The Restless Spirit is a 1913 American silent short drama film written and directed by Allan Dwan, featuring J. Warren Kerrigan, Lon Chaney (in a dual role),[1] and Pauline Bush.

The film is based on Thomas Gray's 1751 poem, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, and tells the story of a man who wishes to be a conqueror.

The film makes use of numerous dissolves which were technically difficult to execute, and reportedly sent the cameraman to the hospital due to stress.

[3] The groundwork for The Restless Spirit began when Allan Dwan visited Universal's offices in New York City in late July 1913.

Frederic Lombardi believes that it was during this meeting that Carl Laemmle offered Dwan's colleagues double their pay from Flying A if they would come to Universal.

Dwan credits the idea to adapt and produce a film on Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard as a betting challenge.

[6] Dwan was also able to convince his employers that the work would be a box office success and intended to use the film a prestigious multi-role vehicle for Kerrigan's debut at Universal.

[6] The film's ethereal aspects and double exposures were performed in the camera because the ability to create the effects in lab did not yet exist.

Dwan made 24 dissolves in the film, each required precise control by the cameramen and that the counts had to be exact otherwise the shot would be ruined.

Dwan also claimed that by the time 15 dissolves were done that the cinematographer was so nervous that it would keep him up at night and cause his hands to shake so greatly that an assistant would have to reload the film at the right spot before shots.

[8][9] The second image found in the estate depicts Lon Chaney in the role of a primitive wild man, which Mirsalis says occurs in a fantasy sequence in the film.

[20] The Unique theater, also of El Paso, would show the film on October 29 due to a "slip-up" with Universal's New York office.