''Suspense'' is a 1913 American silent

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

thriller directed by

Lois Weber Florence Lois Weber (June 13, 1879 – November 13, 1939) was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer and director. She is identified in some historical references as among "the most important and prolific film directors in the e ...

and

Phillips Smalley Wendell Phillips Smalley (August 7, 1865 – May 2, 1939) was an American silent film director and actor. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was the grandson of Wendell Phillips; he was the son of George Washburn Smalley, a war correspon ...

. Weber also wrote the scenario and stars in the film with Valentine Paul. The film features early examples of a

split screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing), dividing graphics into adjacent parts * Split screen (video production), the visible division of the screen * ''Split Screen'' (TV series), 1997–2001 * Split-Screen Level, a bug in the vid ...

shot and a car chase. The

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

lists

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

as having an unconfirmed and uncredited brief role; however, this is disputed by silentera.com, which states "Despite attributions to the contrary, Lon Chaney does not appear in the film." A print of the film is preserved at the film archive of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

. In 2020, it was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...

by the

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as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

A servant leaves a new mother with only a written letter of notice, placing her key under the doormat as she leaves. Her exit attracts the attention of a tramp to the house. As the husband has previously phoned that he is working late, the wife decides not to ring back when she finds the note but does ring back when she sees the tramp. Her husband listens, horrified, as she documents the break-in and then the tramp cuts the line. The husband steals a car and is immediately pursued by the car's owner and the police, who nearly but don't quite manage to jump into the stolen car during a high-speed chase. The husband manages to gain a lead over the police but then accidentally strikes a man smoking in the road and checks to see that he is okay. Meanwhile, the tramp is breaking into the room where the wife has locked herself and her baby, violently thrusting himself through the wood door, carrying a large knife. At that moment the husband arrives, pursued by the police. As the husband runs towards the home, the police fire warning shots into the air, panicking the hobo. He runs down the stairs, to be met by the husband at the front door. After a short struggle, he overpowers the hobo, who is then grabbed by the police. The husband runs upstairs, everything is explained, and all is forgiven as the couple embrace.

Cast

as The Wife * Valentine Paul as The Husband *

Douglas Gerrard Douglas Gerrard (12 August 1891 – 5 June 1950) was an Irish-American actor and film director of the silent and early sound era. He appeared in more than 110 films between 1913 and 1949. He also directed 23 films between 1916 and 1920. H ...

as The Pursuer * Sam Kaufman as The Tramp *

as A Hobo (uncredited/unconfirmed)

Lon Chaney connection

The film has been asserted as Lon Chaney's earliest extant film based on a brief scene in which a similar individual appears on camera. The documentary ''Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces'' states that his film debut occurred after his wife's suicide attempt in April 1913 and that "his earliest films were made at the first studio to open in Hollywood, Nestor." Though well-known Chaney scholar Michael Blake's ''A Thousand Faces: Lon Chaney's Unique Artistry in Motion Pictures'' does note that the possibility exists of Chaney's performing in a role during a period of unemployment in 1912, it also notes that he rejoined

Clarence Kolb Clarence William Kolb (July 31, 1874 – November 25, 1964) was an American vaudeville performer and actor known for his comedy routines that featured a Dutch dialect. Biography Kolb started out as one half of a vaudeville comedy team, Kol ...

and Max Dill's company in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, in September 1912. Blake specifically dismisses Chaney's appearance in ''Suspense'' in his book ''A Thousand Faces: Lon Chaney's Unique Artistry in Motion Pictures''. Chaney website creator Jon C. Mirsalis originally attributed the appearance of the hobo who is struck by a car to Chaney but, after examining a high-resolution digital scan frame by frame, has recanted his earlier claim and now concedes that the individual is not Chaney.

Release

''Suspense'' was released on July 6, 1913 by the

Rex Motion Picture Company Rex Motion Picture Company was an early film production company in the United States. History After Edwin S. Porter's short-lived ''Defender Film Company'' failed, The Rex Motion Picture Company was established by Edwin S. Porter, Joseph Engel, a ...

. A print of the film is preserved at the film archive of the

. It was released on DVD/Blu-ray in 2018 in a box set called "Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers", with a new score by composer Skylar Nam.

References

External links