The Silence of Dean Maitland

Clip 3: A life sentence

2 min 32 sec

Taken from the feature The Silence of Dean Maitland (1934)

Original title classification not known – this clip chosen to be PG

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Curator’s clip description

Maitland (John Longden) has fallen asleep in the church, praying for the strength to confess his crime and clear his friend of murder charges. He’s about to tell the police when he sees the headlines – Alma Lee (Charlotte Francis) has lied to the court, saying that Dr Everard (John Warwick) was her lover. Maitland rushes to court to stop an unjust verdict, but his heart cannot take the strain. Everard gets a life sentence.

Curator’s notes

Classic melodrama – the kind of scene that was common in silent films but harder to bring off in a sound film. Ken Hall was concerned about the rampant melodrama of the story and did his best to reduce it in the final script. Audiences loved it, nevertheless.

Paul Byrnes, curator

australian screen