I reviewed just before this piece tonight). Made in 1953 it was nominated for an Oscar for best short - cartoon, but lost. Too bad, for it had some imaginative use of background. When the narrator (James Mason) first mentions how the old man's filmy eye is driving him mad, he mentions the white film on the eye, and suddenly the madness of the narrator reveals itself as everything that is roundish and white is considered the eye. The sequence culminates with the smashing of a white tea pot, which is a fine summation of the growing violence in the narrator.The story follows the normal course, as the narrator (in Mason's wonderful rich speaking voice) maintains his kindness and decency, and then explains how he was waiting for the right moment to kill the old man, and is set off (finally) when he hears the heart of the victim for the first time. The moment of violence is the second time that Mason's tone changes for the worst. The final time, of course, is when he hears the heart again as the police are in the house examining for traces of the victim, and not realizing it is buried under the floor. Then Mason, not being able to stand the "noise" again, reveals all. And the last we see of the narrator he is in a stone cell, asking again why everyone insists he is mad! A pretty effective retelling of the story.

An English teacher whose taste I generally respected despised this film. As a word person, she was no doubt bothered by the compression and elimination of so much of Poe's carefully wrought language.But she overlooked one thing, in my estimation. Poe said everything in a short story should be toward one effect, and certainly, there has been no better attempt on film to achieve the kind of formal and emotional control Poe suggested was the story teller's goal than this animated short. She should have appreciated that. The control of tone, light and color palette here is complete; the actors are hand-crafted; the voices and music are expertly orchestrated as in great radio drama; best of all, nothing extraneous or distracting seeps through at any point. (We clearly see only one face during this short. We never see the narrator, but see all that happens through a subjective camera.) While there is a ton of ham bone melodrama and story padding in Corman's Poe films, this film achieves just the right pitch, delicate and disturbing, maintains it, and then finishes simply. In today's context, UPA's Tell-Tale seems slightly dry, if not downright academic; Corman's films evoke not only Hollywood, with all that means, but low budget film making and drive-in culture as well.I believe Poe would have appreciated UPA's effort and encouraged them to try others, like Cask of Amontillado and Masque. Given the chance, I think he'd have liked to tell Corman to just quit it.10 stars. One of the great cartoons, ever.