After an animators strike against the Walt Disney Studios in 1941, several artists with untraditional ideas brought their talents to a series of unique cartoon features for the United Productions of America, (UPA).

UPA's production of Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart was released in 1953.
The narrator was voiced by James Mason who read an original adaptation of Poe's short story. The film was highly acclaimed, though in England it was rated "X" as too intense for children.