THE TELL-TALE HEART (1960)

Laurence Payne

THE TELL-TALE HEART (1960).  Director: Ernest Morris. 

Edgar Marsh (Laurence Payne of The Trollenberg Terror) is a shy librarian who lives alone in his house and has a hirsute best friend named Carl (Dermot Walsh). One day a pretty young lady named Betty (Adrienne Corri) moves into an apartment across the street. Advised by Carl to make the acquaintance of the woman, Edgar summons up his nerve and before long they are dating -- although Edgar is smitten and Betty, new in town, just needs company. Betty, however, is galvanized when she meets Carl, and it is apparent that he feels the same about her. The trouble is, if something develops between the two, how will Edgar react?

Payne with Adrienne Corri

The Tell-Tale Heart, loosely based on the famous story by Edgar Allan Poe, is an intelligent and well-made expansion and revisioning of Poe's work, playing upon the theme of guilt and the resultant madness. Laurence Payne gives an outstanding performance as Edgar, and there is fine work from Walsh and Corri. Well-paced and suspenseful under Ernest Morris' direction, the film has atmosphere and is often surprisingly gruesome, including a grisly sword murder and an impalement, like something out of a Hammer film. (In fact the film opens with an announcement that the squeamish should immediately close their eyes when they hear the sound of a heartbeat!) This is a British film from Danziger productions. 

Verdict: Admirable horror film with an impressive Payne. ***.