The Avenging Conscience
Director: D.W. Griffith
Year Released: 1914
Rating: 2.0
A young Poe addict, in love with a dowdy woman, has his marital plans nixed by his domineering, one-eyed uncle, so he dreams up a scenario where he kills said uncle, bricks him up in a wall and experiences intense guilt. Unlike Poe, however, it's all in his head (the skeletons, the phantoms), which puts a damper on the inherently macabre nature of the ghoulish American author's writings ... and is basically a cop-out, ensuring an all-too-perfect ending. One of Griffith's weaker features, it starts off quite slowly and only gets semi-intriguing after the "murder" in question ... and an appearance by the disapproving Messiah.
