Tell-Tale Heart

This 51-minute adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's Tell Tale Heart was a labor of love for co-producer-director Brian Desmond Hurst, who funded the production (his first) from his own far-from-bottomless cash reserves. Norman Dryden stars as the tortured young hero whose hatred for his elderly employer (John Kelt) leads to murder. Hoping to escape detection, Dryden dissects the victim's body and hides it in various parts of Kelt's house. Alas, he is given away by the persistent sound of a heartbeat -- which may be his own conscience, but very well may not. Utilizing barely a dozen lines of dialog, director Hurst tells his story in purely cinematic terms, to excellent effect. Tell Tale Heart was released in the U.S. as Bucket of Blood.