Ivan Barnett Movies

Jack Kerouac was the best known and among the most influential writers to come out of the Beat movement of the 1950s, and this feature combines dramatic interpretations of his stories, re-enactments from his life, and documentary footage of interviews with those who knew and worked with him, to paint a new portrait of this enduring literary figure. Director Doug Sharples retraces Kerouac's restless journeys across America (the writer is played by Bill Mabon), visiting places he lived and cities he loved, while Kerouac's professional and private lives are discussed by fellow writers Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Ken Kesey, and Ed Sanders, as well as by Kerouac's first and second wives (Edie Parker and Stella Sampas Kerouac), his daughter Jan Kerouac, and his literary agent Sterling Lord. (Much of the interview footage comes from a 1982 symposium on Kerouac held in Boulder, CO, by the Naropa Institute.) The film also includes excerpts from Kerouac's 1959 appearance on The Steve Allen Show, during which he read passages from On The Road. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Filmed in 1950, this British adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's Fall of the House of Usher made the U.S. art-house rounds in 1952. Essentially an amateur production (though its non-union participants received minimal salaries), Usher is nowhere near as stylish as Jean Epstein's 1929 version or Roger Corman's 1960 remake, though it does have its own austere charm. At 70 minutes, the film is able to tell the familiar story of the accursed Usher family with a minimum of waste footage. Director Ivan Barnett also produced and handled the camera, making up in enthusiasm what he lacks in technique. Gwendoline Watford, the film's ill-fated Lady Usher, later appeared on Broadway in Women of Twilight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide