The Avenging Conscience
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (March 2017) |
The Avenging Conscience | |
---|---|
Directed by | D.W. Griffith |
Written by | D.W. Griffith |
Produced by | D.W. Griffith |
Starring | Henry B. Walthall Blanche Sweet Spottiswoode Aitken |
Cinematography | G.W. Bitzer |
Edited by | James Smith Rose Smith |
Music by | S. L. Rothapfel |
Production company | Majestic Motion Picture Company |
Distributed by | Mutual Film Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 78 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | Silent English intertitles |
The Avenging Conscience: or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is a 1914 silent horror film directed by D.W. Griffith.[1] The film is based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" and the poem "Annabel Lee".
Plot
A young man (Henry B. Walthall) falls in love with a beautiful woman (Blanche Sweet), but is prevented by his uncle (Spottiswoode Aitken) from pursuing her. Tormented by visions of death and suffering and deciding that murder is the way of things, the young man kills his uncle and builds a wall to hide the body.
The young man's torment continues, this time caused by guilt over murdering his uncle, and he becomes sensitive to slight noises, like the tapping of a shoe or the crying of a bird. The ghost of his uncle begins appearing to him and, as he gradually loses his grip on reality, the police figure out what he has done and chase him down. In the ending sequence, we learn that the experience was all a dream and that his uncle is really alive.
Cast
- Henry B. Walthall as the nephew
- Blanche Sweet as his sweetheart
- Spottiswoode Aitken as the uncle
- George Siegmann as the Italian
- Ralph Lewis as the detective
- Mae Marsh as the maid
- Robert Harron as the grocery boy
- George Beranger
- Wallace Reid - the doctor
References
- ^ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Avenging Conscience". Silent Era. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
External links
- The Avenging Conscience at IMDb
- The Avenging Conscience is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- 1914 films
- 1910s horror films
- Films directed by D. W. Griffith
- 1910s drama films
- American black-and-white films
- Films based on The Tell-Tale Heart
- American silent feature films
- American films
- American drama films
- Films based on multiple works
- Films based on poems
- American horror films
- Pre-1960 horror film stubs
- 1910s film stubs