The Sealed Room (1909 film)

1909 American film

September 2, 1909 (1909-09-02)

Running time

11 minutes (original release length 779 feet)CountryUnited StatesLanguagesSilent film
English intertitles

Play film; runtime 00:11:19.

The Sealed Room (also known as The Sealed Door)^[1] is an eleven-minute film released in September 1909. Produced by the Biograph Company and directed by D. W. Griffith, the drama's cast includes Arthur V. Johnson, Marion Leonard, Henry B. Walthall, Mary Pickford, and Mack Sennett. It was distributed to theaters on a split-reel with another film, the three-minute comedy short The Little Darling.

Plot

The film's theme of immurement draws inspiration from Balzac's "La Grande Bretêche",^[2] and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado". The king constructs a cozy, windowless love-nest for himself and his concubine. However, she is not faithful to her sovereign, but consorts with the court troubadour. In fact, they use the king's new play chamber for their trysts. When the king discovers this, he sends for his masons. With the faithless duo still inside, the masons use stone and mortar to quietly seal the only door to the vault. The two lovers suffocate and the film ends.

Cast

Arthur V. Johnson as The Count
Marion Leonard as The Countess
Henry B. Walthall as The Minstrel

others

Linda Arvidson as A Lady-in-Waiting
William J. Butler as Nobleman at Court
Vernon Clarges as Nobleman at Court
Owen Moore as Nobleman at Court
George Nichols as Workman
Anthony O'Sullivan as Workman
Mary Pickford as A Lady-in-Waiting
Gertrude Robinson as A Lady-in-Waiting
Mack Sennett as A Soldier
George Siegmann as Nobleman at Court

Notes

^ Langman, 1998, p. 34
^ Gunning, 1994, pp. 177-178

References

Gunning, Tom (1994). D.W. Griffith and the origins of American narrative film: the early years at Biograph. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-06366-X.
Langman, Larry (1998). American Film Cycles: The Silent Era. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-30657-5.
The Sealed Room at silentera.com