The Bells (1926)

Director:

James Young

Writers:

Alexandre Chatrian (play)
Emile Erckmann (play)
(more)

Release Date:

30 July 1926 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror

Plot:

Mathias, an Alsatian innkeeper, murders a rich Pole staying at his inn But Mathias' conscience will not let him rest...

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Based On Play

Cast

Lionel Barrymore	...	Mathias
Caroline Frances Cooke	...	Catharine
Gustav von Seyffertitz	...	Jerome Frantz
Lorimer Johnston	...	Hans
Eddie Phillips	...	Christian (as Edward Phillips)
Lola Todd	...	Annette
Laura La Varnie	...	Fortune teller (as Laura Lavarnie)
Boris Karloff	...	The Mesmerist
E. Alyn Warren	...	Jethro Koweski / Baruch Koweski
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Austin	...	Old man at inn with glasses (uncredited)
John George	...	Mesmerist Announcer (uncredited)
Otto Lederer	...	Clothing peddler (uncredited)

Directed by
James Young

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Alexandre Chatrian		play "Le Juif Polonais"
Emile Erckmann		play "Le Juif Polonais"
Leopold Lewis		stage adaptation
James Young

Produced by
I.E. Chadwick	....	producer

Cinematography by
L. William O'Connell

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Cliff Saum	....	assistant director

Camera and Electrical Department
Perry Harris	....	lighting effects

Other crew
Earl Sibley	....	technical director

Production Companies

• Chadwick Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Chadwick Pictures Corporation (1926) (USA) (theatrical)
• Kino Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Nothing's New Video (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• Passport Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Reelclassicdvd.com (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Grapevine Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• LS Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Video Yesterday (????) (USA) (VHS)

Runtime:

92 min | 68 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

UK:A

Company:

Chadwick Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Immediate inspiration for the Sept. 1926 film seems to have been the April 1926 New York stage adaptation (one of many). On Broadway that April, director Rollo Lloyd also acted the lead role of Mathias (played by Lionel Barrymore's in the film) and Edward Loeffler played the mesmerist (Boris Karloff in the film). J.M. Kerrigan (later seen in a number of John Ford films) on Broadway '26 played Father Walter.

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Burgomeister (1935)

Good photography; mediocre movie

Fits more properly into the category of gothic melodrama than of horror, but lately it has been distributed as horror (perhaps owing to the presence in the supporting cast of the great horror actor Boris Karloff, and to the film's gothic style). It claims to be from an Edgar Allen Poe story, but this concoction of suspicious wives and somnambulists is really little more than a rip-off of Germany's "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (which was perhaps itself a take-off on the venerable, much-abused Poe). Barrymore serves admirably as the film's central character, though he hasn't really learned good film technique yet, making his performance one in the "high theatrical" mode.