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The Bells is a 1926 American silent crime film directed by James Young and starring Lionel Barrymore and Boris Karloff. It was based on an 1867 French stage play called Le Juif Polonais by Erckmann-Chatrian. The play was translated to English in 1871 by Leopold Lewis at which time it was retitled The Bells. The English version of the play was performed in the U.S. in the 19th century by Sir Henry Irving. Le Juif Polonais was also adapted into an opera of the same name in three acts by Camille Erlanger, composed to a libretto by Henri Cain.