Mortmain
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Theodore Marston
Robert Edeson
Donald Hall
Edward Elkas
Joseph Weber
Muriel Ostriche
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Mortmain, an accomplished musician and rare art collector, observes the research results of his friend, Dr. Pennison Crisp, who successfully grafts a paw from one cat onto another. After Mortmain becomes engaged to Bella Forsythe, the ward of his friend, banker Gordon Russell, to whom he owes money, Russell, in love with Bella, causes her brother Tom to disgrace himself, and forces Mortmain into bankruptcy. After Flaggs, the clerk of Russell's lawyer, overhears Mortmain say that he would like to kill Russell, Mortmain, learning that Russell has been mysteriously murdered, faints and injures his hand. Dr. Crisp anesthetizes Mortmain with ether, which causes hallucinations, and then tells him that although the hand must be amputated, he can graft another in its place. After Tom, the murder suspect, accepts Crisp's offer of $10,000 and dies during the transplant, Mortmain, with Tom's hand, gradually goes insane as Flaggs blackmails him and Bella recoils from his touch. As the hand uncontrollably chokes Flaggs, Mortmain awakens from his ether-induced dream. Tom is alive, and Flaggs confesses that he killed Russell after Russell ruined him financially.
Director
Theodore Marston
Cast
Robert Edeson
Donald Hall
Edward Elkas
Joseph Weber
Muriel Ostriche
Karin Norman
James Morrison
J. Herbert Frank
Gladden James
Roland Osborne
Helen Pillsbury
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The novel was originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post on June 2, 1906 and June 9, 1906. The copyright entry incorrectly lists this film as being one reel. The actor Gladden James is listed in some reviews as Claude James. The film opened at the Vitagraph Theatre in New York on August 29, 1915.
