The Tell-Tale Heart

A decent adaptation, Jules Dassin started out with this and it's a lot like him. On the up side, it's savvy and resourceful and ultimately works. On the down side, it's a tad too blunt and contains slight overacting. I prefer Ted Parmelee's 1953 animated short.

The old man in the story is horrible to the young man, you almost want him to get away with it even tho we all know how it ends. The over acting and story changes ruin the story somewhat. I'd really like to see a earnest downplayed version of the story.

The real strength of this piece is the visual sensibility of Dassin, who brings a claustrophobic feel to the material that works very well with the simple narrative. The performance of the lead actor creates a feeling of oddity that also works well. That said, everything here is a bit on the obvious side--which makes the short run time a blessing.

Well done short subject.

An odd duck of a short subject. Worth watching, once.

There was nothing going on in this movie that made it any different than having a good narrator read it aloud to you, except it took away you're imagination.