This is all mood and none the worse for it. Trivia buffs will seek it out because Abel Gance had a supporting role (to say nothing of Marguerite Gance as Madeleine Usher), Luis Bunuel adapted Poe and quit as co-director when he failed to see eye to eye with Epstein. Several posters have praised the music which I found totally inapposite but then what do I know. Jean Debucourt (Roderick) has a long and distinguished career and appeared in some of my favorite French movies - Douce, La Ciel est a vous, Marguerite de la nuite, Madame de, etc - and is suitable restrained for a silent film when 'emoting' was de riguer. Anyone who has read anything of Poe let alone the original story will feel at home with this adaptation despite Epstein's cavalier treatment of the story. Photography, atmos, etc, are right on the money and it's well worth seeking out.
Review of The Fall of the House of Usher
