Mention Roger Corman's 1962 "Tales of Terror" and you immediately think of Vincent Price teaming up with Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone. But for me this film owes as much to writer Richard Matheson, who adapted four Poe stories into three film vignettes. "Morella" is another one of those dark family secret stories. The title character (Leona Gage) had died in childbirth 26 years before, cursing her baby daughter. When Leonora (Maggie Pierce) comes home suffering from a fatal disease, she discovers her father Locke (Price) has been keeping mom's mummified corpse in his bedroom. "The Black Cat" also works in elements of Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado." Montressor Herringbone (Lorre) finds out his wfie Annabel (Joyce Jameson) is having an affair with Fortunato Lucresi (Price), a rather foppish wine connoisseur. Unexpectedly funny because of the comic performances of the two stars, the story is this sequence inspired Corman to make "The Raven." Finally, "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," an elderly man (Vindent) whose dying days have been eased in part because of a hypnotist, Carmichael (Rathbone), whos wants to hypnotize Valdemar at the moment of death. The experiemnt succeeds, after a fashion, but Carmichael refuses to release Valdemar until his wife Helene (Debra Paget) agrees to marry him.

"Tales of Terror" is noteworthy for two particular impacts it had on horror films. The first was the emergence of anthology films that followed in its wake, such as "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" and "Black Sabbath." The second was the revival of interest in former movie stars at American International, which would soon add Boris Karloff to their roster. The stand out segment of this film is certainly "The Black Cat," with Lorre and Price showing marvelous comic timing. Lorre takes such perverse glee in walling up his wife and Price, plus there is nothing like the macabre politeness of movie villains . There is something transcendent about watching these old Hollywood pros have fun with taking these roles so seriously, so to speak.

Vincent Price stars in three shorts all based on Edgar Allen Poe stories. This was the first of the Roger Corman - Poe films I ever saw and it left an impact on me. Morella is the opening story and I feel it is the best and the one that is most like the rest of Corman's Poe films. Price is good at riding on the edge insanity while livng in a cob web covered house with his dead wife louning in a back room waiting to rise. Peter Lorre shows up in the Black Cat which is a combination of that story and the Cask of Amontillado. This entry is one of those horror - comedies that is very similiar to Corman's Raven. Price and Lorre both have some fine moments in this film including the dream sequence where Lorre's head is being tossed around like a ball. The Case of M.Valdemar comes last and this one has Basil Rathbone doing scientific experiments with Vincent Price with the expected ghastly results. Price has to were some gooey make-up in this one that was hot when they put it on. Price does great at playing a victim in these three different stories and there are some good people in the supporting cast. This one has the standards you expect in one of Corman's - Poe films, we have castles, corpses and killings.

Being a fan of Vincent Price and Peter Lorre for that matter, this was just priceless (no pun intended). Aside from Peter Lorre not aging well at all, this just makes his "tale" all the more realistic.
The first tale is called Morella where Vincent Price blames his visiting daughter for the death of his wife. Yet there is a twist to the story regarding the daughter. Really well done.

The second tale is The Black Cat with Peter Lorre as the main character here in one of the best parts I've seen him play.
He puts pathetic, mean and humorous into one role and is hysterical doing the classic wine testing scene with Vincent Price. I was truly laughing out loud. The facial expressions that Price has in this one when acting with Lorre are worth this DVD alone.

The third and last tale is the scariest in my view. It is called the Case of M. Valdemar where Basil Rathbone plays a man who tries to gain control over a dying Vincent Price. This is a pretty scary one, and Rathbone completes his role nicely.

The ladies in these tales (Maggie Pierce, Joyce Jameson and Debra Paget) are all absolutely stunning. You just can't compare the beauty of that day with today.

Get this DVD, especially if you like Price and Lorre....not to mention Poe. I promise you it is something you will watch over and over again.

THIS BOOK IS VERY GOOD AND KEPT MY INTEREST THROUGH OUT THE WHOLE TIME I READ IT.

