One Exciting Night (1922 film)
- October 2, 1922 (1922-10-02)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/One_Exciting_Night_1922_lobby_poster.jpg/220px-One_Exciting_Night_1922_lobby_poster.jpg)
One Exciting Night is a 1922 American Gothic silent mystery film directed by D. W. Griffith.[2]
The plot revolves around a series of murders on a wealthy estate and the attempts of the cast to uncover the murderer's identity. The success of both the Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood play The Bat (1920), as well as the 1922 stage play The Cat and the Canary, led Griffith to write and produce his own variation on the theme.[3]
At the time of this film, Henry Hull was starring on Broadway in the stage version of John Willard's The Cat and the Canary.
Plot
Agnes Harrington's uncle separates her from her family in Africa when her wealthy father passes away, so that he won't have to share his brother's fortune with the child. Years later on his deathbed, he sees to it that Agnes is restored to her rightful place in society, cutting his own son John Fairfax out of the chain of inheritance in the process.
John, Agnes and a number of other people gather at a social event at the famous Fairfax Estate, unaware that it is being used by a gang of bootleggers, and that a hidden treasure is concealed somewhere on the grounds. To make matters worse, a creepy madman is stalking the grounds, and one by one people start turning up dead.
Cast
- Carol Dempster as Agnes Harrington
- Henry Hull as John Fairfax
- Morgan Wallace as J. Wilson Rockmaine
- Margaret Dale as Mrs. Harrington
- Charles Emmett Mack as A Guest
- Charles Croker-King as The Neighbor
- Porter Strong as Romeo Washington
- Frank Sheridan as Detective
- Frank Wunderlee as Samuel Jones
- Grace Griswold as Auntie Fairfax
- Irma Harrison as The Maid
- Herbert Sutch as Clary Johnson
- Percy Carr as The Butler
Production
One Exciting Night saw an underwhelming response at test screenings. Director D. W. Griffith decided that the problem was that the film lacked the spectacular climax audiences had come to expect from his films, so he reassembled the cast and shot a new ending involving a terrifying storm, using a combination of real hurricane footage which he had shot earlier and studio footage filmed with special effects.[4]
Home media
This film received a brief release on VHS in the 1990s.[5] In March 2014 the film was released on all-region DVD by Alpha Video.[6]
References
- ^ a b "Griffith's 20 Year Record". Variety. September 5, 1928. p. 12. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
- ^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:One Exciting Night
- ^ The American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films: 1921-30, c.1971 by The American Film Institute
- ^ Hallenbeck, Bruce G. (2009). Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914-2008. McFarland & Company. p. 5. ISBN 9780786453788.
- ^ Progressive Silent Film List: One Exciting Night at silentera.com
- ^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: One Exciting Night
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- One Exciting Night at IMDb
- Synopsis at AllMovie
- Lantern slide at silenthollywood.com (archived)
- advertisement poster
- v
- t
- e
- The Adventures of Dollie
- The Fight for Freedom
- The Tavern Keeper's Daughter
- The Black Viper
- The Red Man and the Child
- Deceived Slumming Party
- The Bandit's Waterloo
- A Calamitous Elopement
- The Greaser's Gauntlet
- The Man and the Woman
- The Fatal Hour
- For Love of Gold
- Balked at the Altar
- For a Wife's Honor
- Betrayed by a Handprint
- Monday Morning in a Coney Island Police Court
- The Girl and the Outlaw
- Behind the Scenes
- The Red Girl
- The Heart of O'Yama
- Where the Breakers Roar
- A Smoked Husband
- The Stolen Jewels
- The Devil
- The Zulu's Heart
- Father Gets in the Game
- Ingomar, the Barbarian
- The Vaquero's Vow
- The Planter's Wife
- Romance of a Jewess
- The Call of the Wild
- Concealing a Burglar
- After Many Years
- The Pirate's Gold
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Guerrilla
- The Song of the Shirt
- The Ingrate
- A Woman's Way
- The Clubman and the Tramp
- Money Mad
- The Valet's Wife
- The Feud and the Turkey
- The Reckoning
- The Test of Friendship
- An Awful Moment
- The Christmas Burglars
- Mr. Jones at the Ball
- The Helping Hand
- One Touch of Nature
- The Maniac Cook
- Mrs. Jones Entertains
- The Honor of Thieves
- Love Finds a Way
- The Sacrifice
- A Rural Elopement
- Those Boys!
