Simply Perfect

good back-story, and good acting

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

First of all, due to the age of the film it does feel a bit dated in some respects. And it's not about the fact, that there is no audio dialog, rather written text box slided every now and then (if you've seen a few older "silent" movies, you know what I mean), but the film itself, the pictures. All that is down to pictures per second, which make movies seem "akward" nowadays (you can find articles about that if you search for them).Setting all that aside, it's a powerful story and therefor a powerful movie. I did attend a screening though that was a modernized version. They put modern music over the whole music which not only felt wrong, but was wrong. That particular screening/movie would've gotten a maximum of 3 points from me, but I'm not letting that influence my voting as you can see. I'm just warning you not to watch that version yourself, because it is really horrible and out of tune ... literally. Watch the original, even if it has edits and pictures that you are used to by know, because they have been done so many times ... remember: this is (one of the examples) where they set the blueprints for things to come

My expectations were soaring as I pressed play on my DVD-player, and when Epstein's vision came to life I knew this would become one of my favorite movies. But why? Well first of all it opened up the door to a phantasmagorial universe of beauty and gloom, which I have only witnessed in one more movie; namely Vampyr by Carl Th. Dreyer. It is difficult to explain, but the beauty of horror has a dimension which transcends the beauty of the normal world. A beauty trapped inside a nightmare, so to speak. Lady Madeline is the embodiment of this idea, being trapped inside a crypt, buried alive! I will keep on searching for more of these black diamonds, but I fear that I have already found the most precious ones...

This memorable adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" is particularly impressive in its use of visuals and in the macabre, disorienting atmosphere that it creates, which fits in well with the story. Jean Epstein made some rather significant changes to the story, but as a movie it all works very well.The story changes the central relationship between Roderick and Madeline, and in so doing discards some of Poe's themes, but adds some new ones of its own. Likewise there are other differences as the story unfolds, but Epstein had his own consistent conception of the possibilities in the story, so that it's neither better nor worse than Poe's idea, just different - they are both creative and fascinating conceptions in their own way.The settings and visual effects are very effective in establishing the atmosphere, and in setting off some of the themes of the story. Some of them, such as the enormous array of flickering candles by which Roderick works, are used as recurring images, with surprisingly haunting results. The pace with which the images come at the viewer is also used as part of the effect. It's quite a distinctive accomplishment, and it's a movie that you won't forget for a while.

A very influential movie in its time, mainly for its imaginative cinematography and cutting.The story itself is hard to follow, but not very important since the movie has more essence than substance.The opening scene of the peasants cringing hearing that someone wants to visit the Ushers is later reused many times (i.e., in Dracula).