This story was disjointed, abstract, distrubing and confusing to the point that it hurt my head... yet I want to read it again. Although I'm not sure I understood everthing that happened, you get so caught up in the the agony of the characters insanity, one must read on to try to make sense of it. This is a book that you will read over and over to try and understand and just when you think you've got it... you will have doubt enough to read it once again!

This book is very good it is about children deserted on an inhabited island.It is all about jealousy,leadership and hate.
It is good because it is quite scary and when they go crazy they go crazy. The ending ! marvelous i haven't seen a better book yet wich has a better ending than this book.I also think that it would be quite fun being deserted on an island but when you read this book you won't want to be left on an island ever.

It has a nice set-up and it looks classy on a bookshelf, but all-in-all, it's just like any other collections book.

Poe is a creator of genders in literature, his importance to the development of the urban tales must be considered and, indeed, a book with his complete works must be surelly a jewel to be enjoyed.

Within The Tale-Tale Heart, a disfigured old man becomes the object of the narrator's wrath. With precision the narrator sneaks into the old man's home and kills him because of a grotesque eye that has obsessed the narrator. Through the narrator's actions, Poe destroys "the external universe as usually perceived and eradicates the barriers erected by time, space and self. With the destruction of the reasoned world, the world of the imagination can take over [allowing] Poe to confuse sight and sound, sight and smell, fire and water, life and death, and the various other elements which man's reason keeps apart or regars as polarities" (Ketterer 28). Through the narrator's slow creeping motion into the old man's room (which lasts hours), Poe is able to not only alter reality, but also our concept of time.

As in The Black Cat, the narrator in this story also leads the police to the body. However, it is not an outside force that leads to his capture, it is his own mental state. "In the conclusion of the story, the ringing in the madman's ears first is fancied, then later becomes distinct, then is discovered to be so definite that it is erroneously accorded external actuality, and finally grows to such obsessive proportions that it drives the criminal into an emotional and physical frenzy" (Howarth 97). The beating of the old man's heart that the narrator hears in his mind is an distortion of his reality. The man's heart is not actually beating, but the narrator is convinced that he hears the sound because Poe has created a sound illusion. Reality and illusion in this story merge to create a new world where anything is possible, even the beating of a dead man's heart.

The Tell Tale of Heart by Edgar Allen Poe wrote about a mad man who killed someone, Eventually tells on himself. This man is known to be crazy. Every night he goes in a room and watches the man with the evil eye. Until one night he decides to kill him. The mad man thinks the evil eye is after him. This book would be of interest to middle school level to adults. I loved his vivid details and use of vocabulary. This story is one of many stories I loved of Edgar Allen Poe. His twisted mind makes many of his works enjoyable. I recommend this book to many people.

It was a very good book. It is about the narrator who is convienced that this old man's eye is evil and it is going after him. His compulsive disoder takes him to go and see the eye every night. Until one night he goes to see it and the old man is up. The mad man shines the light in his wide open eye. the man kills the poor old man and does unmetionable things to him. The police finally get there and question him. To convience them that he is inocent he invites them in for tea. While sitting down he starts getting insane and hears his heart beating, but he thinks it is the old mans. He finally fesses and is sentenced to death.

The Cask of Amontillado is a well written story, but can be hard to read because of the outdated language the narrator uses. The plot is carefully thought out, but again can be hard to pick up on or comprehend. Poe writes this story along the basic story line of many of his other books. The story of a man who gets away with murder is definately one of Poe's favorite tales. If you are fond of strange stories or stories about strange people this book will probably wind up somewhere on your top ten list

This is Classic Poe... It was a required reading for me in school but after I read it I was compelled to re-read it. This story captivates the reader, while forcing you to ask, Why? Poe never really gets into the insult that occurred, but it is obivious that Poe is the master of Payback. He takes one of his greatest fears, being buried alive and transcends it into this story. What I find fascinating it the extent that he is willing to go to exact his revenge. Not only is his enemy buried alive, but he knows the person who has committed this endeavor

E.A. Poe's work in "The Cask of Amontillado" is either hated or loved very much. To most people they miss the entire point of this story. One of only few stories, such as "Animal Farm" by G. Orwell, if you read it over again, and again, you gain more insist of what is really happening. The most missed part, and exciting is the ending. When the question is answered. Why is Montressor telling this story? Poe sends your mind not only thru the endeavors of a premeditated revenge but also transcends time at the end. I suggest after reading it, read the very last paragraph, sentence by sentence, in its own entirety so you can grasp the power of the story.

