"House of Harrington" is a short documentary about Curtis Harrington, a filmmaker who amassed a short list of very interesting, arty, plodding horror movies throughout the '60s and '70s. Unfortunately, outside factors (bad ad campaigns, dubious distributors, meddling producers, etc.) prevented Harrington from ever having the illustrious film career that he could/should have had.
The documentary features one of Harrington's final interviews in which he reminisces about his early life and fascination with films through his career in Hollywood to his final independently produced short film "Usher." Punctuated with clips from most of his movies (including glimpses of his oft-spoken-of but incredibly rare early shorts "Fall of the House of Usher," "Fragment of Seeking," and "The Wormwood Star") as well as some of the television shows he directed, few of his works are discussed in-depth, it's just sort of an overview of his career.
Yes, "House of Harrington" is sort of fluffy DVD filler, but it was very lovingly made and would be a great introduction to anyone just discovering Harrington's movies. Fans should seek it out for the plentiful rarities (judging from the clips, all of his shorts look amazing, and it's utterly tragic that they've never been commercially released). The documentary hasn't been released on disc yet (it would make a terrific DVD extra for any one of his films), but Automat Pictures has released the entire film on You Tube in four parts.
6 out of 6 found this helpful