The Bells (1918 film)

The Bells

Ad for film
Directed by Ernest C. Warde
Produced by Anderson-Brunton Company
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
Distributed by Pathé Exchange
Release dates
  • September 15, 1918
Running time
 5 reels
Country USA
Language Silent

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 gedarmes. 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

References

  1. ↑ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1911-20 by The American Film Institute, c.1988
  2. ↑ The Bells at SilentEra
  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.

External links