The Devil’s Needle (1916) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Release, runtime and language

1916 · 66 mins

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Directed by

Chester Withey

Starring

Tully Marshall, F.A. Turner, Monte Blue, Marguerite Marsh, Norma Talmadge, Howard Gaye

Renee, a French artist’s model, uses morphine and convinces a neurotic painter that it “kindles the fires of genius,” causing his addiction, artistic decline, and a marriage that drags his new model into the same decay. Overcome with guilt, Renee intervenes to save them both. The film was briefly banned in Ohio, then cleared for its moral message. This edition uses a 35 mm preservation print of the 1923 re‑release, the surviving copy, though nitrate decay mars parts of it.