The Monkey's Paw (1923 film)

The Monkey's Paw is a 1923 British silent horror film directed by Manning Haynes and starring Moore Marriott, Marie Ault, and Charles Ashton. It is an adaptation of W. W. Jacobs's 1902 short story "The Monkey's Paw". The short story was made into a 1907 one-act play by Louis N. Parker, elements of which were also incorporated into this 1923 British film by screenwriter Lydia Hayward.[1][2]

The Monkey's Paw
Directed byManning Haynes
Written byLydia Hayward
Louis N. Parker (play)
Based on"The Monkey's Paw"
by W. W. Jacobs
Produced byGeorge Redman
StarringMoore Marriott
Marie Ault
Charles Ashton
Production
company
Artistic Pictures
Distributed byArtistic Pictures
Release date
  • February 1923 (1923-02)
Running time
64 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

Plot

As described in a film magazine review for an American audience,[3] a traveler tells a family, John White, his wife, and son, weird tales of a magical talisman, a monkey's paw, which has the power of granting its possessor three wishes. The father falls asleep. In his dreams he acquires the paw and requests two thousand dollars. He gets the money but this results in the death of his son Herbert. His wife compels him to wish that her boy was alive again. This is accomplished, but when he appears as a soulless zombie, in his fright Mr. White makes his third and final wish that his son be dead once more, where he may hopefully rest in peace. Awakening, the father wants nothing to do with the magic charm.

Cast

References
  1. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
  2. Goble p. 241
  3. Pardy, George T. (12 January 1924). "Box Office Reviews: The Monkey's Paw". Exhibitors Trade Review. New York: Exhibitors Review Publishing Corporation. 15 (8): 21. Retrieved 29 June 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Bibliography
  • Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.