The Bells (1918 film)

The Bells

Ad for film
Directed by Ernest C. Warde
Written by Gilson Willets (film scenario)
Jack Cunningham (film scenario)
Based on The Bells
by Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian
Starring Frank Keenan
Lois Wilson
Production
company
Anderson-Brunton Company
Distributed by Pathé Exchange
Release dates
  • September 15, 1918 (1918-09-15)
Running time
 5 reels
Country United States
Language Silent (English intertitles)

The Bells is a lost 1918 American silent drama film released by Pathé Exchange and based on the play, The Bells, by Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian. The play had been a favorite vehicle for actor Henry Irving.

This silent version stars Frank Keenan and Lois Wilson. The story was remade in 1926 as The Bells with Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff.[1][2]

Plot

As reported in a film publication,[3] Mathias, the struggling innkeeper in an Alsatian hamlet, murders a wealthy Jew who comes to spend a night at the inn in order to pay off debts and a mortgage.

The murderer is never discovered, but the season passes into local history as the "Polish Jew's winter." Mathias prospers, and years later his daughter becomes engaged to the captain of the gendarmes. Mathias prepares her dowry, and the sight of the gold coins brings again to his tortured conscience the ever-present sound of the sleigh-bells that heralded the approach of the ill-fated Jewish guest. In his sleep he dreams he is on trial and a hypnotist wrings a confession from him. In an ecstasy of fear he expires in the arms of his wife and daughter, the victim of Heaven's justice.

Cast

Reception

Like many American films of the time, The Bells was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required a cut, in Reel 2, of the two intertitles "The Crossroads, on murder bent" and "The murder in the snow", the theft of money belt, robbing body of money, and the intertitle "Destruction of the body in the lime kiln" and throwing the body into the kiln.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1911-20 by The American Film Institute, c.1988
  2. ↑ Progressive Silent Film List: The Bells at silentera.com
  3. ↑ "The Bells: Pathé Presents the Distinguished Player, Frank Keenan, in a Screen Version of One of the Most Famous Plays of the Speaking Stage". Moving Picture World. New York City: Chalmers Publishing Company. 38 (11): 1253. Dec 14, 1918. Retrieved 2014-02-27.
  4. ↑ "Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors". Exhibitors Herald. New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company. 7 (22): 28. November 23, 1918.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.