The Dream Woman (lost drama horror film; 1914)
The Poster
Status: Lost
Tags: Historic
The Dream Woman was a film directed by Alice Guy (Alice Blaché) and written by Alice Guy and Wilkie Collins (who wrote the novel it was based on). It starred Fraunie Fraunholz as Francis Raven and Claire Whitney as Alice Warlock (The Woman in black). Only 14 photos of the film appear to exist, and they can be found on the film's IMDB page.
Summary
The hero (Francis Raven) is haunted by a dream of a young woman trying to stab him with a knife. Every birthday the dreams become more lifelike. When he leaves home, to find a place as a groom, he gets lost and has to take a night at an Inn. When he wakes from his dream, he finds the "dream woman" standing over him with a knife. His panic wakes the Innkeeper who come upstairs to find no intruder and remove him for the disturbance. The apparition appears again, causing him to run until he collapses in his mother's arms. Soon after he grows fascinated with a young woman (Alice Warlock) and later marries her. However, Alice is often drunk, and after a fight, she vows to kill him with the knife in his dreams. Francis attempts to dispose of it, but is attacked and loses the knife. A few years elapse and Francis is employed as a second Groom. During the celebrations however, Alice finds him, recognises him, and kills him with the knife. Finally, the film ends in the spirit world.
The assumed plot seems to have been taken from the novel it was based on, as it is assumed that it would follow the same structure.
The Forbidden Room
This film was partially remade, along with some other lost films of the era, as part of the Forbidden Room (2015), by Guy Maddin. However it was partially in colour, as was the style in the film.