Suspense (1913) is a short, silent thriller, starring Lois Weber, who also wrote the screenplay and co-directed the film. Weber stars as The Wife, a mother who is at home with her newborn child while her husband, played by Val Paul, is at work. Their home is in a secluded area, miles from town where the husband works. When the isolation proves to be too much for their servant, who is tasked with caring for the wife and newborn, the servant quits with no warning, leaving a key to the house under the doormat. Unbeknownst to the servant, a tramp (Sam Kaufman) is lurking about the house and witnesses the key being left outside the door, giving him a clean entry into the home. Realizing the servant has left and she and her child are in immediate danger, the wife calls her husband and he must race home before it's too late.

For years, it was rumored that Lon Chaney had an uncredited role in Suspense as a hobo. This is debunked by Chaney historian and biographer Michael Blake in his book A Thousand Faces: Lon Chaney's Unique Artistry in Motion Pictures. Despite this information, this rumor persists and is disputed to this day.

Lois Weber was a groundbreaking director and auteur, pushing boundaries in not only her position as a female director in a male dominated profession, but in the content of her films, which often highlighted various controversial social issues, like Where Are My Children? (1916), which boldly addresses birth control and abortion. Weber also created pioneering camera techniques such as the split-screen, which she used in Suspense. Weber also experimented with the use of sound in her films. In 1917, Weber founded her own movie studio, becoming the first woman to do so. Weber had close to one hundred forty directorial credits to her name, including the now lost The Merchant of Venice (1914), the first full-length feature film directed by a woman.

Director: Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber
Screenplay: Lois Weber
Production Company: Rex Motion Picture Company
Cast: Lois Weber (The Wife), Valentine "Val" Paul (The Husband), Douglas Gerrard (The Pursuer), and Sam Kaufman (The Tramp)
B&W-10m.

Sources:
The Silent Feminists by Anthony Slide

By Jill Blake