The Avenging Conscience

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The Avenging Conscience
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	D. W. Griffith
Written by	D. W. Griffith
Based on	"The Tell-Tale Heart" and "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe
Produced by	D. W. Griffith
Starring	Henry B. Walthall Blanche Sweet Spottiswoode Aitken
Cinematography	G.W. Bitzer
Edited by	James Smith Rose Smith
Music by	S. L. Rothapfel
Production company	Majestic Motion Picture Company
Distributed by	Mutual Film Corporation
Release date	March 24, 1914 (1914-03-24)
Running time	78 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	Silent English intertitles

Play media

Full film

The Avenging Conscience: or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is a 1914 silent horror film directed by D. W. Griffith.^[1] The film is based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" and his 1849 poem "Annabel Lee".^[2]

Plot[]

A young man (Henry B. Walthall) falls in love with a beautiful woman (Blanche Sweet), but is prevented by his uncle (Spottiswoode Aitken) from pursuing her. Tormented by visions of death and suffering and deciding that murder is the way of things, the young man kills his uncle and builds a wall to hide the body.

The young man's torment continues, this time caused by guilt over murdering his uncle, and he becomes sensitive to slight noises, like the tapping of a shoe or the crying of a bird. The ghost of his uncle begins appearing to him and, as he gradually loses his grip on reality, the police figure out what he has done and chase him down. In the ending sequence, we learn that the experience was all a dream and that his uncle is really alive.

Cast[]

Scene from The Avenging Conscience

Henry B. Walthall as the nephew
Blanche Sweet as his sweetheart
Spottiswoode Aitken as the uncle
George Siegmann as the Italian
Ralph Lewis as the detective
Mae Marsh as the maid
Robert Harron as the grocery boy
George Beranger
Wallace Reid - the doctor

References[]

^ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Avenging Conscience". Silent Era. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:The Avenging Conscience

External links[]

The Avenging Conscience at IMDb
The Avenging Conscience is available for free download at the Internet Archive

