In a decaying castle surrounded by a dank, mirrored lake live the morbidly nervous Roderick Usher and his sickly twin sister, Madeline. Their tale is told and dimly comprehended by the unnamed narrator, a boyhood friend whom Roderick has summoned. When Madeline soon dies—or seems to die—they entomb her body. On a stormy night, "cracking and ripping" sounds and a "shriek" from below convince the panicky Roderick that "We have put her living into the tomb!" The shrouded, emaciated figure of Madeline appears at the door of Roderick's book-strewn study, falls upon him, "and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse."
Reviews
"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a work by famous writer Edgar Allen Poe that involves some horror as do some of his other creative achievements. And while this one was used by filmmakers many times before, also very early as you see here, I must say I have never really been a fan of the story. So yeah, I am a bit biased here, also due to the fact that I don#t really like silent films most of the time, but I still believe this could have been a better watch. As with many other silent films, there is the problem of a lack of subtitles in a quantity that would help the audience at least in understanding the very basic plot. The ones to blame in this case are director James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber. The cast members do their best I guess. This one is already almost 90 years old and it was chosen to be picked up for the National Film Registry back in 2000. I do not share the praise though and I do not think this American film here is a must-see by any means. Thumbs down, nothing stands out here.
A traveler arrives at the Usher mansion to find that the sibling inhabitants, Roderick and Madeline Usher, are living under a mysterious family curse: Roderick's senses have become painfully acute, while Madeline has become nearly catatonic. As the visitor's stay at the mansion continues, the effects of the curse reach their terrifying climax. This is a very odd film, and one that can quite correctly be called "Avant garde" or "experimental". Some rudimentary special effects were tested here, all of which had to be done in-camera. The camera itself is often off-kilter, giving a disorienting effect. We also have plenty of double exposures and what looks like kaleidoscope vision. The words "beat", "crack" and "scream" take on a life of their own.Roderick is particularly creepy, and one wonders what influence -- if any -- this had on later versions of the Usher story. Today, the best known one is likely the Roger Corman and Vincent Price picture, but to compare that to this film would be difficult... even the most basic plot elements here are mysterious.This film is also not to be confused with another film that came out the same year with the same name, starring Charles Lamy and Jean Debucourt. This other version had Luis Buñuel as Assistant Director, and is probably the better of the two.
This example of cinema is composed as avant garde expressionism. It uses various prism shots, multiple exposures, slow motion (forward and reverse), and inventive uses of sets and miniatures. Creative and experimental, it's a showcase for the filmmakers. However, this is to story telling what ballet is to story telling; you'd have to have some familiarity with the original to make sense of the action. Not meant for human consumption. There's a fine line between "artistic" and "arty," and like most ultimately pointless examples of avant garde, this carefully crafted work is pretentious enough for easy derision by the common observer.
This low-budget thriller was one of the first independent experimental films made in the USA. Heavily influenced by German Expressionist filmmaking (and in particular "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari") this film makes effective use of odd camera angles and stylized sets, and is still quite interesting to watch today as a sort of Gothic mood piece.