I thought that the Man Who Was Poe was thrilling and mysterious. It scared me when I read it at night sometimes.I gave this book 4 stars and not 5 because it confused me sometimes, like the way Poe reacted in the book. At first he was Dupin and then when he wrote he turned into Poe. In his book he also wanted Sis to die and that made me confused because I thought he wanted to help Edmund find Sis! Besides that, I thought this book was really good and Avi is an excellent writer.

The man who was poe is a fantastic, mysterious, suspenseful, and is a bonechilling story. It has some murder in it but that's what makes it so terrifying, as it should be, because all stories are about or by Edgar A. Poe are meant to not want to be alone or be in the dark. It's just the storie's nature. If you the reader enjoy solving mysteries you should take a look at this book, because at the beggining everything is a mystery including the characters, only until you actually get to know them by reading about their tragic conflicts and who they really are, then you can know who you can really trust. Solving the mystery is only half the fun of reading ''The man who was poe.'' I gave this book five stars and I think you should be able to add more stars because I want to add more! Well... atleast I gave it the max. This book is about Edgar A. Poe and how he helps Edmund find his loved ones. Both characters evolve throughout the story and wind up not seeing each other ever again, Edmund found out that Mr.Poe was only helping him, because he wanted to make a story out of Edmund's worries and problems. But at last Edmund infuriates and dismantles Mr.Poe's story and Mr.Poe just gives up on writting his story. What is also fantastic about this book is that it is also educational, because at the end of all the chapters there is a section on Edgar A. Poe's life and I found it satisfying to know more than I already know. I recommend this book to anyone that can handle a little murder, but even though it gave me goosebumps I loved reading this book and I think it is the best book I have read in a while. I'm just saying that if you want to read a good book for fun, book reports, or any other project I recommend ''The man who was poe'', because I assure you it will keep you on the edge of your seat and wanting to learn more about the story.

The reason why I rated this book this way is because this is the kind of stuff I like to read. I like the books of suspenseful story of murder, dark deeds and diappearance. I don't usually read books, but when I was in 7th grade I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. Since 7th grade I have been doing this book, as a report for four years. The real reason why I read this is because I like to read Edger Allen Poe books. I told my teacher that I liked Edger Allen Poe and he suggested that I should read The Man Who Was Poe. Thats how I got started on this book. This book kept me in my seat every second.

Dobson has written a great book here. Her style is very readable and very likeable. Troublesome aspects for me seem to be exactly what others are praising; it seems that the only thing English professors talk about is literature and literary theory in this novel, and they are constantly vying for power and/or fame. Granted, literature specialists have their own specialties and theories, but I doubt there would be a lot of shouting matches over feminism vs. Puritanism in a department meeting. It's also somewhat odd that little Enfeld College deals with so many murders, break-ins, and so forth. Additionally, if you have any respect for Edgar Allan Poe, I suggest you stay away. Although Dobson's afterword makes note that her claims are purely fictitious, it's hard to read a book that accuses my favorite author of plagiarizing his most famous poem and committing murder to get away with it. Still, it was a likeable book and was very refreshing compared to other books I've read recently.

Karen is an assistant professor of English in a small but prestigious New England college. Her colleague is a pompous blowhard with more of a reputation than he deserves, an ever-growing ego, and a lust for a prestigious position in the department, the Palaver Chair. Karen has other problems. Her daughter Amanda is trying to find out her roots. Her exboyfriend has gotten married, and she is in charge of a soon to be very important book collection. A box has arrived containing the writings and other materials of a poet Emmeline Foster, rumored to have killed herself over Edgar Allan Poe. A small volume of poetry disappears followed by the poet's journals. Then, her colleague Elliot ends up dead and the homicide detective wants her help. In her spare time maybe!

