The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) is a short silent horror film adaptation of the 1839 short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe. The movie was co-directed by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber, and starred Herbert Stern, Hildegarde Watson, and Melville Webber (who also wrote the screenplay). There is no dialogue in the film, though one sequence features letters written in the air moving across the screen.

A music score was written in 1959 for the film by the directors' friend, composer Alec Wilder. His 1959 score was his second attempt (after the score for winds, brass and percussion which he did for them originally in 1929), and he composed it for a recording of the New York Woodwind Quintet and a percussionist, conducted by Leon Barzin. The film and the 1959 score were later synched together by James Sibley Watson, and this was the version that was placed in the National Film Registry in 2000. Various new scores have been composed to accompany the film, including one by new wave musician Tom Verlaine and guitarist Jimmy Rip, and another by American composer Jean Hasse's version (2010) for the UK ensemble Counterpoise (violin, trumpet, saxophone, piano), this version available to view on YouTube.

Plot

thumb|thumbtime=25|The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)

A traveller arrives at the desolate Usher mansion to find that the sibling inhabitants, Roderick and Madeline Usher, are living under a mysterious family curse: Roderick's senses have become painfully acute, while Madeline continues to get weaker with time. When Madeline apparently dies, Roderick has her buried in the family vault, not realizing she is merely in a catatonic state. Madeline awakens in her tomb, and realizing she has been buried alive, descends into madness as she escapes her coffin and seeks revenge.

Cast

  • Herbert Stern as Roderick Usher
  • Hildegarde Watson as Madeline Usher
  • Melville Webber
  • Friedrich Haak
  • Dorothea House

See also

  • Treasures from American Film Archives
  • The Fall of the House of Usher (1928 French film)

References

  • The Fall of the House of Usher essay by Scott Simmon at National Film Registry [https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/fall_house_usher.pdf]
  • The Fall of the House of Usher essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pp. 156–58 [https://books.google.com/books?id=deq3xI8OmCkC&source=gbs_similarbooks]
  • Scrapbook of correspondence and clippings related to the films of Dr. James Sibley Watson, Jr. on New York Heritage