The Suspect


1916

Film Details

Release Date
May 22, 1916
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Vitagraph Co. of America; A Blue Ribbon Feature
Distribution Company
V-L-S-E, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Silver Shell by H. J. W. Dam (publication undetermined).

Technical Specs

Sound
Silent
Color
Black and White
Film Length
5-6 reels

Synopsis

After Mouroff, a Nihilist, aims a bomb at Duke Karatoff and misses, Karatoff's son, Prince Paul, pursues Mouroff to an apartment, but is stunned when Valdor, Mouroff's confederate, attacks him. Sophie Karrinini, also staying at the apartment, nurses Paul back to health and he falls in love with her. Although she wants to avenge the death of her parents who were tortured by Paul's father, they marry and bear a son. Paul then discovers that Sophie is really a member of the Nihilist party. When he confronts her, Valdor knocks him unconscious and dumps him in the river. Mouroff rescues Paul but Paul loses his memory and becomes a Nihilist himself. Thinking that Paul is dead, Sophie escapes to England and falls in love with Richard, a British diplomat, who is working under cover. Five years later, everyone converges at a Nihilist meeting in London. Paul's father infiltrates the meeting, but Richard knows his true identity. At the meeting, a bullet intended for his father hits Paul and he dies. Sophie is free to marry Richard and Karatoff takes his grandson, who is heir to the throne, to his homeland.

Film Details

Release Date
May 22, 1916
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Vitagraph Co. of America; A Blue Ribbon Feature
Distribution Company
V-L-S-E, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Silver Shell by H. J. W. Dam (publication undetermined).

Technical Specs

Sound
Silent
Color
Black and White
Film Length
5-6 reels

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

Several contemporary sources refer to Dam's source material as a novel, but no information about its publication has been discovered. The film was banned in Canada for its negative portrait of the Russian political system. Contemporary sources disagree over whether the film is five or six reels long.