Mortmain (film)
Mortmain is a five-part 1915 Vitagraph mystery drama film, directed bye Theodore Marston.[1] Reviewer Lynde Denig said it was a mystery drama with a scientific background that "comes pretty close to being a model of motion picture craftsmanship." The film was adapted from a story by Arthur Train.[2][3] The New York Clipper called it remindful of the stories of Edgar Allan Poe.[4] It stars Robert Edeson. Marguerite Bertsch wrote the screenplay. The story involves the grafting of one man's hand to replace a man's who had his crushed.[5] The consequences are haunting.[2] The film is presumed lost.[6]
It was advertised as a "Medical Mystery".[7] An image used in advertising material features a creepy black and white hand with the word "MORT" but on it.[8] Censors blocked the film from being shown in Philadelphia and Chicago.[9]
Cast
[edit]- Robert Edeson as Mortmain
- Donald Hall as Gordon Russell
- Edward Elkas as Flaggs
- Joseph Weber as Flynt
- Muriel Ostriche as Bella Forsythe
- Karin Norman as Miss Fickles
- James Morrison as Tom Forsythe
- J. Herbert Frank as Doctor Pennison Crisp
- Gladden James as Scalscope
- Roland Osborne as Mortmain’s butler
- Helen Pillsbury as a society lady[6]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Mortmain". September 7, 1915 – via memory.loc.gov.
- ^ a b "Moving Picture World and View Photographer". World Photographic Publishing Company. September 7, 1915 – via Google Books.
- ^ "The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mortmain, by Arthur Train".
- ^ Rhodes, Gary D. (2018). The Birth of the American Horror Film. ISBN 9781474430883. JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctvxcrw4d.
- ^ "Motion Picture Story Magazine". Macfadden-Bartell. September 7, 1915 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b "Silent Era : Progressive Silent Film List". www.silentera.com.
- ^ "Mortmain ??, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania". Harrisburg Daily Independent. 27 September 1915. p. 9.
- ^ "MORTMAIN (1915) by Theodore Marston, Cinefania". www.cinefania.com.
- ^ "Mortmain (1915)" – via letterboxd.com.