Cirrus@Austlit

A stage play based on the 1886 novel by British author 'Maxwell Gray' (Mary Gleed Tuttiett). The novel was also adapted to the screen by a number of filmmakers, including Raymond Longford's 1914 film The Silence of Dean Maitland; a 1915 version, with 'picture play' (screenplay) written by British author Herbert H. Hainton; a 1915 American film produced under the title Sealed Lips; and Ken G. Hall's 1934 film The Silence of Dean Maitland, with the screenplay written by Gayne Dexter and Edmund Barclay.

Young clergyman Cyril Maitland, engaged to a respectable young woman, falls in love with and impregnates Alma Lee. When her father finds out about the pregnancy, he attacks Maitland and is killed in a fall down the stairs, for which accident Maitland allows his best friend, Dr Henry Everard, to take the blame. Twenty years later, when Everard is released from prison, he seeks revenge on the unfaithful clergyman, now Dean Cyril Maitland.

According to the Daily News (Perth), 'This is a big Australian production, four acts, and a sermon, and when shown in Sydney at the Criterion Theatre a few months ago created universal interest' (Sat. 24 Oct. 1914, p.6). The following month, the same newspaper notes, 'The photographic and histrionic qualities of this production are excellent, the producer having not only kept closely to the text of the novel, but carefully selected his artists with a view to preserving the facial characteristics of the dramatis personae' (Mon. 2 Nov. 1914, p.4).

An adaptation of the 1886 novel The Silence of Dean Maitland by English novelist Mary Gleed Tuttiett (11 Dec 1846 - 21 Sep 1923), who wrote under the pen-name Maxwell Gray. The novel, a popular best-seller, had been made into a successful stage play in the late nineteenth century as The Silence of Dean Maitland and would be subsequently filmed in 1915 in the United States by John Ince (as Sealed Lips) and in 1934 in Australia by Ken G. Hall (as The Silence of Dean Maitland).

Longford's film is one of Australia's lost films.

Cyril Maitland, a young clergyman, falls in love with a young woman called Alma Lee, despite already being engaged. When Alma's father finds out that she is pregnant he attacks Maitland but is accidentally killed in a fall. Maitland's closest friend, Dr Henry Everard, is blamed for the death and subsequently spends 20 years in goal. In all that time neither Lee nor Maitland attempt to clear his name. By the time Everard is released Maitland has become a prominent author and bishop. Not surprisingly Everard's only thought upon release is to seek vengance upon the man who ruined his life.

(Source: Australian Screen)

The film is an adaptation of the 1886 novel The Silence of Dean Maitland by English novelist Mary Gleed Tuttiett (11 Dec 1846 - 21 Sep 1923), who wrote under the pen-name Maxwell Gray. The novel, a popular best-seller, had been made into a successful stage play in the late nineteenth century as The Silence of Dean Maitland and had been previously filmed in 1914 in Australia by Raymond Longford (as The Silence of Dean Maitland) and in 1915 in the United States by John Ince (as Sealed Lips).