A slight tale of frustrated love between a fisherman's wife and a wealthy man, both of whom are unhappily married. Their tale is compared to the legend of a maiden parted from her love and imprisoned in a sea shell. The existing film is incomplete so we never learn the outcome, but it's worth watching for one of Lon Chaney's earliest surviving films.

ncomplete short has Cleo Madison telling her daughter a story about the noise in a seashell while her husband (Lon Chaney) is away fishing. The woman dreams of becoming rich one day and it seems her wishes are granted when a rich man pulls up on shore. The final six minutes of the film are missing so there's no way of knowing if she leaves with the man or stays with her husband. The most important thing about this early Universal short is that Chaney plays two roles including a hunchback in a dream sequence. The hunchback scenes have him in limited make-up but it looks okay. The special effects are pretty good for the time and Madison makes for a good lead. Hopefully the final minutes will be found someday.

Kinda lame, also partially lost.

A slight tale of frustrated love between a fisherman's wife and a wealthy man, both of whom are unhappily married. Their tale is compared to the legend of a maiden parted from her love and imprisoned in a sea shell. The existing film is incomplete so we never learn the outcome, but it's worth watching for one of Lon Chaney's earliest surviving films.

1915

Technically incomplete, but this does feature Chaney in an early role, and as a hunchback, no less.

Overall, a visually imaginative and pretty fun effort from Cleo Madison, that affords Chaney plenty of opportunity to leave an impression.

YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHMxsuHuPTI

Fun and sad, as tales of the sea often are.

ncomplete short has Cleo Madison telling her daughter a story about the noise in a seashell while her husband (Lon Chaney) is away fishing. The woman dreams of becoming rich one day and it seems her wishes are granted when a rich man pulls up on shore. The final six minutes of the film are missing so there's no way of knowing if she leaves with the man or stays with her husband. The most important thing about this early Universal short is that Chaney plays two roles including a hunchback in a dream sequence. The hunchback scenes have him in limited make-up but it looks okay. The special effects are pretty good for the time and Madison makes for a good lead. Hopefully the final minutes will be found someday.

Watched on Flicker Alley's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)