The Candle and the Moth
About The Candle and the Moth
Billy, quick to anger and sliding into crime, quarrels with his girlfriend Nelly. The lay preacher John Redmond tells him a life that used to be his own: a rich young man, a demimondaine, a fight, a stray bullet that killed her, years in prison, and a chaplain who turned him. Billy, hearing it, goes with Redmond and they stop Nelly as she is about to kill herself.
Cast & crew
More about The Candle and the Moth
Holger-Madsen wrote and directed Evangeliemandens Liv. Marius Clausen photographed it. Fotorama handled the Danish release on 18 February 1915. The negative is 1,093 meters, timed at 62 minutes. Valdemar Psilander plays Redmond. The Danish Film Institute note describes a vignette in which he studies the script and the three stages of the part, roué, convict, and preacher, appear in front of him.
Themes
Making
Madsen opens Psilander's part by having the actor look at the script while the three ages of Redmond stand in front of him. The sermon Billy hears is that same life, told straight.
Look
Marius Clausen photographed the silent drama, including the vignette of Redmond's three ages.
Preservation
A 62-minute print survives. The Danish Film Institute holds materials, and a copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- International titles include John Redmond, The Evangelist, and Der Apostel der Armen.
- Frederik Jacobsen, Augusta Blad, and Alma Hinding are on the Danish Film Institute cast list with Psilander.
- Else Frölich, Philip Bech, and Axel Boesen are also billed.
- The preacher's story is the murder he committed, not a sermon about someone else.
Scenes
- Redmond tells of the fight, the gun, and the bullet that killed the woman.
- He and Billy reach Nelly before she can kill herself.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-john-redmond-the-evangelist)
- Wikimedia Commons (Evangeliemandens Liv (1915).webm)
