The Avenging Conscience
About The Avenging Conscience
An uncle blocks a nephew's love affair. The young man, full of Poe, kills him in what he believes is a necessary act and walls up the body. A tapping and the uncle's ghost undo him. An Italian has overheard. A detective closes in. Then the killing is a dream. The uncle is alive. They reconcile, and the nephew marries.
Cast & crew
More about The Avenging Conscience
D. W. Griffith wrote, directed, and produced it, from "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "Annabel Lee." G. W. Bitzer photographed. James Smith edited. Mutual released it in the United States on August 2, 1914. The subtitle is Thou Shalt Not Kill. Henry B. Walthall plays the nephew. Blanche Sweet plays the sweetheart. Spottiswoode Aitken plays the uncle. George Siegmann plays the Italian. Ralph Lewis plays the detective. Mae Marsh plays the maid. Samuel Rothafel prepared a score.
Themes
Look
G. W. Bitzer shot the uncle's house and the visions.
Music
Samuel Rothafel prepared a score for the picture.
Preservation
Prints are at the Museum of Modern Art and in the Cohen Media Group collection.
Notes
- The murder, the wall, and the ghost are the dream. The wedding is after he wakes.
- Robert Harron plays a grocery boy. Wallace Reid plays a doctor.
- Prints are at the Museum of Modern Art and in the Cohen Media Group collection.
- A copy is on the Internet Archive as TheAvengingConscience.
- Wikidata also lists 84 minutes.
Scenes
- He walls the uncle up, then hears him.
- He wakes. The uncle is in the room.
Influenced by
- Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843)
- Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee" (1849)
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheAvengingConscience)
- Museum of Modern Art
