THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO (1954)
Article 3617 by Dave Sindelar

Viewing Date: 6-25-2011

Posting Date: 7-10-2011

Directed by Nathan Zucker

Featuring Monty Woolley, Shepperd Strudwick, Caren Preiss

Country: USA

What it is: TV adaptation of Poe story

A man hatches a plot do take vengeance on a rival during Mardi Gras.

This came on to my list as a movie, but I’m not sure it was ever released as such. It was an episode of an obscure TV show called “On Stage with Monty Woolley”, and it runs just about twelve minutes long. You know it’s a bare bones treatment when you don’t see any of the bricks or mortar for the final sequence of the story; it does this more through lighting, sound effects and suggestion. Monty Woolley is obviously having the time of his life as Montresor, and even though it feels a bit stagebound, it’s done with a certain creativity and efficiency. This one is rescued from my “Ones that got away” list, though I notice there’s still no listing on IMDB for it, neither the TV series or this specific episode.