Emile Erckmann

Made by re-editing a deteriorated nitrate print of The Bells (1926), starring Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff, this work shows the fragility of the film image while foreshadowing the Holocaust.

The adaptation of a french novel from 1864 describes the idyllic life of a convinced bachelor, Fritz Kobus, in a village in Alsace. With help by the local rabbi, he does get married to young Suzel in the end.

The adaptation of a french novel from 1864 describes the idyllic life of a convinced bachelor, Fritz Kobus, in a village in Alsace. With help by the local rabbi, he does get married to young Suzel in the end.

Mathias, an Alsatian innkeeper, murders a rich Pole staying at his inn. However, Mathias' conscience will not let him rest, and the murdered man's spirit drives the innkeeper nearly mad. The victim's brother calls for an inquest and brings with him a sideshow hypnotist, who is supposedly able to read minds. Mathias, as burgomaster, is called upon to conduct the inquest, but under the intuitive eye of the hypnotist cannot resist torment of his own conscience.

The story recounts the murder of an itinerant Jew (Jules Maurice)by the village Burgomaster (Harry Baur.) Years go by and Baur's crime does not weigh heavily on his conscience. But at a banquet one night, the subject of the killing comes up and he faints, and is haunted from that point onward by the vision of the man he killed and the sound of the sleigh bells that first accompanied the victim's arrival in the village. And, to complicate matters for Baur, the son of the victim arrives, and proceeds to fall in love with Baur's daughter.

A kindly but desperate Alsatian innkeeper named Mathias murders and robs a rich Jewish merchant staying at his inn, but the ghost of his victim will not let him rest. Meanwhile, a mysterious Mesmerist has come to town, claiming he has made many criminals confess their crimes...