The Fall of the House of Usher (1950)

This is a bit wooden, to be honest... The budget was clearly stretched by the bar bill from the opening, introductory, sequence in the gentleman's club where one of the group starts to read this story from a compendium of Poe stories. We are quickly transferred to the sinister mansion in which the "Usher" siblings - "Lord Roderick" (Kaye Tendeter) and "Lady Madeleine" (Gwen Watford) abide. "Jonathan" (Irving Steen) arrives at the house to visit his friend and discovers that both have been afflicted by strange maladies that their doctor can only explain by suggesting "Jonathan" leave, and leave quickly... What ensues is not the best story Poe ever wrote, and this depiction is truly static. The staging is theatrical in the most third rate "rep" of fashions: lines are delivered as if being individually cued, the photography is almost as stilted and the overall pace of the film - though not entirely devoid of peril and aided well by eerie scenarios and a great storm sequence at the end, just flows like treacle. Like many stories from this author, there isn't a conclusion as such, just an ending - but in this case, sadly, it couldn't really come quick enough.