v t Films directed by D. W. Griffith
1908	The Adventures of Dollie (1908) The Fight for Freedom (1908) The Tavern Keeper's Daughter (1908) The Black Viper (1908) The Red Man and the Child (1908) Deceived Slumming Party (1908) The Bandit's Waterloo (1908) A Calamitous Elopement (1908) The Greaser's Gauntlet (1908) The Man and the Woman (1908) The Fatal Hour (1908) For Love of Gold (1908) Balked at the Altar (1908) For a Wife's Honor (1908) Betrayed by a Handprint (1908) Monday Morning in a Coney Island Police Court (1908) The Girl and the Outlaw (1908) Behind the Scenes (1908) The Red Girl (1908) The Heart of O'Yama (1908) Where the Breakers Roar (1908) A Smoked Husband (1908) The Stolen Jewels (1908) The Devil (1908) The Zulu's Heart (1908) Father Gets in the Game (1908) Ingomar, the Barbarian (1908) The Vaquero's Vow (1908) The Planter's Wife (1908) Romance of a Jewess (1908) The Call of the Wild (1908) Concealing a Burglar (1908) After Many Years (1908) The Pirate's Gold (1908) The Taming of the Shrew (1908) The Guerrilla (1908) The Song of the Shirt (1908) The Ingrate (1908) A Woman's Way (1908) The Clubman and the Tramp (1908) Money Mad (1908) The Valet's Wife (1908) The Feud and the Turkey (1908) The Reckoning (1908) The Test of Friendship (1908) An Awful Moment (1908) The Christmas Burglars (1908) Mr. Jones at the Ball (1908) The Helping Hand (1908)
1909	One Touch of Nature (1909) The Maniac Cook (1909) Mrs. Jones Entertains (1909) The Honor of Thieves (1909) Love Finds a Way (1909) The Sacrifice (1909) A Rural Elopement (1909) Those Boys! (1909) The Criminal Hypnotist (1909) The Fascinating Mrs. Francis (1909) Mr. Jones Has a Card Party (1909) Those Awful Hats (1909) The Welcome Burglar (1909) The Cord of Life (1909) The Girls and Daddy (1909) The Brahma Diamond (1909) Edgar Allan Poe (1909) A Wreath in Time (1909) Tragic Love (1909) The Curtain Pole (1909) His Ward's Love (1909) The Joneses Have Amateur Theatricals (1909) The Hindoo Dagger (1909) The Politician's Love Story (1909) The Golden Louis (1909) At the Altar (1909) The Prussian Spy (1909) His Wife's Mother (1909) A Fool's Revenge (1909) The Wooden Leg (1909) The Roue's Heart (1909) The Salvation Army Lass (1909) The Lure of the Gown (1909) I Did It (1909) The Voice of the Violin (1909) The Deception (1909) And a Little Child Shall Lead Them (1909) A Burglar's Mistake (1909) A Drunkard's Reformation (1909) Trying to Get Arrested (1909) The Road to the Heart (1909) A Sound Sleeper (1909) Lady Helen's Escapade (1909) Lucky Jim (1909) Resurrection (1909) Two Memories (1909) Eloping with Auntie (1909) The Cricket on the Hearth (1909) The Violin Maker of Cremona (1909) The Lonely Villa (1909) The Son's Return (1909) Her First Biscuits (1909) The Country Doctor (1909) The Cardinal's Conspiracy (1909) Tender Hearts (1909) The Friend of the Family (1909) The Renunciation (1909) The Mended Lute (1909) The Sealed Room (1909) The Little Darling (1909) The Hessian Renegades (1909) Getting Even (1909) Leather Stocking (1909) Pippa Passes or The Song of Conscience (1909) Fools of Fate (1909) The Gibson Goddess (1909) Nursing a Viper (1909) The Death Disc: A Story of the Cromwellian Period (1909) Through the Breakers (1909) The Red Man's View (1909) A Corner in Wheat (1909) A Trap for Santa Claus (1909) In Little Italy (1909) To Save Her Soul (1909) The Day After (1909) Choosing a Husband (1909) Bill Sharkey's Last Game (1909)
1910	The Rocky Road (1910) The Woman from Mellon's (1910) The Englishman and the Girl (1910) In Old California (1910) Faithful (1910) The Two Brothers (1910) As It Is In Life (1910) A Romance of the Western Hills (1910) The Unchanging Sea (1910) Ramona (1910) In the Season of Buds (1910) In the Border States (1910) What the Daisy Said (1910) A Flash of Light (1910) An Arcadian Maid (1910) The House with Closed Shutters (1910) The Modern Prodigal (1910) A Mohawk's Way (1910) Rose O'Salem-Town (1910) The Fugitive (1910) Winning Back His Love (1910)
