The Moonstone | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Reginald Barker |
Produced by | Paul Malvern |
Written by | Adele Buffington |
Based on |
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins |
Starring |
David Manners Phyllis Barry |
Cinematography | Robert H. Planck |
Edited by | Jack Ogilvie Carl Pierson |
Distributed by | Monogram Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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62 minutes 46 minutes (DVD) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Moonstone is a 1934 American mystery film directed by Reginald Barker and starring David Manners, Phyllis Barry, Gustav von Seyffertitz and Jameson Thomas. It is an adaptation of the 1868 novel The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. The film retains the book's British location, but uses a contemporary 1930s setting rather than the Victorian era of the original. It is one of three film versions of the novel, which include silent versions in 1915 and 1909, although a number of television and radio adaptations have been made.
As with the book, the film is based around the Herncastle Moonstone, a valuable diamond from India.
The film was made by Monogram Studios, one of the smaller Hollywood outfits often known collectively as Poverty Row. The adaptation of a prestigious British Victorian novel marked a break from their usual films which were generally cheaply made American-set Westerns. To fit the story into a limited running time, large amounts of the original novel are dropped from the adaptation.