D.W. Griffith's ONE EXCITING NIGHT (1922) Old Dark House Silent Horror/Mystery

Description

Vintage original 3.25 x 4 in. US "coming attraction" glass slide from the 1920s silent film mystery/horror comedy,
ONE EXCITING NIGHT
, released in 1922 by United Artists and
directed by D.W. Griffith
. A young orphan girl, courted by an unpleasant older wealthy man who has a hold over her adoptive mother, falls in love with a young stranger at a party. Odd noises begin to be heard as a group of bootleggers clandestinely try to get away with their hidden loot. One of them is killed and the young man is suspected of being the killer.
Manufactured by the Excelsior Illustrating Company of NYC, the image depicts co-stars Henry Hull and Carol Dempster reacting to something frightening off-camera along with the film's climatic storm sequence. It is in very fine+ condition as shown without any flaws.
One Exciting Night
is widely considered to be the first American "old dark house/haunted house film."
One Exciting Night
was reportedly inspired by the huge success of the Mary Roberts Rinehart/Avery Hopwood play,
The Bat,
but the film saw an underwhelming response at test screenings. 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. When the picture premiered at the Apollo Theatre in New York City on Oct. 23, 1922, Bell Telephone set up a "broadcasting apparatus" and aired the film over the radio, where listeners could "follow the progress of the film by the music of the orchestra, and by the laughter of the audience," according to the Oct 28, 1922
Exhibitors Trade Review
. This reportedly marked the first time a film premiere had a radio broadcast.
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.