His Guilty Conscience

1914 Drama 40 minutes Directed by Vilhelm Glückstadt

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About His Guilty Conscience

Clerk Poul Wang spends his money on nights out while a stranger follows him. A payment comes due and he goes to a moneylender. The interest pushes him to steal at work. A colleague sees him. He then robs his own family's savings. His wife, taking him for a burglar, nearly shoots him. The stranger who has been watching steps in.

Cast & crew

More about His Guilty Conscience

Vilhelm Glückstadt directed the silent drama. It was released 23 March 1914 and runs 40 minutes. The production is credited to Denmark and Germany. The Danish title on the surviving copy is Den fremmede.

Themes

  • A clerk followed at night
  • Interest that leads to the office cash
  • A wife who almost fires
  • Poul Wang
  • moneylender
  • theft
  • stranger
  • wife
  • Glückstadt

Making

Glückstadt stages the thefts as a chain: the lender, the office, then the family's own money. The German co-credit sits on the same 1914 release.

Preservation

A 40-minute print survives.

Notes

  • Hakon Ahnfelt-Rønne, Emanuel Gregers, Gudrun Houlberg, Charles Løwaas, Kristian Møllback, and Rasmus Ottesen are the billed cast.
  • The stranger is in the story from the first night out, not a figure who appears only at the end.
  • The wife's shot is the last accident before the stranger intervenes. She thinks the man in the house is a burglar.

Scenes

  • A colleague catches Poul stealing at work.
  • His wife raises a gun at him, thinking he is a burglar in their house.
  • The stranger who has been shadowing him comes to his aid.

Also available

  • Internet Archive (silent-den-fremmede)