October 26: Those Who Dare (1924)

 

Those Who Dare was a sea-voyage drama that featured supernatural practices (and capitalized on superstitions about non-Christian religions) released in 1924 by Creative Pictures. The main "horror" element of the film was the practice of voodoo. Even today the voodoo trope is used in the horror films; in 1924 adding the practice of some form of voodoo to the claustrophobic confines of an ocean voyage would have been extremely menacing to an all white audience.  Though a print was discovered in Italy, the film has not been restored; so we don't have as many source materials or extant stills or posters to go on as we do many of the film's contemporaries . The over all story concerns a ship that is ordered removed from a harbor because it is considered cursed. Largely the story was told in flashback, as the current captain tells the story of how he came to be in possession of the ship. The story involved him encountering the ship at sea, finding a mutineering crew aboard that were under a "voodoo spell" by a voodoo priest (or some such). He bests the evil man; and the captain, grateful, just gives him the ship. Implausible at best! The film went by a couple of different titles, including Superstition, a poster of which is posted below. There are two silent horror connections in the film and both concern cast members who acted in two famous horror films (one before this production, and one after). The most important of these is Sheldon Lewis, who is playing the evil voodoo sorcerer "Serpent Smith." Lewis had been a member of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) cast with John Barrymore; he would go on to appear in other horrors in the 30's and principally remembered for The Monster Walks (1932). The other connection is Cesare Gravina, who would later be a member of the cast of Leni's The Man Who Laughed.