Themes: Haunted By the Past, Crimes of Passion, Sibling Relationships
Main Cast: Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, Harry Ellerbe, Bill Borzage
Release Year: 1960
Country: US
Run Time: 85 minutes
Plot
The first of Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe films, Fall of the House of Usher was originally released as simply House of Usher. Vincent Price stars as the foredoomed Roderick Usher. Living in his decaying family mansion with his young sister Madeline (Myrna Fahey), Roderick does his best to shoo away Madeline's fiance Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon). He tells the young swain that Madeline suffers from the family curse of encroaching madness, and thus cannot be permitted to bear children. After a series of suspicious, near-fatal accidents, Phillip insists that Madeline be allowed to leave with him at once. But Roderick sadly announces that this is impossible: Madeline has died, and is slated to be entombed. Informed by the family butler that Madeline has previously been prone to near-catatonic spells, Phillip angrily insists that the girl may very well have been buried alive. The climactic conflagration would be recycled as stock footage in future Corman/Poe efforts, as would the set representing the Usher home. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
House of Usher is an early Roger Corman classic, richly photographed by Floyd Crosby and featuring one of Vincent Price's finest performances. Benefiting from a well-crafted screenplay by Richard Matheson, Edgar Allan Poe's source-story is transformed into a visual masterpiece of dread and doom. Price's Roderick Usher is both sympathetic and unsavory: he's not so much a monster as someone who has been overwhelmed by his own sense of impending disaster. The story may be predictable, but it's executed in grand style and has a satisfying conclusion. The film represented a substantial leap for Corman in production values, demonstrating that he could handle more complex films than the throwaway quickies which had dominated his career. For Matheson, it proved that his work on 1957's The Incredible Shrinking Man wasn't a one-shot success; for the Oscar-winning veteran Crosby, it was a chance to show that changing times and tastes had only enhanced his skills with the camera. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
