Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado

Gr 9 Up—This interpretation of "The Cask of Amontillado" closely follows the text of Poe's classic short story. Montresor hatches a plan to exact revenge on Fortunato, who has insulted him one too many times. With the promise of a cask of Amontillado wine, Montresor lures Fortunato into the catacomb beneath his home and chains him within a crypt. As each tier of a wall of bricks is laid, Fortunato grows more desperate to escape, but Montresor will not be swayed. In a variation from the original tale, the video production is framed by an elderly Montresor revealing Fortunato's tomb to his grown son. The action unfolds as a flashback, with Montresor's voice-over narration. Most of the text comes directly from Poe's tale. The video represents Montresor as a dapper young man with a dark gleam in his eye, and Fortunato as a florid jester whose desire for the Amontillado renders him blind to the weirdness of the descent into the crypt. Most of the action takes place in the appropriately dank and dreary catacomb, and the acting is somewhat exaggerated. Some terms may be unfamiliar to teen viewers, such as references to freemasons and the "nitre" on the passage walls. A copy of the original story; a lesson plan; and worksheets on artistic license, foreshadowing, irony, and revenge are included in pdf format on the DVD. The packaging is a bit sloppy: "Monstressor" is misspelled on the DVD jacket blurb, and the DVD-ROM "workshteets" are mislabeled. Overall, though, this effective adaptation of Poe's classic disturbs as it entertains and can be used effectively in classroom situations.—Amy Pickett, Ridley High School, Folsom, PA