The Marble Heart
Cast & Crew
Keenan Buel
Violet Horner
Louise Rial
Walter Miller
Rhy Alexander
Henry Armetta
Film Details
Synopsis
Raised in a small French town by her aunt, Madame Roger, Thérèse has always taken for granted the fact that she will marry Madame's dull-witted son Camille. Soon after the wedding, Thérèse grows completely bored with Camille, and falls in love with his artist friend Laurant. When the three go boating, Thérèse and Laurant throw Camille overboard and pretend that his drowning was accidental. After a proper mourning period, Laurant marries Thérèse, and then moves into Madame's house with her. They are tormented by their guilt, however, and each one constantly affixes blame for the murder on the other. One evening, Madame hears them yelling about killing Camille, and the shock paralyzes her. Unable to contact the authorities to have them arrested, a motionless Madame instead fixes her gaze on Laurant and Thérèse, thereby letting them know that she has discovered their guilt. Then, unable to stand Madame's incriminating stare any longer, Thérèse and Laurant commit suicide.
Director
Keenan Buel
Cast
Violet Horner
Louise Rial
Walter Miller
Rhy Alexander
Henry Armetta
Walter Mccullough
Harry Burkhardt
Hal De Forrest
Mademoiselle Marcelle
Mark Price
Arthur Leslie
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Motion Picture News March 18, 1916 notes that the film is "based on the work of Bernard Chapin," but no other source mentions this. The film's credits make no acknowledgment of Zola's novel in its review; however, Variety gives the novel as the source. In the scenario of the film in the copyright descriptions, the title Thérèse Raquin is scratched out, although the character names remain as in the original. The film was made at the Fox studio in Kingston, Jamaica. A French-German production based on the same source, entitled Thérèse Raquin, was directed by Jacques Feyder in 1923. A Paris Film-Lux production and release of 1953, also entitled Thérèse Raquin, was directed by Marcel Carné and starred Simone Signoret.
