The original 'dream me, dream me' romance that Inception wishes it could cry about.
Architect Peter Ibbetson is hired by the Duke of Towers to design a building for him. Ibbetson discovers that the Duchess of Towers, Mary, is his now-grown childhood sweetheart. Their love revives, but Peter is sentenced to life in prison for an accidental killing. Mary comes to him in dreams and they are able to live out their romance in a dream world.
Acting
Wallace Reid's final tragic performance before his death.
Cinematography
Dream sequences that invented visual poetry for longing.
Direction
Fitzmaurice squeezing eternity into 62 minutes.
Director
George Fitzmaurice
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Wallace Reid was Hollywood's biggest male star when his morphine addiction, from a 1919 injury, killed him at 31—making this his haunting farewell.
The film is mostly lost; only fragments survive, making every remaining frame feel like stolen time—fitting for a movie about love in stolen dreams.
US
