A Midnight Dreary

I'm one day ahead, but I couldn't wait any longer.

Tomorrow, January 19, is the 200th birthday of Edgar Allan Poe, inventor of the modern mystery story, whose disappearance and death are as mysterious as anything he himself could ever have written.

I've waded through all sorts of ideas about Poe's death: That it was due to alcohol; that he had contracted rabies; cerebral edema; you name it. Whatever the cause, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Poe would have been delighted to know that he would still be a subject of debate more than 150 years after his death.

A quick look at the IMDb provided an interesting reminder. In 1909, one hundred years ago, and one hundred years after Poe's birth, D.W. Griffith made the short film The Sealed Room, loosely based on Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado". In 1914, Griffith made another Poe-inspired film, the truly creepy The Avenging Conscience. In 1915 came a very loose Poe biography (this one from director Charles Brabin).

The link between these films, besides Poe himself, is that they all starred Henry B. Walthall, who made The Sealed Room the same year he began acting in films. By the time The Raven was filmed, Walthall had left Griffith's stable of actors.

Now that we know - well, most of us, I hope - that Poe was maligned by Griswold well after his death, these bygone looks at his life show how he was viewed by long-gone audiences. Poe's life was tragic enough without being accused of alcoholism and drug abuse, but as Mark Twain so aptly put it, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes."

The Avenging Conscience is my favorite of the Poe-inspired films. Walthall plays a nameless man who is well and firmly under the thumb of his uncle, and experiencing almost unbearable anguish when the domineering old man refuses to allow the nephew to marry the woman he loves (whom Walthall's character calls Annabel; we never know her real name, either). Walthall was the perfect choice to play the sensitive lover, downtrodden nephew, and unwilling criminal in the film. His scenes with a suspicious police officer will have you on the edge of your seat.

It's sad, but true, that the films have not treated Poe well, by and large. Some of the most dreadful schlock has been "based" on his works; very few of these films are worth watching. The silent films I've seen that have been influenced by Poe - especially the three mentioned here - are the best, in my opinion.

Forevermore, Mr. Poe.