Schildkraut, the young shop worker, is being made very, very nervous by the old man with the one staring EYE. The old man treats him like dirt, insults him, humiliates him. The young worker hates him -- and hates that EYE. Finally he's driven beyond the point that most of us would consider "very, very nervous." He's irretrievably mad, in fact.
He enters the old guy's room and strangles him, then buries the body under the floor. (This is familiar stuff, I know, if you've read the story.) But something is bothering Schildkraut. Once in a while he still hears the determined thumping of the old man's heart from underneath the planks. During a visit by the sheriff, inquiring after the mean old curmudgeon, Schildkraut goes completely wacko and gives himself and the deed away.
It's not bad, not insulting. It's an inexpensive short. Schildkraut does okay by the role and it was directed by Jules Dassin, who was to go on to bigger and sometimes better things. I think it's a little slow and would have benefited from occasional narration of excerpts lifted from Poe. It just occurs to me, how closely this resembles a tale from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
He enters the old guy's room and strangles him, then buries the body under the floor. (This is familiar stuff, I know, if you've read the story.) But something is bothering Schildkraut. Once in a while he still hears the determined thumping of the old man's heart from underneath the planks. During a visit by the sheriff, inquiring after the mean old curmudgeon, Schildkraut goes completely wacko and gives himself and the deed away.
It's not bad, not insulting. It's an inexpensive short. Schildkraut does okay by the role and it was directed by Jules Dassin, who was to go on to bigger and sometimes better things. I think it's a little slow and would have benefited from occasional narration of excerpts lifted from Poe. It just occurs to me, how closely this resembles a tale from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."