One Exciting Night
About One Exciting Night
On an African safari a woman dies in childbirth. Mrs. Harrington adopts the girl, Agnes, and raises her harshly in the United States. Years later Agnes is a guest at John Fairfax's house while Mrs. Harrington tries to marry her to the rich J. Wilson Rockmaine, and bootleggers search the house for hidden money. Two people are murdered. Agnes, John, the servant Romeo Washington, and the maid are locked inside. In a storm Agnes finds that Rockmaine is guilty. She is then told of her real father's wealth, and she and John marry.
Cast & crew
More about One Exciting Night
Griffith wrote the story under the name Irene Sinclair after producers wanted $150,000 for the play The Bat and a delay until the play closed. Working titles were The Haunted Grange and The Haunted House. Visitors were kept off the Mamaroneck set. He shot about thirteen reels over nearly three months and cut the release to eleven. Weak test screenings sent him back for a new storm ending, mixing hurricane footage he already had with studio effects. United Artists distributed the film.
Themes
Background
Griffith built his own old-dark-house story after the stage hits The Bat and The Cat and the Canary. The crooks in the house are bootleggers.
Making
John T. Soister records Griffith's complaint that the picture took six months and cost four times what he expected.
Reviews
Exhibitors Trade Review of 4 November 1922 said Griffith got the audience to laugh and forget their troubles, and that the first half ran too long.
Look
Hendrik Sartov was director of photography and Irving B. Ruby the additional photographer, working at Griffith's Mamaroneck studio.
Music
Albert Pesce arranged and synchronized the music score.
Notes
- The AFI catalog lists 11 reels and 11,500 feet. Copyright LP18507 was filed on 14 December 1922 by D. W. Griffith, Inc.
- The first screening was on 15 September 1922 at the Sterling Theatre in Derby, Connecticut. Neighbors complained about the laughter and applause.
- The world premiere was on 9 October 1922 at the Tremont Temple in Boston. Admission was $1.85.
- At the Apollo Theatre in New York on 23 October 1922, Bell Telephone broadcast the orchestra and the audience. Exhibitors Trade Review called it the first film premiere on radio.
- Henry Hull was starring on Broadway in The Cat and the Canary while this picture was made.
- Variety, 5 September 1928, is the source of the budget and gross.
Scenes
- Agnes, John, Romeo Washington, and the maid are shut in the house while detectives look for the killers.
- During the storm Agnes identifies Rockmaine as the guilty man.
Influenced by
- The Bat (play)
- The Cat and the Canary (play)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (One Exciting Night (1922).webm)
