The Fall of the House of Usher

I am and will always be a great fan of Vincent Price. But the House of Usher is absolutely BORING. This young suitor is going to the house to pick up his fiancé. So he's eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at this house that's falling apart. He carries on several inane conversations with Price(Usher). One is constantly wondering why he doesn't just grab Myrna Fahey(Madeline Usher) and take her away? It's because we must have more inane conversations with Usher and Bristol the Butler. I also wonder about Usher's hearing. He said that he can hear the rats' claws scraping in the walls. But then he plays that horrible mandolin, and that doesn't seem to bother him. Last and least is the house burning to the ground. The viewer just pleads for this movie to END.

It's interesting that in recent years people have begun looking at Vincent Price's films for American International Pictures as "classics". This really seems to be stretching the term, though I will admit they are often fun to watch but very slight films with pretty low budgets. I see them mostly as time passers. However, of these films this early one is perhaps the best. It's about a man who shows up at his sister's mansion to see her, but is told by her husband that she is dead. While the movie is only superficially related to the Poe story by the same name, it's closer than the later movies based VERY LOOSELY on Poe stories. I give the film high marks for making the absolute most of a low budget and for decent performances and mood throughout. It's worth seeing, but not great.

In one of the many classic adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe tales, Vincent Price creepily shines yet again. When Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) goes to an estate to pick up his fiancée Madeleine Usher (Myrna Fahey), he learns from her brother Roderick (Price) that she and he both suffer from a degenerative disease that gives them both acute senses. Sure enough, it turns out that all is not quite what it seems. Probably the most noticeable thing about this movie is that Vincent Price lacks his famously eerie moustache. But in a way, that almost makes him more mysterious. Roger Corman scored another triumph here. You're sure to love it.