page_title: The Circular Staircase
section_title: Adaptations
hierarchical_section_title: The Circular Staircase / Adaptations
caption_attribution_description: English: Advertisement for film version of Mary Roberts Rinehart’s novel The Circular Staircase, 1915
context_page_description: The Circular Staircase is a mystery novel by American writer Mary Roberts Rinehart. The story follows dowager Rachel Innes as she thwarts a series of strange crimes at a summer house she has rented with her niece and nephew. The novel was Rinehart's first bestseller and established her as one of the era's most popular writers. The story was serialized in All-Story for five issues starting with the November 1907 issue, then published in book form by Bobbs-Merrill in 1908.
  Rinehart was inspired to write the novel after a visit to Melrose, a Gothic Revival castle in Northern Virginia.
  The Circular Staircase pioneered what became known as the "had I but known" school of mystery writing, which often feature female protagonists and narrators who foreshadow impending danger and plot developments by reflecting on what they might have done differently. Rinehart employed this formula in many of her later works, and it inspired dozens of subsequent stories. The novel was adapted for the screen twice: as a silent film in 1915, and for the television series Climax! in 1956.
context_section_description: In 1912, Rinehart's friend Beatrice DeMille, mother of Cecil B. Demille, tried to work out a deal for her son's new film company to purchase the rights to The Circular Staircase and another Rinehart story. Though this failed to come together, Rinehart was soon able to sell her work to film companies, beginning with a group of comic stories that Essanay Studios adapted as short films in 1914. In 1915, Rinehart sold the film rights to The Circular Staircase to Selig Polyscope Company for an apparently small amount. The silent film, released in 1915, was the first feature-length adaptation of Rinehart's work. It was directed by Edward LeSaint and starred Guy Oliver as Halsey, Eugenie Besserer as Ray, and Stella Razeto as Gertrude. It received lukewarm reviews; one critic wrote that it followed the novel too closely to be effectively cinematic. The film is now lost.
  The Circular Staircase was also adapted for an episode of the television series Climax! that aired on June 21, 1956. The episode starred Judith Anderson as Rachel Innes.
caption: Advertisement for film version, 1915
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