The Bells is a 1926 American silent crime film directed by James Young and starring Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff.

[1] It was based on an 1867 French stage play called Le Juif Polonais (The Polish Jew) by Erckmann-Chatrian.

Le Juif Polonais was also adapted into an opera of the same name in three acts by Camille Erlanger, composed to a libretto by Henri Cain.

In order to gain favor with local leaders, he offers food and alcohol on credit, but often refuses to collect, much to the dismay of his wife Catharine.

He suffers hallucinations and nightmarish dreams of the murdered man until the final reel, in which he confesses his crime aloud to the ghost, then collapses, dead.