The Sealed Room (1909)

The Sealed Room
Directed by : D.W. Griffith
Written by : Honoré de Balzac, Edgar Allan Poe, Frank E. Woods
Starring : Arthur V. Johnson, Marion Leonard , Henry B. Walthall
Mary Pickford, Mack Sennett
Music by : Robert Israel
Cinematography : G.W. Bitzer
Distributed by : Biograph Company
Release date : September 2, 1909
Running time : 11 minutes
Country : United States
Language : Silent film

The Sealed Room :

The Sealed Room is an eleven-minute film released in 1909. Directed by D.W. Griffith, the film's cast included Arthur V. Johnson, Marion Leonard, Henry B. Walthall, Mary Pickford, and Mack Sennett. The film was also known as The Sealed Door.

Plot
The film's theme of immurement draws inspiration from Balzac's "La Grande Bretêche", 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.