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Do the Dead Talk? (1920): The Drama Cult Classic You Need to See | Dbcult

Do the Dead Talk?

Name: Do the Dead Talk?
Director: Jack MacCullough
Released: 1920
Cast: H.A. Cross, Stanley Wheyman, Constantin Panton, Willard Burt, Josephine Stevenson

1920Jack MacCulloughIMDb: /10

Synopsis

On her deathbed, an aged woman recluse promises to repay young siblings Dorothy and Bobbie Carleton for their friendship. During the Galveston tidal wave of 1900, the children are separated.

Director

Jack MacCullough

Cast

Grant Foreman

Stanley Wheyman

Constantin Panton

H.A. Cross

Editor's Choice Analysis

Do the Dead Talk? (1900) – Silent Gothic Thriller Review & Hidden Ending Explained

Spine-tingling, sea-soaked, and spiritually scorched—this forgotten fever dream deserves a resurrection. There is a moment—hushed, almost offhand—when the camera in Do the Dead Talk? lingers on a candlewick drowning in its own wax. Nothing in the intertitle heralds the shot, yet the flame shudders, leans, expires. In...

Archivist John

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1920

Do the Dead Talk?

Jack MacCullough

ScoreCult MeterScore

50%Popularity50%

#281Archive Rank#492

1920

A Sister to Salome

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Knowledge Base

Do the Dead Talk? FAQ

The movie Do the Dead Talk? was directed by Jack MacCullough.

Do the Dead Talk? was released in the year 1920.

Do the Dead Talk? is a movie from United States.

Do the Dead Talk? is categorised as Drama in the cult cinema archive at Dbcult.

Do the Dead Talk? features Grant Foreman, Stanley Wheyman, Constantin Panton, H.A. Cross.

The screenplay for Do the Dead Talk? was written by H.A. Cross, Jack MacCullough.

If you enjoy Do the Dead Talk?, you might also like A Sister to Salome (1920), The Great Shadow (1920), The Night Riders (1920), In the River (1920).

Yes, Do the Dead Talk? (1920) is featured in the Dbcult archive as a curated cult cinema title, known for its Drama qualities.

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Summary

Galveston, 1900: a wall of salt water erases childhood in a single night, shredding the Carleton siblings like paper dolls in a storm drain. The girl, memory scoured blank, is salvaged by a sea-captain who rechristens her Blanche; the boy, lifted from flotsam by a scalpel-wielding benefactor, is retooled into Robert, surgical prodigy. Years unspool—corn-silk summers, gaslit autumns—while an aging recluse’s deathbed vow coils like smoke around their fates. A candle topples without touch, a jack-o’-lantern flares into inferno, and each time the same spectral ledger forces the almost-lovers to confront the blood they share. The film is a séance conducted on celluloid, a whispered dare: if the dead speak, do we dare answer without scorching the living?

Synopsis

On her deathbed, an aged woman recluse promises to repay young siblings Dorothy and Bobbie Carleton for their friendship. During the Galveston tidal wave of 1900, the children are separated. Bobbie is adopted by a surgeon, Dr. Richard Stanton, while Dorothy, suffering from amnesia, is adopted by Captain Smith. Two years later, Bobbie, now called Robert, visits the country and rescues Dorothy, now called Blanche, from an attacker. Six months later, while taking food to needy people, Dorothy is attacked by tramps in a deserted shack. An unseen spirit tips the candle lighting the room, and Dorothy escapes. Robert, nearby, feels an urge to go to his window. Seeing Dorothy running, he thrashes her pursuers. Later, in New York, Dorothy's clothes catch fire as she decorates a jack-o'-lantern for Halloween. Robert, now Stanton's partner, saves her. They fall in love and plan to marry, but as he is about to sign the marriage contract, Robert, because of a spiritual force, is moved to write that Dorothy is his sister. He examines a scar on her leg to confirm this, and the catastrophe is averted.

Review Excerpt

" Spine-tingling, sea-soaked, and spiritually scorched—this forgotten fever dream deserves a resurrection. There is a moment—hushed, almost offhand—when the camera in Do the Dead Talk? lingers on a candlewick drowning in its own wax. Nothing in the intertitle heralds the shot, yet the flame shudders, leans, expires. In that splice you sense the entire film inhaling: a century-old caution that love, if misaligned, can cremate the soul more efficiently than any tidal wave. Set designers paint Gal..."

Archivist John

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Do the Dead Talk?

Synopsis

Director

Cast

Editor's Choice Analysis

Do the Dead Talk? (1900) – Silent Gothic Thriller Review & Hidden Ending Explained

A Sister to Salome

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Murphy of Anzac

The Crown of Lies

Do the Dead Talk?

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Comments

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Review Excerpt

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