The Devil-Stone

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The Devil-Stone
Devil Stone poster.jpg
Lobby poster
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Written by Beatrice deMille
Jeanie MacPherson
Leighton Osmun
Produced by Jesse L. Lasky
Cecil B. DeMille
Starring Geraldine Farrar
Wallace Reid
Hobart Bosworth
Tully Marshall
Cinematography Alvin Wyckoff
Edited byCecil B. DeMille
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • December 16, 1917 (1917-12-16)
Running time
60 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)
Newspaper advertisement. Thedevil-stone 1918 newspaper ad.jpg
Newspaper advertisement.

The Devil-Stone is a 1917 American silent romance film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, co-written by his mother Beatrice deMille and Jeanie MacPherson, and starring Geraldine Farrar. [1] The film had sequences filmed in the Handschiegl Color Process (billed as the "DeMille-Wyckoff Process"). Only two of six reels are known to survive, in the American Film Institute Collection at the Library of Congress. [2] [3] This was the last of Farrar's films for Paramount Pictures.

Contents

Plot

As described in a film magazine, [4] Silas Martin (Marshall), a miser, marries Marcia Manot (Farrar) in order to gain possession of a valuable emerald she owns that once belonged to a Norse queen and is now cursed. After the wedding Marcia learns the true side of her husband and realizes that the marriage was a mistake. Silas steals the stone and places Marcia and Guy Sterling (Reid), his business partner, in a false light in order to get a divorce. Marcia sneaks in one night and discovers that Silas has the stone. She gains possession of it, but Silas attempts to regain it. They struggle, and Marcia kills him in self-defense. Sterling is accused of the murder, but the evidence clears him and the crime remains a mystery. Sterling marries Marcia and has an expert criminologist investigate the murder. He traces the crime to Marcia and, when confronted, she confesses. He gives her one month's leave of absence, after which she is to turn herself into the law. Marcia returns to her old home and gives the priest the emerald so he can make provision for homeless orphans. She returns and gives herself up to the criminologist. However, finding that her good deed has redeemed her, the criminologist does not turn her over to the law, and she and Sterling are happily reunited.

Cast

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "The Devil Stone". Silent Era. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
  2. ↑ Birchard, Richard S. (2009). Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. p. 28. ISBN   978-0813138299 . Retrieved February 25, 2013. Unfortunately, only two reels of the original six reels of The Devil-Stone are known to survive in the American Film Institute Collection in the Library of Congress.
  3. ↑ The Devil-Stone. WorldCat. OCLC   23050018.
  4. ↑ "Reviews: The Devil-Stone". Exhibitors Herald. New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company. 6 (1): 26. December 29, 1917.
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