La Chute de la Maison Usher

BL!NDMAN is once more showing its innovative side in the live accompaniment of a classic the silent film. After accompaniments of the Japanese avant-garde film Kurutta Ippeiji by Teinosuke Kinugasa and Buster Keatons comedy Steamboat Bill Junior, Eric Sleichim was guided by horror as central idea to close this triptych. On the stifling images of Epsteins masterpiece, Eric Sleichim wrote a 3-D soundtrack for alto saxophone, generating electronic effects. Parallel with the freakish hallucinations of the main character Roderick, he moulds the sound of his saxophone until one barely recognises the instrument.

The intense dialogue between musician and image submerges the public thus completely in the eccentric world of Edgar Allan Poe. On the stifling images of Epsteins masterpiece, Eric Sleichim wrote a 3-D soundtrack for alto saxophone, generating electronic effects. Parallel with the freakish hallucinations of the main character Roderick, he moulds the sound of his saxophone until one barely recognises the instrument. The intense dialogue between musician and image submerges the public thus completely in the eccentric world of Edgar Allan Poe.

This poetic horror film is one of the best examples of Epstein’s work. Based on different stories of Edgar Allan Poe it contains a compelling quality of atmosphere. In this film Jean Epstein gave a full range to his cinematic theories and rich avant-garde techniques. Using Poe’s stories as a starting point he created a highly stylised and personal work, – a distinct cinematic achievement. This film is marked by the intelligent use of various film devices, a sensitive and precise editing, a strong and calculated rhythm of movement, and an imaginative poetry. Very few other film directors have had such a cultivated sense for the image and for what Epstein himself called the ‘photogenie du Mouvement’.