The Restless Spirit

The Restless Spirit (1913)

The Dreamer is unhappy with his marriage and runs away. He collapses and is found by The Desert Flower, who convince him to return to his family. In various illusions he sees himself in three stories. In first is Napoleon. In the second he is a Knight. And in the third a Sultan. But in all the illusions he die. Meanwhile his wife is about to be send into the desert while refusing to remarry a Stranger. Before this could happen, the Dreamer arrives and send the Stranger into the desert. He becomes again a loved and respected member of the Town.

Date of release
1913-10-27
TMDB
10.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
30m
Genres
Drama
Director
Allan Dwan

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

The Restless Spirit is a 1913 American silent short drama film written and directed by Allan Dwan, featuring J. Warren Kerrigan, Lon Chaney, and Pauline Bush. The film is based on Thomas Gray's 1751 poem, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, and tells the story of a man who wishes to be a conqueror. A series of illusions follows which show him the futility of conquest when he cannot even conquer his own community.

Production

The groundwork for The Restless Spirit began when Allan Dwan visited Universal's offices in New York City in late July 1913. Frederic Lombardi believes that it was during this meeting that Carl Laemmle offered Dwan's colleagues double their pay from Flying A if they would come to Universal. In the following weeks, J. Warren Kerrigan came to Universal and the two would work together in the production of The Restless Spirit.

The film's ethereal aspects and double exposures were performed in the camera because the ability to create the effects in lab did not yet exist. Dwan made 24 dissolves in the film, each required precise control by the cameramen and that the counts had to be exact otherwise the shot would be ruined.

This production may have been the last unbilled movie credit of Lon Chaney. The discovery of Lon Chaney's role was through Chaney having marked his appearance in a still with an X above his head. Chaney wrote "This is me just below the X sign. Here I am a Russian Prince" on the back of the still. The image leaves no question that it comes from The Restless Spirit because it also appeared on the cover of The Universal Weekly for October 23, 1913.

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