The Fall of the House of Usher (Roger
Corman) 1960
The first of Roger Corman’s many adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe stories, The
Fall of the House of Usher is a classy, stately chiller. Modern horror films
might offer a more visceral kick than Corman’s glorified (horrified?) costume
dramas, but they rarely offer the surprisingly tasteful restraint or the solid
acting that was typical of them. Although Corman seems to revel in his “King
of the B’s” moniker, it seems somewhat less than accurate. Clearly this
film, which had a budget of $200,000 (modest by even 1960’s standards), wrings
a great deal of value out of that investment. Corman’s work in this period
wasn’t cheap. It was frugal. His eye for talent and his willingness to later
become a leading distributor of foreign films (e.g. Cries and Whispers and
Amarcord) show that he was less the hack that he claimed to be than an artist.
That eye for talent is clearly on display in The Fall of the House of Usher. The
film’s script was the second written by novelist Richard Matheson. It shouldn’t
be surprising, then, to find the work is relatively faithful in tone to Poe’s
short story. The feeling of disgust that permeates the narrator’s view of the
house is present here. The film shifts his motivation for being in the home a
bit, perhaps to help add to the running time (which is already a brief eighty
minutes), but it doesn’t do much to ruin the film’s effect. In fact, the
love triangle that is set up manages to draw out the original story’s
incestuous implications. There is very little to complain about considering the
source material for the film was only a few scant pages long. The additions seem
rather organically integrated into the film’s world.
Whatever gripes the liberties that are taken by the plot might cause are more
than made up for by the film’s other aspects. The look of the film is
unsettling. Despite its Technicolor stock, the film manages to convey a serious
sense of gloom. The presence of Vincent Price, quite effective as the sinister
Roderick Usher, only adds to the pervasive bad mood that envelopes the film. It
is somewhat unfortunate that there are few moments in the running time that
manage to actually scare (as opposed to disturb), and I am not quite sure how
the film would play to the majority of modern audiences. Still, I found it to be
a thoroughly engaging entry in the literary horror landscape.
***
Jeremy Heilman 11-07-01