I must have read Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" at some point, but other than the main bullet point (guy fesses up to murder because he can still hear the heartbeat of his victim) I don't remember anything. I'm pretty sure it didn't involve a creepy loner named Edgar trying to woo his beautiful neighbor. But whatever - this adaptation still pretty much works, even though it has to try a little too hard to stretch the source material to feature length.
Laurence Payne plays Edgar, a librarian leading a mostly solitary life. He's got a big house with a maid, but other than the occasional social visit from his friend Carl, he prefers to be alone. That is, until the beautiful Betty moves in across the street. Edgar is smitten, but doesn't know how to go about getting to know her. He even asks Carl (a dashing, suave ladies man) "How do you talk to a girl?" So he's rather inexperienced, but also a little creepy. He conveniently can see into Betty's window from his bedroom, and follows her around town, only to ask her a question and then vanish. Nerves, I tell you!
Anyways, he eventually stutters his way through an invitation for a date, and Betty accepts. The first date is okay - Edgar's a little awkward, but he's a good listener at least - until the end, where he makes the rookie mistake of trying to force himself on her. (Just for a kiss - it's 1960 after all.) The next day, Edgar apologizes profusely, and despite the fact that the warning bells should be blaring at full volume at this point, Betty goes out with him again. You get the idea that she pities Edgar - or maybe since she just moved into town she doesn't have much to do. Anyways, on this date the couple runs into Edgar's friend Carl, and Betty starts making googly eyes at him almost instantly. This won't end well. Edgar is head-over-heels for Betty and is super clingy (he wants to see Betty every day - even as a viewer it's annoying). Carl warns him it's his first love and not to get too attached, but you know how that goes. Especially in an adaptation of "The Tell-Tale Heart."
So I don't think it really constitutes a spoiler to let you know that Edgar kills someone. While it does take him a long time to get there, the business leading up to it works pretty well. Payne does a good job portraying Edgar as a little unhinged but also just kind of an awkward guy... even though you know things won't go well for the people in his life, you do feel some sympathy for him. His interactions with Betty are alternatively sweet and cringeworthy. Adrienne Corri holds up her end of the bargain as Betty. Because of her covert role (loving Carl and not Edgar), she has to do a lot of acting with her eyes. Given the era, it's not subtle, but it works. It's all pretty obvious where it's going, but this love triangle business passes the time well until you get to the meat of the story.
Horror-wise? Obviously, your expectations are tempered a bit, considering the release date and all, but there's actually a surprising amount of graphic violence... in one scene at least. Might this be one of the first films to show a person handling a removed human heart? Scandalous! But this Tell-Tale Heart gets by on (a) Edgar's awkwardness and the foreboding sense that *something* terrible is going to happen (in the first half), and (b) good direction and atmosphere (in the second half). The heart beating business actually works really well, and director Ernest Morris does a good job getting us to feel Edgar's psychosis in these scenes with liberal uses of close-ups and weird angles.
In my opinion marred only slightly by a cop-out/tacked on ending. Overall, it's a pretty impressive flick (if not unfaithful to the source - the whole "character named Edgar" thing is pushing it), and is another score for the Pure Terror Budget Set. (The presentation is not that good, but above average as far as the set goes.) The Tell-Tale Heart is a little slow, but it's still good. A perfect afternoon watch.
I would recommend this film.
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