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Film: Bucket of Blood aka The Tell-Tale Heart
Year: 1934
Director: Brian Desmond Hurst
Writers: David Plunket Greene and Brian Desmond Hurst
Starring: Norman Dryden, John Kelt and Yolande Terrell
Review:
This was a movie I discovered when searching for horror from 1934. I’m not shocked to learn that there was an early adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story. My first introduction to this story was through an Insane Clown Posse song called Evil Eye. We also listened to it during an English class in junior high. I was curious to see how this would play out.
Synopsis: a young man is driven mad by his obsession with the repulsive diseased eye of the old man who cares for him.
We start this in a cell. The boy is played by Norman Dryden. He has drawn varying sizes of eyes on one of the walls. It is a similar drawing. This was a good indicator to show that it is haunting him. He is taken in to see a doctor, played by Colonel Cameron. The boy states that he’s not crazy and a good touch here, he starts to recite the Poe work. We then see things play out.
The boy is seeing Yolande Terrell. They go out to the woods to rest as well as take a boat down river. There are different things that the boy sees that remind him of an eye. There also seems to be an old man who is following them, he’s played by John Kelt. This old man lives in the same building as the boy and the girl. He checks on the boy one night to ensure that he’s okay. I get the idea that this old man isn’t following them. Since they live so close together, it just seems that way.
I should also point out that we see this eye that is haunting the boy. It sticks out of the socket and there does seem to be something wrong with it. The boy knows that if he doesn’t do something about it, it will drive him insane. The problem though, the only thing he can think of is killing this old man, despite never wronging the boy. This is also just the start of his troubles.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I’m assuming most everyone reading this is aware of this story to an extent. It is part of pop culture for those that are familiar with the genre and Poe. I was curious as to how this would play out, since I don’t recall the story being all that long. This also only runs 55 minutes. I believe the version I watched was 48, so I’m curious what was missing from what I could find.
Now that I’ve set that up, something I always forget is that this eye haunting our lead is part of the same story about the tell-tale heart. When I settle in to watch variations on this story, that’s when it clicks so I know certain beats that they need to hit. It also makes me wonder how filmmakers will set their version apart from others. Now this one being from 1934, they have an advantage. There haven’t been a lot of adaptations yet from what I know. That allows them to do a bit less. I did like that this one starts in the mental hospital, so we know he was caught for his crime. It is also interesting that the boy doesn’t think he’s crazy. What he does would say otherwise. It does seem like temporary insanity at least.
I’ll say that the acting here was fine. No one is great so I wanted to preface with that. They don’t do anything though in a negative way. Something I love with the writing is having Dryden recite the Poe lines, which made me smile. It is a good touch with his delivery. Kelt has a good look as the old man. Terrell is fine to help create a baseline with their day spent together. I did like that since it shows the boy is having issues from the start, but he is leading a normal life. Thomas Shenton and James Fleck are as solid as the two investigators who have a solid sequence with the boy. They help build tension. I’d also say that Cameron was fine in his role, as was H. Vasher the asylum superintendent.
All that is left then is filmmaking. The biggest thing here is this eye that haunts the boy. I thought what they did was fine. We’re early into cinema so it was done practical. It’s not great looking, but still creepy. Other than that, I thought they did good things with superimposing an eye on different things as nature. That works to show it is haunting the boy. I’d say the rest of the cinematography was fine. It doesn’t stand out, but due to technology of the time I won’t hold that against it. What is great though is the sound design. I love setting up so that the boy can hear the old man’s heart beating while he’s alive. They reference that his senses are heightened. That sets the stage for the tell-tale heart sequence. That sound haunting him was also good.
That should be all I needed to say here so in conclusion, I thought that what this did was fine. The adapting of the work is good. There were things added to what I know to give it more length. I thought that was good to frame things. This is an interesting story and how things are set up with the boy being haunted first by the eye, then by his heartbeat is good. The effect of the eye isn’t great, but I won’t harp on it. I did like the sound design of the heart beating. This is made well enough. The acting isn’t great, but it fits what was needed. What I’ll say is that this is a solid, early adaptation of the Poe story. I’d recommend it if you enjoy cinema from this era or of this amazing writer.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10