Au secours !
About Au secours !
In a private club, Count Maulette dares the guests to last one hour in a haunted castle he knows. Newlywed Max takes the bet for a thousand francs: 11 at night until midnight, and a bell he may ring if he wants out. Ringing it loses the money. Locked in, he is hit by a mannequin that comes alive, men in skeleton suits, animals in the corridors, and figures that look like ghosts. Near midnight the telephone says his wife is being threatened at home. He rings the bell and runs. The caller was the Count.
Cast & crew
More about Au secours !
Abel Gance directed and produced. Max Linder wrote it with him and plays Max. They shot the short in three days, on a dare, after Linder came back to France from several years trying to work in Canada. Released 17 June 1924. The English Wikipedia times it at 23 minutes. Another listing says 18. Jean Toulout is Count Maulette. Gina Palerme is Edith. Gaston Modot is billed. English titles in some books are Help! and The Haunted House.
Themes
Making
Gance and Linder treat the castle as a bet, not a ghost story that stays unexplained. Every scare is there to make him ring. The telephone is the one that works.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
A print survives. Published timings are 23 minutes and 18 minutes.
Notes
- The stake is a thousand francs. The clock is 11 to midnight.
- The supernatural business is arranged. The phone call is the Count’s voice.
- An Internet Archive copy is filed as silent-au-secours-aka-help.
- The French title is the shout Max is not supposed to make.
Scenes
- A mannequin comes to life and goes for him.
- Skeleton suits and animals fill the corridors.
- The phone says his wife is in danger. He rings the bell. The Count was on the line.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-au-secours-aka-help)