1911	The Two Paths (1911) The Italian Barber (1911) His Trust (1911) His Trust Fulfilled (1911) Heart Beats of Long Ago (1911) What Shall We Do with Our Old? (1911) Fisher Folks (1911) His Daughter (1911) The Lily of the Tenements (1911) A Decree of Destiny (1911) Was He a Coward? (1911) The Lonedale Operator (1911) The Spanish Gypsy (1911) The Broken Cross (1911) How She Triumphed (1911) The New Dress (1911) The Crooked Road (1911) The White Rose of the Wilds (1911) The Smile of a Child (1911) Enoch Arden: Part I (1911) Enoch Arden: Part II (1911) The Primal Call (1911) Fighting Blood (1911) The Indian Brothers (1911) A Country Cupid (1911) The Last Drop of Water (1911) Out from the Shadow (1911) The Blind Princess and the Poet (1911) Swords and Hearts (1911) The Stuff Heroes Are Made Of (1911) Her Awakening (1911) The Making of a Man (1911) The Adventures of Billy (1911) The Long Road (1911) Love in the Hills (1911) The Battle (1911) Through Darkened Vales (1911) The Miser's Heart (1911) A Woman Scorned (1911) The Voice of the Child (1911)
1912	The Eternal Mother (1912) The Old Bookkeeper (1912) For His Son (1912) The Transformation of Mike (1912) A Sister's Love (1912) Under Burning Skies (1912) The Sunbeam (1912) A String of Pearls (1912) The Girl and Her Trust (1912) The Root of Evil (1912) The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch (1912) The Punishment (1912) The Female of the Species (1912) Just Like a Woman (1912) One Is Business, the Other Crime (1912) The Lesser Evil (1912) A Beast at Bay (1912) An Outcast Among Outcasts (1912) Home Folks (1912) A Temporary Truce (1912) The Spirit Awakened (1912) Man's Lust for Gold (1912) Man's Genesis (1912) The Sands of Dee (1912) The Narrow Road (1912) The Inner Circle (1912) A Change of Spirit (1912) An Unseen Enemy (1912) Blind Love (1912) The Massacre (1912) Two Daughters of Eve (1912) Friends (1912) So Near, yet So Far (1912) A Feud in the Kentucky Hills (1912) The Chief's Blanket (1912) In the Aisles of the Wild (1912) The One She Loved (1912) The Painted Lady (1912) The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) Heredity (1912) Gold and Glitter (1912) My Baby (1912) The Informer (1912) Brutality (1912) The New York Hat (1912) My Hero (1912) The Burglar's Dilemma (1912) A Cry for Help (1912) The God Within (1912)
1913	Three Friends (1913) The Telephone Girl and the Lady (1913) An Adventure in the Autumn Woods (1913) The Tender Hearted Boy (1913) A Misappropriated Turkey (1913) Brothers (1913) Oil and Water (1913) A Chance Deception (1913) Love in an Apartment Hotel (1913) Broken Ways (1913) A Girl's Stratagem (1913) The Unwelcome Guest (1913) Near to Earth (1913) Fate (1913) A Welcome Intruder (1913) The Sheriff's Baby (1913) The Hero of Little Italy (1913) The Little Tease (1913) A Misunderstood Boy (1913) The Left-Handed Man (1913) The Lady and the Mouse (1913) If We Only Knew (1913) The Wanderer (1913) The Stolen Loaf (1913) The House of Darkness (1913) The Yaqui Cur (1913) Just Gold (1913) The Ranchero's Revenge (1913) A Timely Interception (1913) Death's Marathon (1913) The Mothering Heart (1913) The Sorrowful Shore (1913) The Enemy's Baby (1913) The Mistake (1913) Two Men of the Desert (1913) Madonna of the Storm (1913) The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (1913) The Conscience of Hassan Bey (1913)
1914–1931	Judith of Bethulia (1914) Battle of the Sexes (1914, lost) Brute Force (1914) Home, Sweet Home (1914) The Escape (1914, lost) The Avenging Conscience: or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" (1914) The Birth of a Nation (1915) Intolerance (1916) Hearts of the World (1918) The Great Love (1918, lost) Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal (1918, lost) The Greatest Thing in Life (1918, lost) A Romance of Happy Valley (1919) The Girl Who Stayed at Home (1919) Broken Blossoms (1919) True Heart Susie (1919) Scarlet Days (1919) The Greatest Question (1919) The Idol Dancer (1920) Remodeling Her Husband (1920) The Love Flower (1920) Way Down East (1920) Dream Street (1921) Orphans of the Storm (1921) One Exciting Night (1922) The White Rose (1923) America (1924) Isn't Life Wonderful (1924) Sally of the Sawdust (1925) That Royle Girl (1925, lost) The Sorrows of Satan (1926) Drums of Love (1928) The Battle of the Sexes (1928) Lady of the Pavements (1929) Abraham Lincoln (1930) The Struggle (1931)

v t Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843)
Adaptations	The Avenging Conscience (1914 silent) The Tell-Tale Heart (1934) The Tell-Tale Heart (1941) The Tell-Tale Heart (1953, American) The Tell-Tale Heart (1953, British) The Tell-Tale Heart (1960) Tell-Tale (2009) Tell (2012) The Tell-Tale Heart (2014)
Related	Manfish The Dark Eye

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