''The Witching Hour'' is a 1921 American silent

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

William Desmond Taylor William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner, 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Hollywood motion picture colony of the 1910s and early 1920s, ...

and written by

Julia Crawford Ivers Julia Crawford Ivers (October 3, 1869 – May 8, 1930) was an American motion picture pioneer. Biography Born in Boonville, Missouri, in 1869, her family arrived a year later in Los Angeles. Her father was a dentist. Her mother died in 1876, whe ...

, adapting the 1907 stage play by

Augustus E. Thomas Augustus Thomas (January 8, 1857 – August 12, 1934) was an American playwright. Biography Born in St. Louis, Missouri and son of a doctor, Thomas worked a number of jobs including as a page in the 41st Congress, studying law, and gaining some ...

. The film stars

Elliott Dexter Elliott Dexter (March 29, 1870 – June 21, 1941) was an American film and stage actor. Dexter started his career in vaudeville and did not move to films until he was 45. He retired from acting in 1925. Biography Dexter was born in Galves ...

Winter Hall Winter Hall (21 June 1872 – 10 February 1947) was a New Zealand actor of the silent era who later appeared in sound films. He performed in more than 120 films between 1916 and 1938. Prior to that, he had a career as a stage actor in Austr ...

Ruth Renick Ruth Renick (born Ruth Griffin; September 23, 1893 - May 7, 1984) was an American actress on stage and in films. She made her debut in film in 1919, in a silent film. Her career spanned the shift to "talkies", and Renick had her last role in a ...

, Robert Cain, A. Edward Sutherland,

Mary Alden Mary Maguire Alden (June 18, 1883 – July 2, 1946) was an American motion picture and stage actress. She was one of the first Broadway actresses to work in Hollywood. Life Alden was born in New York City on June 18, 1883. She performed on Br ...

, and F. A. Turner. The film was released on April 10, 1921, 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 ...

. This was one of three times that the 1907 stage play was adapted to film, and according to critic Christopher Workman, was "the least interesting of the three film adaptations". A print of this film currently exists in the Library of Congress. British-born actor A. Edward Sutherland starred in a number of silent films before moving to the United States where he became a director, working on such Hollywood films as ''

Murders in the Zoo ''Murders in the Zoo'' is 1933 pre-Code horror film directed by A. Edward Sutherland, written by Philip Wylie and Seton I. Miller. Particularly dark, even for its time, film critic Leonard Maltin called the film "astonishingly grisly." Plot Bi ...

'' (1932), ''Beyond Tomorrow'' (1940) and ''

The Invisible Woman The Invisible Woman (Susan "Sue" Storm-Richards) is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four and was the first female superhero created by Marvel dur ...

'' (1940).

Plot

Clay Whipple (Sutherland) is convicted of murdering the governor following an incident involving a cat's eye pin. Whipple is sentenced to death, but a mentalist named Psychic Jack (Dexter) believes he is innocent since Whipple had been hypnotized at the time of the murder. The psychic persuades the judge to grant the condemned man a retrial, and he sets out to uncover the identity of the real killer, during which time he manages to prevent a second murder from occurring.

Cast

as Psychic Jack Brookfield *

as Judge Prentice *

as Viola Campbell *Robert Cain as Frank Hardmuth * A. Edward Sutherland as Clay Whipple *

as Helen Whipple * F. A. Turner as Lew Ellinger *

Genevieve Blinn Genevieve Blinn (born Genevieve Clothilde Nannery; June 12, 1874 – July 20, 1956) was a Canadian actress who appeared on stage and in Hollywood silent motion pictures. She was a native of New Brunswick, Canada. Family Genevieve Nannery was t ...

as Mrs. Campbell * Charles West as Tom Denning *

L. M. Wells Louis "L. M." Wells (February 5, 1862 – January 1, 1923) was an American actor of the silent film era. A tall, robust actor who was nicknamed "Daddy," L. M. appeared in 51 films between 1912 and 1922 — many of which were Universal wester ...

as Judge Henderson *

Clarence Geldart Clarence Geldart (June 9, 1867 – May 13, 1935) was an American film actor. He appeared in 127 films between 1915 and 1936. He was sometimes credited as C.H. Geldart or Charles H. Geldart. He was born in New Brunswick, Canada, and died i ...

as Colonel Bailey *Jim Blackwell as Harvey

Preservation status

The film still exists and is preserved at the

Gosfilmofond Gosfilmofond is a state film archive in Russia. It is the main film archive of the Russian Federation and a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF). It is a state cultural institution — curator of films collection and othe ...

Russian state and the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

.''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'', p. 21, c.1978 by The American Film Institute

References

External links

* * 1921 films 1920s English-language films Silent American drama films 1921 drama films Paramount Pictures films Films directed by William Desmond Taylor American black-and-white films American silent feature films 1920s American films {{1920s-silent-drama-film-stub