''Lord Arthur Saville's Crime'' (Hungarian: ''Lidércnyomás'') is a 1920 Hungarian silent

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

directed by Pál Fejös and starring

Ödön Bárdi Ödön Bárdi (5 January 1877, in Pilisborosjenő – 24 June 1958, in Budapest) was a Hungarian actor. Selected filmography * ''A Csodagyerek'' (1920) * ''Lord Arthur Savile's Crime (1920 film), Lord Arthur Savile's Crime'' (1920) * ''It Happe ...

, Lajos Gellért and Margit Lux. It was also released as both ''Mark of the Phantom'' and ''Lidercnyomas''. The film was based on the 1891 short story '' Lord Arthur Savile's Crime'' by

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

. It was one of Pal Fejos' earliest films and is now considered lost. It was photographed by Jozsef Karban. In 1927, director Fejos emigrated to Hollywood where he directed ''The Last Performance'', and later directed '' ''Fantômas'' (1932 film)'' in France in 1932. The Oscar Wilde short story was filmed twice more in Europe during the silent years.... in 1919 as ''Lord Saviles brott'' (a Swedish film directed by Gunnar Klintburg) and again in 1921 as ''Lord Arthur Savile's Crime'' (a French film directed by Rene Hervil).Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 238..

Plot

After being told by a

fortune teller Fortune telling is the spiritual practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115–116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle ...

named Septimus R. Podgers that he is destined to be a murderer, an

aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

named Lord Arthur Saville decides to commit a murder before his impending marriage, so his marriage will not be sullied. He slips his old aunt a poison pill, and she dies, leaving him a huge inheritance. When his fiancé Sybil later finds the poison pill among his deceased aunt's belongings, he realizes he did not murder her after all. After a few more failed attempts to kill someone, he returns to the fortune teller and winds up pushing her into the Thames, where she drowns. He gets away with killing her though, as the police rule her death a suicide. Free at last, he marries Sybil, but learns many years later that the fortune teller he killed had been a total fraud with no powers of prediction whatsoever.

Cast

- Arthur Fayerle * Lajos Gellért - Blecher * Margit Lux * Gusztáv Pártos

References

External links

* 1920 films Hungarian crime films 1920s Hungarian-language films Films directed by Paul Fejos Hungarian black-and-white films Hungarian silent films 1920 crime films {{Hungary-film-stub