 Universal assigned Leni to the project under the assumption that his previous success would yield significant box-office results.It is based on the 1922 play of the same name by Thomas F. Fallon, which ran for 238 performances from October 24, 1922, until May 1923 at the Klaw Theatre.Fallon's play was in turn based on the story "House of Fear" by Wadsworth Camp, the father of writer Madeleine L'Engle.