The Bells (1926 film)

The Bells
Film poster
Directed byJames Young
Written byJames Young
Based onLe Juif Polonais (1867 play by Alexandre Chatrian and Emile Erckmann)
The Bells (1871 English version of the play by Leopold Lewis)
Produced byI. E. Chadwick
StarringLionel Barrymore
Caroline Frances Cooke
CinematographyL. William O'Connell
Distributed byChadwick Pictures
Release date
  • July 30, 1926 (1926-07-30)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)
The Bells ad in Motion Picture News, 1926

The Bells is a 1926 American silent crime film directed by James Young and starring Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff.[1] It was based on an 1867 French stage play called Le Juif Polonais (The Polish Jew) by Erckmann-Chatrian. The play was translated to English in 1871 by Leopold Lewis at which time it was retitled The Bells. The English version of the play was performed in the U.S. in the 19th century by Sir Henry Irving. Le Juif Polonais was also adapted into an opera of the same name in three acts by Camille Erlanger, composed to a libretto by Henri Cain.[2][3]

The play was adapted into a number of film adaptations; an Australian film in 1911 directed by W. J. Lincoln,[4] a 1913 American film directed by Oscar Apfel,[5] a 1918 American film The Bells (1918 film) directed by Ernest C. Warde,[6] a 1925 British-Belgian film (aka Le juif polonais) directed by Harry Southwell,[7] the 1926 Hollywood film starring Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff, and a British film in 1931 which starred Donald Caltrop as Mathias. Harry Southwell remade the film again later in Australia as The Burgomeister (1935).[8]

Footage from The Bells (1926) was re-used in two short films: The Mesmerist, and Light Is Calling by Bill Morrison.

  1. ^ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Bells (1926)". silentera.com. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  2. ^ "Erlanger, Camille | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com.
  3. ^ Erlanger, Camille; Cain, Henri; Gheusi, P.-B. (Pierre-Barthélemy) (November 24, 1900). "Le juif polonais; conte populaire d'Alsace en trois actes et six tableaux d'après Erckmann-Chatrian. Poème de Henri Cain et P.B. Gheusi. Partition chant et piano réduite par l'auteur". Paris P. Dupont – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Mary Bateman, 'W. J. Lincoln', Cinema Papers, June–July 1980, p. 174
  5. ^ Kinnard, Roy (October 29, 1995). Horror in Silent Films: a Filmography, 1896-1929. McFarland & Company Incorporated Pub. ISBN 9780786400362 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Bells (1918)". silentera.com.
  7. ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 283. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  8. ^ "The Bells". australiancinema.info. Retrieved May 9, 2016.