Livestonth
I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
Orla Zuniga
It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
Griff Lees
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Robert J. Maxwell
Whew. It's as spooky as ever, and James Mason's reading brings to it an hysterical drama that is absent from his movies.Sometimes the stark images illustrate the events and sometimes they're surrealistic images of moons, branches, upright things draped in cloth.I don't know how Poe could bring these stories off. Here, for instance, he begins with the otherwise nice old man whose filmy white eyeball the narrator simply can't stand and which eventually drives him to murder.If I had written it, I'd have to have had to explain what the living arrangement was. Did they come to share a flat? How did they handle the rent? Who did the cooking and who washed the dishes? And how the hell did the unnamed narrator ever wind up in a situation like this? Poe dispenses with all this irrelevant details, a device in accord with his theory that everything could, and should, be thrown out the window in favor of effect.Some effect!
Hitchcoc
The pacing of this story, with its wonderful rises and falls, similar to a heartbeat, makes this a masterwork. Jame's Mason narrates and leads us on a terrifying tale of murder and obsession. A man, a boarder, becomes fixated on the eye of an old man with whose he lives. It becomes so dominant in his life, he resolves to kill the old man to rid himself of the eye. There are incredibly eerie clips leading from one event to the other. Music and Mason's voice carry us through this familiar tale. It is really a series of still shots that make this really work well. This is a masterpiece of concision. It is not like most of the short features of its day.
Rectangular_businessman
This UPA short is simply one of the best adaptations of a tale written by Edgar Allan Poe.Most of the adaptations based on any of his works tend to be merely disappointing, capturing only the most pragmatic elements from the source material, but this beautiful done animated short (Which was quite ahead of its time) is able to capture perfectly well the eerie beauty and the macabre tone of the original tale, without all the subtext contained in that story, doing an impressive use of limited animation in order to create the perfect atmosphere that this literary masterpiece deserved.The magnificent voice performance done by James Mason deserves a special mention: It not only fits incredible well with the atmosphere and the story, but also adds new levels of emotion of what is showed to screen, being one of the most memorable qualities from this short, along with the excellent Gothic atmosphere. This short is a must-see.
MartinHafer
In the past, I have been very, very critical of the cartoons made by UPA/Columbia Pictures during the 1950s and 60s. In every case, the artwork of the cartoon was very poor compared to comparable films from MGM, Warner Brothers and Disney. Sadly, because the UPA films were so cheaply made and they unbelievably received more than their share of Oscars, this style became the norm. Well drawn backgrounds and high frame rates were to become a thing of the past and the cheap look of UPA dominated with cartoons such as Gerald McBoing-Boing and Mr. Magoo.Fortunately, while the same bare-bones look of UPA is present in this cartoon, here it actually works to good effect due to the colors used and the grim plot. In many ways, the art is highly reminiscent of the old silent classic, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI--with its German expressionistic style. Here, for once, the UPA look actually works and works well.As for the story, it's a retelling of the classic Poe tale as read by actor James Mason--a man whose voice alone is reason to see this film.So, despite not winning the Oscar in 1954, it was justifiably nominated and the beauty and creepiness of this film haven't diminished over the years.
