WHILE PARIS SLEEPS

Produced by Maurice Tourneur Productions; Released 1/21/23 by W. W. Hodkinson; Director: Maurice Tourneur; Screenplay: not credited, from The Glory of Love by "Pan" (a pseudonym of Leslie Beresford); Cinematography: René Guissart; 6 reels (4850')

CAST: Lon Chaney (Henri Santados), Mildred Manning (Bebe Larvache), Jack (John) Gilbert (Dennis O'Keefe), Hardee Kirkland (His Father), Jack F. MacDonald (Father Marionette), J. Farrell MacDonald (Georges Morier)

SYNOPSIS: Henri Santados is a sculptor living in the Latin Quarter of Paris. He is in love with his lovely model, Bebe Larvache, but she cares nothing for the artist. She meets Dennis O'Keefe, a wealthy American visiting France, and they are attracted to each other. Santados becomes insanely jealous over the affection Bebe shows Dennis and he plots with Father Marionette, the owner of "The Chamber of Horrors," a wax museum depicting gruesome crimes of history, to do away with him. Dennis' father objects to his son's affair with Bebe and he convinces the girl to give the boy up for his own good. Her one request is to have one final night with Dennis during the Mardi Gras festival. Dennis is to pick her up at the studio before the festival, but Santados tricks her into a compromising position when Dennis enters the studio. The young man leaves, heartbroken at Bebe's apparent infidelity, and is captured by Father Marionette who places him into a torture device in his wax museum. Marionette calls Santados and Bebe hears Dennis groaning in agony over the phone. Georges Morier, a friend of Dennis', arrives in time to save the boy. He is rushed to a hospital where his father finally consents to his marriage to Bebe.

"This feature looks as though it was an old boy that had been lying around for some little time, finally patched up and released to salvage whatever could be got from it. It has all the appearances of a picture that might have been made three or four years ago...Lon Chaney plays the heavy and from the role it is quite evident it must have been shot long before the day he started starring. But Chaney is better in this picture than he has been in some of his more recent efforts." ---Variety

"The story is somewhat gruesome and exaggerated, although similar ideas have been used before in successful dramas. There are no doubt a considerable number of patrons who are fascinated by a strain of morbidity. For this class, the picture will provide thrilling entertainment." ---Moving Picture World

NOTES: The history of the production of WHILE PARIS SLEEPS is a mystery. The film was originally produced by Tourneur under the title THE GLORY OF LOVE in 1920, but for reasons unknown the film was not released. Tourneur may have bought the picture outright from whoever owned it and released it himself in 1923 under the new title. The film was apparently never copyrighted.

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