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The Alster Case
(1915) United States of America
B&W : Five reels
Directed by J. Charles Haydon
Cast: Bryant Washburn [George Swan], John H. Cossar [Trask], Ruth Stonehouse [Beatrice], Anne Leigh [May Walsh], Louise Crolius [Cornelia Alster], Betty Scott [Linda], Arthur W. Bates [Keith], Roderick LaRocque (Rod La Rocque) [Allen Longstreet], Beatrice Styler [Agnes]
Essanay Film Manufacturing Company production; distributed by V-L-S-E, Incorporated. / From the novel The Alster Case by Rufus Gillmore. Cinematography by Arthur E. Reeves and Jackson J. Rose. / © 17 November 1915 by Essanay Film Manufacturing Company [LP7001]. Released 6 December 1915. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / The film was rereleased in the USA on State Rights basis by Victor Kremer Film Features, Incorporated, in 1920.
Drama: Mystery.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Miss Cornelia Alster, a wealthy spinster, secretly makes George Swan, a poor lawyer’s clerk, executor of her estate. That night, she goes to a theatre and returns home unexpectedly, discovers her two wards, Beatrice and Linda, in what she thinks is an affair with two men. As a matter of fact, Linda is fighting Keith, the butler, who is using some knowledge of her to force her to give him money. Beatrice is entertaining her sweetheart, Allen Longstreet, a young inventor. Miss Alster waits in her room, determined to see who the men are. The next day she is found murdered. Trask, a noted detective, is put on the trail. He runs down five clues, the last leading to the criminal. It is a baffling story and an unexpected denouement. The criminal is in the cast. Which one do you think committed the crime? • Additional synopsis available in AFI-F1 n. F1.0075.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Crime: Blackmail, Murder - Death: Murder - Domestics: Butlers - Guardians - Inventors - Law: Enforcement (Police: Detectives), Judicial (Law clerks) - Reputation - Spinsters - Wards
Listing updated: 13 January 2025.
References: AFI-F1 n. F1.0075; Tarbox-Lost pp. 250, 257 : Website-IMDb.
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