The Death of Poe (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Death of Poe


caption =
director = Mark Redfield
producer = Stuart Voytilla
Mark Redfield
writer = Stuart Voytilla
Mark Redfield
narrator =
starring = Mark Redfield
Kevin G. Shinnick
Jennifer Rouse
Tony Tsendeas
music = Jennifer Rouse
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Alpha Video (DVD)
released = November, 2006
runtime =
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.thedeathofpoe.com/
amg_id = 1:375770
imdb_id = 0430001

"The Death of Poe" is a 2006 independent film that tells the tragic story of the mysterious disappearance and death of the American author Edgar Allan Poe. The film is shot mostly in black-and-white with occasional color sequences.

Plot summary

After a textual montage summarizing Edgar Allan Poe's life, the film begins in late September 1849 with Poe awakening from a hallucination where he is buried alive. He prepares to take a trip to New York City via Baltimore. He discusses his plans to marry his childhood sweetheart Sarah Elmira Royster with a stranger taking the same steamboat, who suggests he meet with a few potential investors for his planned magazine "The Stylus". Though Poe had intended only to pass through, he agrees to meet the investors who, one by one, turn down his request for funding.

Poe is depicted as having memory loss, offering to pay his boat fare twice after forgetting he had already paid. In Baltimore, he more than once forgets the arrangements he has made at his hotel as his stay in the city is extended. One night, he chooses to dine in the tavern rather than at the hotel. There, he meets an old friend from his days at West Point. In desperation, he asks his former classmate and the classmate's companion for money to help start a magazine, saying proudly he has already raised $1000. Poe leaves the tavern to retrieve his prospectus for the magazine. His classmate follows him and beats him to steal the $1000 he had collected.

Poe is then found by organizers of a cooping ring. The author along with several others is forced to multiple polling locations to place multiple votes. A couple victims of the scam die amidst the brutality of their captors.

Poe eventually collapses in the street and is found by a local tavern owner. The man calls for Poe's uncle Henry Herring and Dr. Joseph Snodgrass. The men discuss what to do with the incoherent half-conscious Poe. Snodgrass assumes he is drunk and suggests they let him sleep it off - a theory the film seems to dispute by showing him early in the film denying offered alcohol several times. Herring is more concerned and demands he be taken to Washington College Hospital, despite the expense.

At the hospital, Dr. John Moran tends to Poe, unable to accurately determine his situation. He muses to his wife Mrs. Moran that he does not want to be known as the physician who killed Edgar Allan Poe. Moran denies Poe visitors and his Baltimore cousin Nielson Poe is convinced his cousin is about to die. Poe ultimately does die after one final hallucination or perhaps a flashback where he sees his dead wife Virginia Clemm.

Production

The film was shot on location in Baltimore and Virginia, and at the studios of Redfield Arts [http://www.redfieldarts.com] . Principal photography took place in June and July 2005.

Cast

Distribution

"The Death of Poe" had its world premiere at the Festival of Fantastic Films in Manchester, United Kingdom on September 30, 2006. The U.S. premiere was at Baltimore's Charles Theatre on October 11, 2006.

The film was released on DVD in the United States by Alpha Video on December 5, 2006. Alpha's release also included two rare early films based on Poe's work: "The Avenging Conscience" (1914) (D.W. Griffiths' silent film adaptation of "The Tell-Tale Heart"), "The Raven" (1915), and additional bonus material.

The film was also screened at the Fargo Film Festival in Fargo, North Dakota on March 11, 2007.

Reception

British film journalist M.J. Simpson described the film as "an impressive and imaginative piece of independent film-making, available at a ridiculously low price and thoroughly worth the time, effort and cash of anyone who has ever enjoyed reading (or watching films based on) the words of Edgar Allan Poe." [cite web| url=http://www.mjsimpson.co.uk/reviews/deathofpoe.html | title="The Death of Poe" - MJSimpson.co.uk | accessdate=2007-03-30 ] DVDTOWN.com managing editor James Plath wrote that Redfield's portrayal "really does bring the character to life," however the production "doesn't have the level of acting or script sophistication to make it play in Peoria . . . or anywhere else where Poe isn't revered." [cite web| url=http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/deathofpoethe/4479 | title=DVD review of "The Death of Poe" | accessdate=2007-03-30 ] This sentiment was echoed by "DVD Pub Review", who stated that "Mark Redfield has a lot of talent, but it seems that he tries too hard to do too much." [cite web| url=http://www.joblo.com/arrow/dvd_reviews.php?id=1419 | title=The DVD Pub reviews "Death of Poe"|accessdate=2007-03-30 ] Both Plath and "DVD Pub Review" lauded the extensive bonus material of the DVD release.

References

ee also

*Edgar Allan Poe in popular culture
*Edgar Allan Poe in television and film

External links

* [http://www.thedeathofpoe.com Official website]
* [http://www.oldies.com/product-view/1020D.html Oldies.com/Alpha Video - Additional information about "Death of Poe"]
* [http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=12744 Baltimore City Paper: "What Do You Drink? Mark Redfield's "The Death Of Poe" Imagines The Final Week Leading Up To One Of Charm City's More Infamous Deaths"]
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