The Bells

Inspired by the Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

A classic American horror film that combines elements of the traditional ghost story with shades of Edgar Allan Poe and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", The Bells follows an ambitious innkeeper (Lionel Barrymore) on a downward trajectory into insanity after murdering a wealthy traveler to settle his debts.Though he is not suspected of the crime, the innkeeper is haunted by a hypnotist in a traveling carnival (Boris Karloff), and his conscience is tormented by a blood-smeared apparition of the dead man who comes seeking a confession of his own.

The Bells is digitally mastered from an original tinted-and-toned nitrate 35mm print, and backed with a musical score compiled by Eric Beheim.

Also featured on this DVD is the original American edition of Rene Clair's The Crazy Ray, a delightfully surreal fantasy in which an eccentric scientist freezes the population of Pairs with a mechanical ray of his own invention.