Barnes & Noble

When Roger Corman suggested that low-budget legend Samuel Z. Arkoff and American International Pictures combine the budgets for two black-and-white movies and make one, more expensive color picture, he didn't expect it to become a phenomenon. But that's just what Fall of the House of Usher became; in fact, it was one of the top five grossing movies of 1960, bringing horror films -- and Corman -- a step out of the drive-ins where they had been relegated for so many years. Based on Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story, the film follows Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) to the Usher house, where he plans to visit his betrothed, Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey). But her insidious and hypersensitive brother, Roderick (Vincent Price, sporting a prematurely white dye-job), unexpectedly thwarts Philip's plans, attempting to frighten him away from the Ushers' downtrodden home. Hopelessly devoted to Madeline, Philip soon finds himself tangled deeply in the dark and deadly secrets of both the physical and familial Usher houses. Thanks to Usher's success, a swarm of Price-starring, Corman-directed Poe films followed -- Pit and the Pendulum, Tales of Terror, The Raven, The Haunted Palace, and The Masque of the Red Death -- each increasingly more lavish and less faithful to its source material. The atmospheric type of chamber horrors established by Usher were also soon adopted by the likes of Italian genre maven Mario Bava, who, in films like The Whip and the Body and Kill, Baby...Kill! institutes what became a distinctive part of the Italian horror style. Unlike the crumbling structure of the Usher House, the legacy of Corman's adaptation and its unprecedented success is everlasting. Patricia Kim O'Cone

All Movie Guide

The first of Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe films, Fall of the House of Usher was originally released as simply House of Usher. Vincent Price stars as the foredoomed Roderick Usher. Living in his decaying family mansion with his young sister Madeline (Myrna Fahey), Roderick does his best to shoo away Madeline's fiance Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon). He tells the young swain that Madeline suffers from the family curse of encroaching madness, and thus cannot be permitted to bear children. After a series of suspicious, near-fatal accidents, Phillip insists that Madeline be allowed to leave with him at once. But Roderick sadly announces that this is impossible: Madeline has died, and is slated to be entombed. Informed by the family butler that Madeline has previously been prone to near-catatonic spells, Phillip angrily insists that the girl may very well have been buried alive. The climactic conflagration would be recycled as stock footage in future Corman/Poe efforts, as would the set representing the Usher home. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 027616910875
• Source: MGM (VIDEO & DVD)
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
• Presentation: Letterbox, Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: Français, Español
• Time: 2:40:00

This set contains DVDs which may be available separately:

• House of Usher
• Pit and the Pendulum

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