The Bells (1926) - James Young

Well the silent film fest is continuing and nearly over. This film is perhaps best marketed today as one of the early appearances of Boris Karloff, whose role here is extremely small as a hypnotist. The film combines all the guilt you'd expect in an Edgar Allen Poe story, but with an ending that doesn't seem to really fit. Gruesome at times, and heavily influenced by German cinema this film has aged somewhat well. As a period film a different era's morals can be employed and a great deal is said about superstition and witchcraft. Lionel Barrymore proves that he never actually was young, but delivers a good performance as the man who most profited by the gruesome death of a travelling Jewish merchant. I admired how his character, despite turning into the "villain" is actually by far the nicest guy in the story, which of course leads to the chilling notion that under the right or wrong depending on your beliefs circumstances anyone is capable of evil. The film is full of expressionistic touches and plenty of ghostly evidence make it one of the finer psychological horror films of its time.