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The Tell-Tale Heart is a 1934 British drama film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst. The screenplay by David Plunkett Greene is based on the 1843 short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. It is the earliest known "talkie" film adaptation of the story.

Plot

A young manservant is driven mad by his obsession with the repulsive diseased eye of an old man who cares for him. He kills his master and hides the remains under the floorboards. When the police investigate the old man's disappearance, the imagined beating of the victim's heart haunts the murderer's thoughts so much that his words and actions arouse the suspicions of the police.

Cast

• Norman Dryden as The Boy
• John Kelt as The Old Man
• Yolande Terrell as The Girl

Production

Produced by Clifton-Hurst Productions (with Harry Clifton as the listed producer), it was filmed at the Blattner Studios in Elstree, and released in the USA under the title Bucket of Blood. The film was considered so gruesome that it was withdrawn from some cinemas in the UK. The cast was mostly amateur (John Kelt had appeared in several silent films) and the dialogue is so sparse that Hurst recalled when interviewed:

At the big Elstree studios nearby they said "There's a fellow over at Blattner's studio who's making practically a silent picture."

See also

• List of horror films of the 1930s

References

1. The Tell Tale Heart at British Film Institute
2. The Tell Tale Heart at British Film Institute
3. The TellTale Heart (1934) at the official Brian Desmond Hurst legacy website, retrieved 21 March 2014
4. "Re-Viewing British Cinema, 1900-1992: Essays and Interviews" Wheeler W. Dixon, pub. SUNY Press, 1 Jul 1994, ISBN 9780791418628, p.27

External links

• The Tell-Tale Heart at IMDb
• The Tell-Tale Heart at the website dedicated to Brian Desmond Hurst

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• 1934 films
• British black-and-white films
• British horror drama films
• Films based on The Tell-Tale Heart
• 1930s English-language films
• 1934 drama films
• Films shot at Rock Studios
• 1930s British films
• Films scored by John Reynders
• 1930s British film stubs