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S31 Ep8: Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive | Clip

Filmmaker Roger Corman on “The Fall of the House of Usher”

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Filmmaker Roger Corman was initially drawn to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” because of the macabre setting. After the film was a great success Corman was asked to continue adapting Poe’s works for cinema, going on to make “The Pit and the Pendulum,” among others.

Major support for Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional support for this film is provided in part by National Endowment for the Arts, Joy Fishman, and Wallace S Wilson.

Features

Clip | The story of Edgar Allan Poe’s only novel
Clip | The story of Wally Coberg and the making of “Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive”
Clip | Garrison Keillor reads Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee”
Clip | Edgar Allan Poe: The Five Biggest Myths About Poe
Clip | Filmmaker Roger Corman’s dream-like world of Edgar Allan Poe
Clip | How Filmmaker Roger Corman brought Poe to the big screen
Clip | See inside the mind of a ranting and raving Edgar Allan Poe
Clip | Mash-up: Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”
The Horror Writer: Edgar Allan Poe
Clip | Denis O’Hare on Becoming Poe
Clip | The Deaths of the Women in Poe’s Life
Clip | Denis O’Hare brings to life “The Man of the Crowd”
Edgar Allan Poe: Prose and Poetry
Clip | Experience Poe’s dramatic readings of “The Raven”
Clip | Learn about the fake news behind Edgar Allan Poe’s reputation
Edgar Allan Poe Biographical Timeline
Clip | Behind the Scenes
Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive - Trailer
TRANSCRIPT

What drew me to 'The Fall of the House of Usher' first was the macabre setting.

The house itself surrounded by fog deserted and then within the house the relationship between Roderick Usher and his sister. The incestuous sexual slash horror relationship between them it was just a fascinating situation. I think 'The Fall of the House of Usher' did set a tone for Poe. I'm not certain if he planned to continue. I myself had no plans to make a second picture. I simply wanted to make 'The Fall of the House of Usher.' It was very large success for the company I was working with, and they asked me to make a second picture, and I chose 'The Pit and the Pendulum.' So I unwittingly got into a cycle of Poe.

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