The Ghost Breaker

The Ghost Breaker is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar C. Apfel and based on the 1909 Broadway play of the same name by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures under the Famous Players–Lasky banner. The Ghost Breaker was possibly the first film in a long line of haunted-house horror films with the same story. A 1922 remake of the same name starred Wallace Reid and Lila Lee. The original film was also remade as The Ghost Breakers (1940) with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard, and as Scared Stiff (1953) with Martin and Lewis. The film is now considered lost. Plot Somewhere in Spain, Princess Maria Theresa is examining her jewels one day when she accidentally drops a casket causing a secret compartment to open. Within this compartment, she finds an old piece of paper that describes a locket containing a map of a mysterious location. The Princess assumes that it is the way to the Aragon family’s lost treasure. She attempts to locate the locket but concludes that it has been stolen. Her maid, Carmencita stole the locket and sold it to an American art dealer named Gains. Carmencita gets stabbed by Juanita, a jealous rival in love. With her dying breath, Carmencita informs the Princess and Prince what she did with the locket and the search begins. Duke D’Alva eavesdrops on the exchange and decides he wants to find the locket first.