I recently saw a copy of this at the BFI and I have to disagree with the other reviews on this page. Although some of the dialogue (by Edgar Allan Poe) may come across as slightly stilted, this is a small distraction from what is, essentially, an undiscovered curiosity (it is not currently commercially available). Director Brian Desmond Hurst (John Ford's cousin, according to
urban myth) went on to bigger things, most notably Alastair Sim's classic Scrooge (1951) adaptation, but maybe not more interesting. This is an expressionistic tour-de-force, on a par visually at least with the revered 'horror'classics of that school (really!), The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari. Nosferatu etc The camera-work is fluid and expressive and both the sound and visual editing is excellent, all the more remarkable in an era when few British film-makers, Hitchcock and a very select group of others aside, were seen to have mastery in true visual expertise. Even reviewers of the time, usually reserved in their praise of British film-makers, recognised that this was a truly unique exercise in British film. In short, this film demands to be seen on so many levels.
