The House 47f44

Olive Pegler 4/28/2010 The Fall of the House of Usher There are a few similarities between M-G-M's House of Usher and Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. There are, however, many differences. This is because the story line would need to be lengthened to make the movie. One of the differences is Madeline Usher had left the house. In Poe's story, she, and her brother Roderick, were supposed to be confined to the house of Usher for their entire lives. Also, in the movie, she was engaged to the narrator, or Philip Winthrop. In Poe's story, the narrator was a childhood friend of Roderick. In M-G-M's production, Roderick knew Madeline was alive before he put her into the vault. In Poe's story, he did not know that she was alive for a little while,but became more aware of it as time went on. In the movie, Roderick and Madeline were killed when the house caught on fire and burning walls crushed them. While in Poe's story, Roderick was killed by his sister and the house was swallowed up by earth. There was no fire in Poe's writing. Though the similarities were not many, there were a few. The crack running up and down the house was prevalent throughout both stories. Also, Roderick and Madeline were brother and sister. This was mentioned in both stories; however in Poe's story, they were twins.

M-G-M Productions did a great job creating The Fall of the House of Usher. Since the story was not very long, they had to elaborate and expand certain ideas. Overall, the found ways to bring to life Poe's horrific tale. If I had to choose a story line that I liked better, I would have to say I prefer M-G-M Productions. There was a little more conflict with the characters with the engagement and Philip and Roderick not getting along. But in the end, no movie can take the place of the original classic.