The Fall of the House of Usher (1928 American film)

For the 1928 Jean Epstein version of Fall of the House of Usher, see The Fall of the House of Usher (1928 French film)

The Fall of the House of Usher
A scene from the short film.
Directed by	James Sibley Watson Melville Webber
Written by	Edgar Allan Poe
Starring	Herbert Stern Hildegarde Watson Melville Webber
Music by	Alec Wilder
Cinematography	James Sibley Watson Melville Webber
Release date(s)	1928
Running time	13 min.
Country	United States
Language	Silent film English intertitles

The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) is a short silent horror film adaptation of the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe. It tells the story of a brother and sister who live under a family curse. The actors are Herbert Stern, Hildegarde Watson, and Melville Webber.

The movie was directed by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber. A music score was written in 1959 for the film by Watson and Webber's friend, composer Alec Wilder.

Production

An avant-garde experimental film, the visual element predominates, including shots through prisms to create optical distortion. There is no dialogue, though one part features letters moving across the screen.

Influence

In 2000, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant film" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

See also

• Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant Garde Film 1894-1941
• Treasures from American Film Archives

External links

• The short film The Fall of the House of Usher is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• The Fall of the House of Usher at the Internet Movie Database
• The Fall of the House of Usher at AllRovi
• Scrapbook of correspondence and clippings related to the films of Dr. James Sibley Watson, Jr. on New York Heritage