Suspense (1913)

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Movie
German title Suspense
Original title Suspense
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1913
length 11 minutes
Rod
Director Lois Weber ,
Phillips Smalley
script Lois Weber
production Rex Motion Picture Company
occupation

Suspense is an American short film - thriller from 1913. The one-act silent film was directed by the couple's Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley . It is an early example of the use of split-screen technology in American films .

action

The housekeeper Mamie leaves a young mother's house secretly and without prior notice. On a piece of paper in the kitchen she leaves a short written message that one cannot stay in such a secluded place and that she leaves the key to the back door under the doormat. When they leave the house, which is in a desert, a tramp takes notice of them. He immediately turns to the house.

The man phones his wife to tell her that he will be home from work later. At the same time, the tramp inspects the house from the outside. After the phone call, the woman discovers the housekeeper’s message. She briefly considers calling her husband back about it, but turns back to her baby, closes the windows and doors and takes the little one upstairs in the house. The tramp, who had already seen the woman with the child looking through the first floor window, sneaks to the back door. There the woman notices him and their eyes meet as she looks down from the window. She immediately calls her husband back while the tramp takes the key from under the doormat. She tells her husband that the tramp is just breaking into the kitchen. He cuts the telephone cable.

The man storms out of his office building, jumps into the vehicle parked in front of the house and speeds away. Its driver, who had just got out of the car to light a cigarette behind the car, calls police officers to stop another car with a driver. Together with this they take up the pursuit of the car thief. The tramp is meanwhile in the kitchen of the house on open sandwiches. The woman upstairs locks the door and pushes a mirrored dresser in front of it.

On the way to his wife, the man knocks down another tramp. His pursuers approach and can almost reach the stolen car. Meanwhile, the tramp walks through the house upstairs armed with a kitchen knife. He hits the door. The woman is crying with her baby in her arms.

The man reaches the property, jumps out of the still moving car and runs to the house. The tramp has now gained access to the room in which the woman was holed up. Immediately after the man, the pursuers arrive and the police shoot him. The shots stop the tramp from attacking and turn back. He runs into the man on the stairs in the house and is overwhelmed in a scramble. The police officers who join him take over. The man takes his wife and baby in his arms and the one who has been robbed of his car recognizes the background of the situation and refrains from further help from the police.

Remarks

Lois Weber wrote the script - allegedly based on the play Au téléphone by André de Lorde , which was filmed in 1909 under the title The Lonely Villa by David Wark Griffith . The film produced by the Rex Motion Picture Company was distributed by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company on July 6, 1913 .

Although named by the IMDb as the alleged actor of a hobo , Lon Chaney cannot be verified in the film.

Suspense was shown on arte on March 8, 2018 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://programm.ard.de/TV/Themenschwerpunkte/Film/Kurzfilm/Startseite/?sendung=28724543593307
  2. ^ Moving Picture News (Jan-Jun 1913) (Jan-Jun 1913) . Cinematograph Publishing Company. S. 868, 1913. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  3. ↑ Blake, Michael: A Thousand Faces: Lon Chaney's Unique Artistry in Motion Pictures . Vestal Press. Pp. 18-30. 1997. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  4. ↑ https://programm.ard.de/TV/Themenschwerpunkte/Film/Kurzfilm/Startseite/?sendung=28724543593307