''The Dark Mirror'' is a 1920 American silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

and horror film directed by

Charles Giblyn Charles Giblyn (September 6, 1871 – March 14, 1934) was an American film director and actor of the silent era. He directed nearly 100 films between 1912 and 1927. He also appeared in 23 films between 1914 and 1934. He was one of the foun ...

and written by E. Magnus Ingleton, based upon the story of the same name by

Louis Joseph Vance Louis Joseph Vance (September 19, 1879 – December 16, 1933) was an American novelist, screenwriter and film producer. He created the popular character Michael Lanyard, a criminal-turned-detective known as The Lone Wolf. Biography Louis Jo ...

. The film stars

Dorothy Dalton Dorothy Dalton (September 22, 1893 – April 13, 1972) was an American silent film actress and stage personality who worked her way from a stock company to a movie career. Beginning in 1910, Dalton was a player in stock companies in Chicago; Te ...

in a dual role,

Huntley Gordon Huntley Ashworth Gordon (October 8, 1879 – December 7, 1956) was a Canadian actor who began his career in the Silent Film era. Profile Gordon was born in Montreal, Quebec, educated in both Canada and England. He had various jobs including w ...

, Walter D. Nealand, Jessie Arnold, Lucille Carney, Pedro de Cordoba, and Donald MacPherson. The film was released on May 9, 1920, by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. It is listed as ''Jericho'' in some film reference guides. The film survives.

Plot

As described in a

film magazine Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...

, New York society member Priscilla Maine (Dalton) is troubled by strange dreams in which she vividly sees members of the underworld involved in a murder. She confides this to her admirer, Dr. Philip Fosdick (Gordon), who undertakes to solve the mystery. As if to make her dreams come true, a gang of thugs mistakes her for Nora, a belle of the Bowery, and kidnaps her. Nora (Dalton) is known to be gangster Red Carnahan's (Nealand) girl, but is loved by the Spaniard, Mario Gonzales (de Cordoba). Mario rescues Nora from Red's clutches, marries her, and brings her to New Jersey. Red and his gang search for them, and when Red discovers the real Nora, he drowns her. Priscilla is rescued by Mario, who thinks she is his wife Nora, not realizing that Nora has been murdered. Dr. Fosdick is attempting to explain the true circumstances to Mario at his New Jersey retreat when Priscilla looks out the window and sees Red Carnahan on the shore of a nearby lake. She rushes out just as Red is drawing a woman's dead body from the water. Red is horrified to see Priscilla, an exact counterpart of the dead Nora, and drowns himself in superstitious terror. It turns out that Priscilla's father had married a gypsy woman with whom he had two twin daughters, Nora and Priscilla, and Nora was taken away by the gypsy when she ran away one day. The mystery resolved, Priscilla consents to wed Dr. Fosdick.

Cast

as Priscilla Maine / Nora O'Moore *

as Dr. Philip Fosdick *Walter D. Nealand as Red Carnahan *

Jessie Arnold Jessie Arnold (December 3, 1884 – May 5, 1955) was an American character and film actress. She was a character actress who appeared in more than 150 films from silent shorts to the early 1950s. She starred in the 1916 film ''Cross Purposes'' dir ...

as Inez *Lucille Carney as Addy * Pedro de Cordoba as Mario Gonzales *Donald MacPherson as The Nut *Bert Starkey as Charlie the Coke

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Mirror, The 1920 films 1920s English-language films Silent American drama films 1920 drama films Paramount Pictures films Films directed by Charles Giblyn American black-and-white films American silent feature films 1920s American films