I really enjoyed this novel. The characters were interesting and the mystery was difficult to solve. I sort of knew who did it, but the author's red herrings made me doubt my conclusions. I am going to look up the rest of this series.

This was the first book in Joanne Dobson's series that I had read and it did not disappoint at all. I did not feel as though I were thrown in the middle of a series nor did I feel as though Joanne had to repeat everything for her first time readers - her writing skills are deft and strong as are her characters.

I love bibliomysteries and there is nothing better than one that focuses on EA Poe! The plot was very interesting, Karen Pelletier, an English professor at a small college in Mass. with a knack for solving literary crimes, is in the midst of a tough semester. She is battling the nasty weather, whiny students and other professors who would like to take over a large grant that she was bequeathed for a new study center when she receives a box filled with papers on an important and yet mostly forgotten poet, Emmeline Foster, who had an important link to Poe.

When some of the papers go missing and one of the college's most disliked professors is murdered - Karen is called in to help. Emmeline Foster's death in the 1840's was never really put to rest and Joanne manages to weave both deaths into an interesting and intriguing tale. Can Karen solve a murder, find the lost papers, find a missing student and still enjoy the holiday break?

I most enjoyed Karen's relationship with Lt. Piotrowski, a Detective that she has crossed paths with in Dobson's past two novels. I can't wait to see what develops between them. All in all, I was engrossed in the plot and could not put this book down. The story had me so fascinated - I could not wait to start researching Emmeline Foster and her work - but was amazed to discover that she was a fictitious character - that is how well written this book is.

This book of short stories and poems by Edgar Allan poe is very confusing. I would only suggest this book to an adult of teenager with an extremely wide vocabulary. I'm in middle school and I didn't really undrestand some of the stories. If you are into bazzar and weird things then this is the book for you. don't get me wrong Edgar Allan Poe is an awsome writer but the book is a little confusing. Be sure to make the right choice on this book.

Lately I have been interested in the psychological state of socio-paths. In undertaking this study I was recommended "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor and "Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. I would not agree with my friends thinking that Edgar Allan Poe's writing entail a socio-pathic behavior; as quite contrary the aggressor is faced with immense guilt and contemplating the actions taken; in the end confessing to the crime.

In this collection of very short stories which manifest them in tales of dark horror; Allan I believe is suggesting that human nature is a delicate balance of light and dark or good and evil. Most of the time this precarious balance is maintained; however, when there is a shift, for whatever reason, the dark or perverse side surfaces. How and why this "dark side" emerges differs from person to person.

Ive read this book in one of my classes at school. I would suggest it to anyone that has a wider vocabulary. Basically its about a man, the narrator, who has an obsession with another man's eye. The eye resembles that of a vulture's or in simpler terms it has a glazed look to it. The eye drives the narrator crazy. After many nights of waiting he finally gets the chance to kill him. He hides the body underneath the floorboards in the house. When the police investigate the narrator believes that he can hear the beating of the heart underneath the floor. He is sure the police can hear it to. It ocercomes him, and since he is so sure that they hear it, he confesses. When in all reality, it is his own guilt which leads him to confess... But thats a reader's digest version. :)

againandagainandagain. it gets almost interesting. lovecraft's scientific story ending up with nothing much of a climax, Poe drowning in nautical technical information and fragmentary style. taine's is the most interesting one. first too little happens, then too much. could have been good, but is first too boring then too much in the overwhelming action-genre. glasby has good descriptions, but his story doesn't go anywhere. some of the other stories could have been good too. but always, something destroys. too boring, not going anywhere, lacks suspence. truly sad since many of the stories shows potential.

An excellent collection of short to medium length stories, all dealing with Antarctic expeditions and what the adventurers found (but wish they hadn't).

I only gave this book three stars because of the horrible proof-reading. It appeared as if the original documents had been scanned in and run through OCR software without a human bothering to check the results. Some examples: in one story, Tekeli-li is printed T>k>li-li; in one story all instances of "he" are printed as "be".

Other than that, I would recommend this collection to anyone interested in weird fiction set in Antarctica.

