The Tower of Lies
Victor Sjöström directed Lon Chaney and Norma Shearer in a Swedish tragedy that audiences could once see, but no known print can now replay it.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
A formally released Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer silent drama adapted from Selma Lagerlöf's novel The Emperor of Portugallia.
A devoted farmer loses his grip on reality after his daughter leaves their village and is condemned by its neighbours.
Existence timeline
Sjöström directs the Lagerlöf adaptation.
MGM records the completed seven-reel feature.
The drama begins public exhibition.
Audiences receive the film nationally.
No complete archival copy remains known.
The Library of Congress inventory still lists the feature as lost.
Why it ended
The seven-reel release vanished from accessible film collections during the twentieth century.
Last confirmed trace
Production stills, posters, reviews and studio documentation preserve its images and narrative.
What it left behind
It is a major missing collaboration between Swedish director Victor Sjöström and silent-film star Lon Chaney.
How we classified it
The archive unit reached normal public release or operation and is no longer obtainable in its original public form.
Verified normal public availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.