![]() Much talk of the physical decay, rotting psyches, ill health and malignant obsession that has plagued the family for generations peppers the script. Some thanks for a lifetime of servitude, eh? Each of these faithful servants is condemned to die because of their unyielding loyalty to the various unconventional family-units they serve. Bristol’s character, or rather the function of his character (to gradually shed more light on the dark secrets of the family he works for) reappears throughout Corman’s other Poe films in the form of Kenrick in The Tomb of Ligeia, Bartolome in Pit and the Pendulum and, whilst not part of Corman’s Poe cycle, though it was certainly cut from the same cloth – The Terror’s Stefan. The only other character is Bristol (Harry Ellerbe), a faithful servant to the Ushers and has been at the family’s beck and call for generations. In the second half of the film, when she has become utterly deranged from the experience of her premature burial, Madeline skulks crazily through the house like a creature possessed: all wide-eyed and screeching profanities. ![]() These siblings are THE original Goth-kids – staying out of the sun, overly preoccupied with morbid thoughts of death and despair. As Madeline, Myrna Fahey gives a quietly assured performance – her character, while she still has it in her, quietly rages against the encroaching madness of her brother and insists that they must forget the past and get on with living their frail lives. Mark Damon is dashing as Philip Winthorpe, suitor to Roderick’s sister Madeline. The film is rounded out by a small but solid cast. You can imagine then, what histrionics will ensue when his dear sister is buried alive and her petrified screams rip through the house from the family vault below, as she helplessly pounds and scratches on the inside of her sealed coffin lid… We soon learn that he has ‘an affliction of the hearing’ and that sounds of any exaggerated degree cut into his brain like knives. ![]() These are but a few of the roles that Price will forever be remembered for – tragic, morose and utterly doomed romantics who are as much a danger to themselves as they are to others. His portrayal of Roderick Usher went some way to map out similarly tortured and anguished individuals the actor would portray in Corman’s Poe cycle from Nicolas Medina in Pit and the Pendulumto Verden Fell in The Tomb of Ligeia. Price is as striking and resplendent as you’d expect. ![]() The house itself when we see it, is oppressive and dark, steeped in a faded grandeur of long past decadence. Corman actually filmed the opening scene after a brush fire in the Hollywood hills the charred and still smouldering earth instantly evokes a mood of desolation and despair. The opening images depicting Philip (Mark Damon) as he makes his way to the Usher’s house through a twisted fairytale forest, wizened foliage and a grotesquely parched landscape, set a prescient that will continue to float wraith-like throughout the rest of the film, wrapping everything in a dank and unshakable melancholy. Influenced by the likes of Mario Bava's Black Sunday and much of Hammer's output at the time, Corman's Poe films pertain to literature and high-art, whilst still providing the requisite chills you'd expect from such a highly regarded and prolific schlock-meister. Setting the standard for all his other Poe adaptations, Corman weaves a delightfully morose tapestry of gloomy sets, swirling dry ice and matte-painting back-drops that were no doubt used in many of his other shoe-string budget productions. So, after I poured a glass of Russell’s Cellar’s finest cheap merlot, I settled down to watch Roger Corman’s first Poe adaptation, The Fall of the House of Usher. It suddenly occured to me, as such things usually do, that it’s been several months since I last watched anything featuring Vincent Price. A series of morbid incidents unfold over the coming days as events seem set to reach a horrific climax bringing an end to the Usher bloodline, once and for all… Philip discovers that the Usher lineage has been afflicted by an all consuming malady and that the siblings, the last of the Ushers, believe they are cursed to descend into insanity like their ancestors did before them. Her brother, the severely melancholic Roderick opposes this suggestion with every inch of his brittle body. When she returns to her family home after their engagement, Madeline Usher is visited by her fiancée Philip Winthorpe, who wants her to return to Boston with him.
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