From the ends of the Earth come stories of adventure and really BAD things. Start off with a sonnet by Lovecraft himself, called, 'Antarktos', then on to the first course with 'The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket' by Edgar Allan Poe, with a follw-up of excerpts by Jules Vern's called 'The Sphinx of the Ice Fields'. This is followed by the not-so-well-known 'The Greatest Adventure' by John Taine. 'At The Mountains of Maddness' by H.P. Lovecraft is served next, the main course, followed by 'The Tomb of the Old Ones' by Colin Wilson. Arthur C. Clarke cooks up a fine story in 'At the Mountains of Murkiness' and what meal would be complete without 'The Thing From Another World' by John W. Campbell Jr.? We finish off our fine dining with 'The Brooding City' by John S. Glasby and 'The Dreaming City' by Roger Johnson. Full yet?

First and foremost: John Evangelist Walsh does not write well. He loves the skewed sentence and frail subject-verb current, the vague reference and imprecise noun. He also occasionally boasts of his investigatory prowess and belittles other critics for their blindness. But the reason for all this stylistic lameness becomes clear in the second half of MIDNIGHT DREARY; he is hamstrung by the lameness of his thesis, which is that Sarah Royster's brothers followed Poe around,force-fed him whisky and beat him to the verge of death to protect her from this womanizing drunkard.
The mysteries of Poe's whereabouts during his last days and why he was found delirious and battered in someone else's clothes in a Baltimore public house have long intrigued readers, and Walsh begins with some reasonable mustering of the known (and even the less accessible) evidence. He brings to light some documents often dismissed in the case and builds upon them, but when the avaiable information thins out, Walsh fills in with fiction, a dramatic tale which is distinguished by neither its presentation of characters nor its vividness.
If Walsh had set out to write an entertaining fancy, he might have succeeded, though it's difficult to believe his writing would have been less tortured. Had he contented himself to gather and display the evidence, both the popular documents and the more obscure ones, he might have performed a service, for the mystery of Poe's death is not fully solved by the common assumption of election press gangs and "cooping" of indigents to vote them over and over. But he has chosen to claim high drama and earth-shaking discovery.
The result has more in common with evangelism than scholarship. Walsh has a theory to sell, and he will say anything to convince the reader who is unfamiliar with the biographies. He combines the arbitrary and the desperately speculative into a net that cannot hold even the smallest fish. Even if Silverman's MOURNFUL AND NEVER-ENDING REMEMBRANCE is not the last word, compared to it, MIDNIGHT DREARY is an entertaining footnote.

I found this in the True Crime Section and expected an interesting read. I never found it. What I received instead was a detailed description of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe leading up to, what I thought would be an interesting and definitive conclusion, nothing. The book just leaves the reader to swallow the author's boring hypothesis. This is a case where the truth is NOT stranger than fiction (at least in this presentation).

I just finished this compelling book here on a sultry Saturday afternoon in August; nothing could have been better. Knowing very little of literary matters or much about E.A. Poe (except The Raven and Annibel Lee in 9th grade), I found this book to be riveting. I had not known of the mystery of his death or any of the theories pertaining to it. But having worked most of my life in mental health as a professional, I found myself more and more, as I sped through the book, asking myself whether this man might have been suffering from mental illness, certainly alcoholism as we know it today. The experiences and symptoms described of Poe by Walsh appear as classic examples of Bipolar Disorder or an agitated Major Depression with psychotic (paranoid) features. People who don't take their medication and who suffer from Major Mental Illness may often be "dually diagnosed" with substance abuse perhaps to self-medicate. The absence of real, tangible evidence in history to support the hypothesis that Poe was followed by Elmira's vindictive brothers during an agitated lost 5 days along the Eastern Seaboard, contributed to my obsessing about the possibility that just maybe Poe suffered from an agitated psychotic depression and had landed in Baltimore that October, 1849 having succumbed to alcohol poisoning. What a fabulous tale, but the sad mystery remains. And what a sad event for American history. And, oh, by the way, I found Walsh's writing to flow like a bounding river.