The Ghost Breaker | |
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Directed by | Alfred E. Green |
Written by | Jack Cunningham (adaptation) Walter De Leon (scenario) |
Based on | The Ghost Breaker by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard (play) |
Produced by | Adolph Zukor Jesse L. Lasky |
Starring | Wallace Reid Lila Lee Arthur Edmund Carewe Snitz Edwards |
Cinematography | William Marshall |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 57 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
The Ghost Breaker is a 1922 American silent horror comedy film about haunted houses and ghosts. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. [1] It was directed by Alfred E. Green and starred Wallace Reid in one of his last screen roles. The story, based on the 1909 play The Ghost Breaker by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard, had been released on film in 1914 (bearing the same name), directed by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar Apfel.
The 1922 version is now considered lost. [2] [3] Two of the actors in this film, Snitz Edwards and Arthur Edmund Carewe, later appeared together in the 1925 Lon Chaney silent classic The Phantom of the Opera. Two uncredited "ghosts" in the cast, Mervyn LeRoy and Richard Arlen, later went on to successful film careers. [4]
The Ghost Breaker would be remade in the sound era as The Ghost Breakers (1940) with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard, and later as Scared Stiff (1953) starring Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. [5]
Warren Jarvis and his manservant Rusty Snow help a beautiful young heiress named Maria Theresa to rid her father's mansion of ghosts. The spooks turn out to be fakes however, fabricated by the Duke D'Alba to scare the young lady away, thus allowing him to steal her father's hidden gold.
The following is an overview of 1922 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Henry Byron Warner was an English film and theatre actor. He was popular during the silent era and played Jesus Christ in The King of Kings. In later years, he successfully moved into supporting roles and appeared in numerous films directed by Frank Capra. Warner's most recognizable role to modern audiences is Mr. Gower in the perennially shown film It's a Wonderful Life, directed by Capra. He appeared in the original 1937 version of Lost Horizon as Chang, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Richard Arlen was an American actor of film and television.
Scared Stiff is a 1953 American horror paranormal semi-musical comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. One of the 17 films made by the Martin and Lewis team, it was released on April 27, 1953 by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth screen adaptation of the 1909 play The Ghost Breaker by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard, previously filmed under that title in 1914 and 1922 and as The Ghost Breakers in 1940.
Lila Lee was a prominent screen actress, primarily a leading lady, of the silent film and early sound film eras.
Snitz Edwards was a stage and character actor of the early years of the silent film era into the 1930s.
The Ghost Breakers is a 1940 American mystery/horror comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. It was adapted by screenwriter Walter DeLeon as the third film version of the 1909 play The Ghost Breaker by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard.
The Cat and the Canary is a 1922 stage play by John Willard, adapted at least four times into feature films, in 1927, 1930, 1939, and again in 1979. The original stage play opened on Broadway February 7, 1922.
The Cat and the Canary is a 1927 American silent comedy horror film directed by the German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni. An adaptation of John Willard's 1922 black-comedy play of the same name, the film stars Laura La Plante as Annabelle West, Forrest Stanley as Charlie Wilder, and Creighton Hale as Paul Jones. The plot revolves around the death of Cyrus West, who is Annabelle, Charlie, and Paul's uncle, and the reading of his will twenty years later. Annabelle inherits her uncle's fortune, but when she and her family spend the night in his haunted mansion, they are stalked by a mysterious figure. Meanwhile, a lunatic mainly known as the Cat escapes from an asylum and hides in the mansion.
Walter Hiers was an American silent film actor.
Florence Auer was an American theater and motion picture actress whose career spanned more than five decades.
The Ghost Breaker is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar C. Apfel and based on the 1909 Broadway play of the same name by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures under the Famous Players-Lasky banner.
The White Desert is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Reginald Barker. The film stars Claire Windsor and Pat O'Malley, with Robert Frazer, Frank Currier, and Sōjin Kamiyama. It is written by Monte M. Katterjohn and Gordon Rigby and adopted from Denver author Courtney Ryley Cooper's novel The White Desert (1922). This B movie was produced to keep the Loew circuit and other cinemas supplied. The title refers to the snow covered Colorado landscape during winter.
The Charm School is a lost 1921 American silent comedy film starring Wallace Reid. Produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures this James Cruze directed film was based on a 1920 Broadway stage play and novel by Alice Duer Miller that starred veteran actress Minnie Dupree. It is currently a lost film. It was filmed on the campus of Pomona College in Claremont, California.
The Ghost Breaker may refer to:
Volcano! is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by William K. Howard and starring Bebe Daniels, ricardo Cortez, and Wallace Beery. The picture was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is based on a 1920 Broadway play Martinique by Laurence Eyre. It is preserved in the Library of Congress, UCLA Film and Television Archives, and The Museum of Modern Art.
Ladies Must Live is a 1921 American silent societal drama film directed by George Loane Tucker and released by Paramount Pictures. It was the last directorial effort of George Loane Tucker and was released four months after his death. Betty Compson stars along with Leatrice Joy, John Gilbert and Mahlon Hamilton. It was one of the few instances where future husband and wife Joy and Gilbert appeared in the same film.
Human Hearts is a 1922 American silent rural drama film directed by King Baggot, and produced and distributed by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. It stars House Peters. It is based on a play of the same name by Hal Reid.
This is a comprehensive listing of Wallace Reid's (1891–1923) silent film output. Reid often played a clean-cut, well-groomed American go-getter on screen, which is how he is best remembered, but he could alternate with character roles, especially in his early short films, most of which are now lost. Some films have him as a director, some have him as an actor and some have him as both in particular his numerous short films. His first feature film is the famous appearance as a young blacksmith in The Birth of a Nation in 1915.
A Lover's Oath is a lost 1925 American silent fantasy film directed by Ferdinand P. Earle and featuring Ramon Novarro. The film is based upon the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, as translated by Edward Fitzgerald, and included quotes of its text on intertitles. Actor Milton Sills was scenarist and editor for the film.
Media related to The Ghost Breaker (1922 film) at Wikimedia Commons