''The Face at the Window'' is a 1919 Australian
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
about a master criminal and serial killer sought by the police. It was based on the popular
1897 play that opened to positive reviews and remained a stage hit for three decades.
[Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 206..][Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 92.] The play's success led to its being adapted several times as a film, this Australian production being the first.
It was later remade three times in England...a 1920 film directed by Wilfred Noy, a 1932 film directed by Leslie Hiscott and the 1939 Tod Slaughter production, which is considered the best.
The producer O'Connor played the villain in the film, and the director Villiers also played a major role. The film is today considered lost, and very obscure.
Plot
In Paris, a thief and murderer known as "Le Loup" (actually Lucio Delgrade) hides his identity behind a mask and howls before he kills his victims. He has killed 36 people in all. He kills a caretaker while rifling a safe. Then he stabs a banker, M. de Brison, whose daughter Marie has spurned his advances. Detective Paul Gouffet investigates, and Le Loup kills him. However, the detective is temporarily revived from the dead through a scientific device invented by a mad doctor and his reanimated hand is just able to write the name of Le Loup's real identity. The police go after Le Loup and the arch fiend is shot while trying to escape.
Cast
*D.B. O'Connor as Lucio Delgrade
*
Agnes Dobson
Agnes or Agness may refer to:
People
*Agnes (name), the given name, and a list of people named Agnes or Agness
* Wilfrid Marcel Agnès (1920–2008), Canadian diplomat
Places
* Agnes, Georgia, United States, a ghost town
*Agnes, Missouri, United ...
as Marie de Brison
*Claude Turton as Paul Gouffet
*Gerald Harcourt as Lucien Cortier
*Collet Dobson as M. de Brison
*Charles Villiers as Barbelon
*
Percy Walshe as Dr Le Blanc
*Lulu Vincent as Mother Pinau
*Syd Everett as Barlet
*Millie Carlton as maid
*Charles Beetham as Prefect of Police
*D.L. Dalziel was Detective Drummond
*
Gilbert Emery
Gilbert Emery Bensley Pottle (June 11, 1875 – October 28, 1945), known professionally as Gilbert Emery, was an American actor who appeared in over 80 movies from 1921 to his death in 1945. He was also a playwright, author of seven Broadway pla ...
as caretaker of bank
Production
The movie was one of several based on the popular 1897 stage play. It was shot in the Rushcutters Bay study in March and April 1918. Censors requested the deletion of a scene where a policeman is stabbed by Le Loup.
It was the film debut of popular stage actor Agnes Dobson. She later reprised the role on stage.
Reception
The film was a popular success and was widely seen, but today is regarded as lost.
''Variety'' called it "the rankest kind of melodrama... might do as burlesque."
References
External links
*
Interview with Agnes Dobsonat
National Film and Sound Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Face at the Window (1919 film)
1919 films
Silent Australian drama films
Australian black-and-white films
Australian silent feature films
1919 drama films
1910s English-language films
English-language drama films