The Man Beneath

The Man Beneath is a 1919 American silent crime drama film directed by William Worthington and produced by Sessue Hayakawa's Haworth Pictures Corporation.^[1] A complete copy of the film is in the collection of the EYE Film Institute Netherlands.^[2][3]

The Man Beneath
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Directed by	William Worthington
Based on	Only a Nigger by Edmund Mitchell
Produced by	Sessue Hayakawa
Starring	Sessue Hayakawa Helen Jerome Eddy Pauline Curley John Gilbert
Cinematography	Frank D. Williams
Production company	Haworth Pictures Corporation
Distributed by	Exhibitors Mutual Robertson-Cole Distributing Corporation
Release date	July 6, 1919 (1919-07-06) (USA)
Running time	50 min.
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Plot

As described in a film magazine,^[4] Kate Erskine (Eddy) and her sister Mary (Curley) love Dr. Chindi Ashutor (Hayakawa) and James Bassett (Gilbert), respectively, the latter having been college chums, one being a noted physician while the other pursuing no occupation as yet. Mary and Bassett become engaged while Dr. Ashutor goes to aid his countrymen in plague-stricken India. While he is away Bassett receives a summons from the Black Hand, an order he joined in his youth for adventure. Feeling his life in danger, he goes to Dr. Ashutor in India and with his aid almost succeeds in establishing his feigned death as a reality. However, the spies of the order follow them to Scotland and to the home of the Erskines. Here Dr. Ashutor is instrumental in finally ridding Bassett from the menace of the order. Mary and Bassett then marry, while the situation of Kate and Dr. Ashutor remains undecided.

The Man Beneath Lobbycard

Cast

• Sessue Hayakawa as Dr. Chindi Ashutor
• Helen Jerome Eddy as Kate Erskine
• Pauline Curley as Mary Erskine
• John Gilbert as James Bassett (credited as Jack Gilbert)
• Fontaine La Rue as Countess Petite Florence
• Wedgwood Nowell as François
• Fanny Midgley (uncredited)

Reception

Variety's review was mixed, praising the acting but criticizing the editing and intertitles for being confusing.^[5]

Moving Picture World's review by Margaret I. MacDonald was positive, calling the film "thrillingly adventurous" and "dramatically romantic."^[6]