The Tell-Tale Heart *** (1960, Laurence Payne, Adrienne Corri, Dermot Walsh) – Classic Movie Review 13,495

Director Ernest Morris’s 1960 British black and white second feature horror film The Tell-Tale Heart stars Laurence Payne, Adrienne Corri, and Dermot Walsh, and is a loose adaptation of the 1843 short story by Edgar Allan Poe.

Laurence Payne plays Edgar, who murders Carl (Dermot Walsh), who is canoodling with his girlfriend Betty (Adrienne Corri) and puts the body under the floor, but then there are weird noises in the night.

Payne and Corri are excellent in director Ernest Morris’s interesting, well-played and suitably creepy and atmospheric 1960 British film version of the much-filmed tale by Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart, with a smooth, efficient screenplay by Brian Clemens and Eldon Howard, though the plot differs significantly from Poe’s 1843 short story.

It is produced by the Danzigers: Edward J Danziger and Harry Lee Danziger.

It was released in the UK in December 1960, and in the US in February 1962 as The Hidden Room of 1,000 Horrors.

The Danzigers were making black and white feature films for around only £15,000, but this cost a little more because of its period setting.

The cast

The cast are Laurence Payne as Edgar Marsh, Adrienne Corri as Betty Clare, Dermot Walsh as Carl Loomis, Selma Vaz Dias as Edgar’s housekeeper Mrs Vine, John Scott as inspector, John Martin as police sergeant, Pamela Plant as manageress, Annette Carell as Carl’s landlady, Graham Ashley as Neston, David Lander as jeweller, Rosemary Rotheray as Jackie, Suzanne Fuller as Dorothy, Yvonne Buckingham as Mina, Richard Bennett as Mike, Elizabeth Paget as tart Elsie, Frank Thornton as barman, Joan Peart as street girl, Nada Beall as old crone, Patsy Smart as Mrs Harlow, Brian Cobby as young man, Madeleine Leon as young woman, and David Courtney in bit part..

The Tell-Tale Heart is directed by Ernest Morris, runs 81 minutes, is made by Danzigers, is distributed by Warner-Pathé (UK), is written by Brian Clemens and Eldon Howard, is shot in black and white by James Wilson, is produced by Edward J Danziger and Harry Lee Danziger, and is scored by Bill LeSage and Tony Crombie.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,495

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com