- The Criminal Hypnotist
- The Fascinating Mrs. Francis
- Mr. Jones Has a Card Party
- Those Awful Hats
- The Welcome Burglar
- The Cord of Life
- The Girls and Daddy
- The Brahma Diamond
- Edgar Allen Poe
- A Wreath in Time
- Tragic Love
- The Curtain Pole
- His Ward's Love
- The Joneses Have Amateur Theatricals
- The Hindoo Dagger
- The Politician's Love Story
- The Golden Louis
- At the Altar
- The Prussian Spy
- His Wife's Mother
- A Fool's Revenge
- The Wooden Leg
- The Roue's Heart
- The Salvation Army Lass
- The Lure of the Gown
- I Did It
- The Voice of the Violin
- The Deception
- And a Little Child Shall Lead Them
- A Burglar's Mistake
- The Medicine Bottle
- Jones and His New Neighbors
- A Drunkard's Reformation
- Trying to Get Arrested
- The Road to the Heart
- A Rude Hostess
- Schneider's Anti-Noise Crusade
- A Sound Sleeper
- Lady Helen's Escapade
- Lucky Jim
- Jones and the Lady Book Agent
- Resurrection
- Two Memories
- Eloping with Auntie
- The Cricket on the Hearth
- The Violin Maker of Cremona
- A New Trick
- The Lonely Villa
- The Son's Return
- Her First Biscuits
- The Country Doctor
- The Cardinal's Conspiracy
- Tender Hearts
- The Friend of the Family
- The Renunciation
- The Mended Lute
- The Sealed Room
- The Little Darling
- The Hessian Renegades
- Comata, the Sioux
- Getting Even
- In Old Kentucky
- Leather Stocking
- Pippa Passes or The Song of Conscience
- Fools of Fate
- His Lost Love
- The Gibson Goddess
- Nursing a Viper
- The Death Disc: A Story of the Cromwellian Period
- Through the Breakers
- The Red Man's View
- A Corner in Wheat
- A Trap for Santa Claus
- In Little Italy
- To Save Her Soul
- The Day After
- Choosing a Husband
- Bill Sharkey's Last Game
- The Rocky Road
- The Woman from Mellon's
- The Englishman and the Girl
- In Old California
- Faithful
- The Two Brothers
- As It Is In Life
- A Romance of the Western Hills
- The Unchanging Sea
- Ramona
- In the Season of Buds
- A Child of the Ghetto
- In the Border States
- What the Daisy Said
- A Flash of Light
- An Arcadian Maid
- The House with Closed Shutters
- Wilful Peggy
- The Modern Prodigal
- A Mohawk's Way
- The Oath and the Man
- Rose O'Salem-Town
- The Fugitive
- Winning Back His Love
- The Two Paths
- The Italian Barber
- His Trust
- His Trust Fulfilled
- Fate's Turning
- Heart Beats of Long Ago
- What Shall We Do with Our Old?
- Fisher Folks
- His Daughter
- The Lily of the Tenements
- A Decree of Destiny
- Was He a Coward?
- The Lonedale Operator
- The Spanish Gypsy
- The Broken Cross
- How She Triumphed
- The New Dress
- The Crooked Road
- The White Rose of the Wilds
- The Smile of a Child
- Enoch Arden: Part I
- Enoch Arden: Part II
- The Primal Call
- Fighting Blood
- The Indian Brothers
- A Country Cupid
- The Last Drop of Water
- Out from the Shadow
- The Blind Princess and the Poet
- Swords and Hearts
- The Stuff Heroes Are Made Of
- Her Awakening
- The Making of a Man
- The Adventures of Billy
- The Long Road
- Love in the Hills
- The Battle
- Through Darkened Vales
- The Miser's Heart
- A Woman Scorned
- The Voice of the Child
- The Eternal Mother
- The Old Bookkeeper
- For His Son
- The Transformation of Mike
- A Sister's Love
- Under Burning Skies
- The Sunbeam
- A String of Pearls
- The Girl and Her Trust
- The Root of Evil
- The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch
- The Punishment
- The Female of the Species
- Just Like a Woman
- One Is Business, the Other Crime
- The Lesser Evil
- A Beast at Bay
- An Outcast Among Outcasts
- Home Folks
- A Temporary Truce
- The Spirit Awakened
- Man's Lust for Gold
- Man's Genesis
- The Sands of Dee
- The Narrow Road
- The Inner Circle
- A Change of Spirit
- An Unseen Enemy
- Blind Love
- The Massacre
- Two Daughters of Eve
- Friends
- So Near, yet So Far
- A Feud in the Kentucky Hills
- The Chief's Blanket
- In the Aisles of the Wild
- The One She Loved
- The Painted Lady
- The Musketeers of Pig Alley
- Heredity
- Gold and Glitter
- My Baby
- The Informer
- Brutality
- The New York Hat
- My Hero
- The Burglar's Dilemma
- A Cry for Help
- The God Within
- Three Friends
- The Telephone Girl and the Lady
- An Adventure in the Autumn Woods
- The Tender Hearted Boy
- A Misappropriated Turkey
- Brothers
- Oil and Water
- A Chance Deception
- Love in an Apartment Hotel
- Broken Ways
- A Girl's Stratagem
- The Unwelcome Guest
- Near to Earth
- Fate
- A Welcome Intruder
- The Sheriff's Baby
- The Hero of Little Italy
- The Little Tease
- A Misunderstood Boy
- The Left-Handed Man
- The Lady and the Mouse
- If We Only Knew
- The Wanderer
- The Stolen Loaf
- The House of Darkness
- The Yaqui Cur
- Just Gold
- The Ranchero's Revenge
- A Timely Interception
- Death's Marathon
- The Mothering Heart
- The Sorrowful Shore
- The Enemy's Baby
- The Mistake
- Two Men of the Desert (lost)
- Madonna of the Storm
- The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
- The Conscience of Hassan Bey
- 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, lost)
- 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)