In 1953 UPA released a groundbreaking and incredibly executed short animated film version of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart” with art by Paul Julian and a single voice actor, the incomparable James Mason.

This short is absolutely top-notch. I can’t believe that I hadn’t seen it before.

The claustrophobic spookiness is perfection, as is Mason’s voice over in translating Poe’s main character’s intense sense of rationalization of his crime. In short, it’s beautifully creepy and does full justice to Poe’s iconic short story.

One of the few not-for-children shorts produced in they heyday of Disney and Looney Tunes, this film also has the distinction of being the very first to have received an X-rating in the UK at the time of its release. Ahhh how the world has changed.

Hope that you dig this little gem too.