The Fortieth Door
1924 film directed by George B. Seitz
The Fortieth Door is a 1924 American adventure film serial directed by George B. Seitz and starring Allene Ray and Bruce Gordon. The film is considered to be lost. The Library of Congress includes the film among the National Film Preservation Board's updated 2019 list of "7,200 Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films" produced between 1912 and 1929.
Plot
As described in a film magazine review, this desert story concerns Jack Ryder, an American archeologist in Egypt, and Aimee, who is believed to be a Mohammedan. Jack falls in love with Aimee at a dance in a Cairo hotel. Her father agrees to betroth her to a swindling nobleman to keep from being arrested for trading in narcotics. In the ruins of the Egyptian tombs, Jack finds proof that Aimee is a young French woman whose parents had been captured by bandits and had then fallen into the hands of an Egyptian nobleman. All ends well, however, and everyone lives happily thereafter.
Cast
Reception
While the serial consisted mainly of adventures and escapes in the Egyptian desert, its plot also involved archaeological excavations. A contemporary archaeological journal, noting how producers had recently promoted historical accuracy as a feature of their films, stated that The Fortieth Door attempted to bring an overall ancient Egyptian look to scenes with the exterior of a tomb, but the interior lacked any authenticity in its furnishings or jewelry.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Fortieth Door” as 1924 film directed by George B. Seitz. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1924 film directed by George B. Seitz. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7734879. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1924, 2019, 1912 and 1929.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Fortieth Door”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Fortieth Door primary sources, The Fortieth Door archive and Fortieth research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Fortieth Door”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Fortieth Door” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.