''The Devil'' is a surviving 1921
silent drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by
James Young and starring stage actor
George Arliss in a film version of his 1908 Broadway success of
Ferenc Molnár's play, ''
The Devil'' (aka ''Az ordog'')
Long thought to be a lost film, a print was discovered in the 1990s and restored by the Library of Congress.
This was George Arliss' first film following a successful career on Broadway. Arliss' wife Florence Arliss co-starred with him in the film, and continued to do so until he died in 1946. Director Young was silent screen star Clara Kimball Young's ex-husband. Future Oscar-winner Fredric March had an uncredited bit part in the film.
Plot
The Devil, in the guise of a human named Dr. Muller (Arliss), meets a young couple (Marie and her fiance Georges) who remark upon looking at a Renaissance painting of a martyr that Evil could never triumph over Good. The Devil, taking this as a challenge, decides to bring about the couple's downfall. In the end, Marie resorts to the power of prayer and a shining crucifix appears that causes the Devil to disappear in a burst of flames.
Cast
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George Arliss as Dr. Muller
*
Lucy Cotton as Marie Matin
*
Roland Bottomley as Georges Roben
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Sylvia Breamer as Mimi
*
Florence Arliss
Florence Kate Arliss (née Montgomery; 29 July 1870 – 12 March 1950)Gerald Lawrence, revised by K. D. Reynolds, "Arliss, George eal name Augustus George Andrews(1868–1946)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Pre ...
as Marie's Aunt (credited as Mrs. George Arliss)
*
Edmund Lowe as Paul de Veaux
*
Fredric March
Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, page 95. As ...
as Bal Masque Participant (uncredited)
Preservation status
A copy of ''The Devil'' is preserved in the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
collection and the Archives Du Film Du CNC, Bois d'Arcy.
Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Devil''
at silentera.com
References
External links
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1921 films
1921 drama films
1920s American films
1920s English-language films
American black-and-white films
American films based on plays
American remakes of foreign films
American silent feature films
Associated Exhibitors films
English-language drama films
Films based on works by Ferenc Molnár
Films directed by James Young
Pathé Exchange films
Remakes of Hungarian films
Silent American drama films
Surviving American silent films
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