| The Sealed Room | |
| Director: | D. W. Griffith |
| Starring: | Arthur V. Johnson Marion Leonard Henry B. Walthall Mary Pickford Mack Sennett |
| Music: | Robert Israel |
| Cinematography: | G. W. Bitzer |
| Distributor: | Biograph Company |
| Runtime: | 11 minutes (original release length 779 feet) |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | Silent film English intertitles |
The Sealed Room (also known as The Sealed Door)[1] is an eleven-minute film released in September 1909. Produced by the Biograph Company and directed by D. W. Griffith, the drama's cast includes Arthur V. Johnson, Marion Leonard, Henry B. Walthall, Mary Pickford, and Mack Sennett. It was distributed to theaters on a split-reel with another film, the three-minute comedy short The Little Darling.
The film's theme of immurement draws inspiration from Balzac's "La Grande Bretêche",[2] and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado". The king constructs a cozy, windowless love-nest for himself and his concubine. However, she is not faithful to her sovereign, but consorts with the court troubadour. In fact, they use the king's new play chamber for their trysts. When the king discovers this, he sends for his masons. With the faithless duo still inside, the masons use stone and mortar to quietly seal the only door to the vault. The two lovers suffocate and the film ends.
others