Camera Obscura - Recap

In 1915 London, moneylender William Sharsted comes to collect from one of his clients, the elderly Mr. Gingold. Gingold invites him in and Sharsted admires his collection of rare paintings. He suggests that Gingold could sell them, but the old man says he has no plans to do so. Sharsted then asks for the 300 pounds owed and reminds Gingold that the debt is due the next Monday in three days. Gingold avoids the issue and takes Sharsted to his study for a glass of sherry.



Gingold finally says that he’s willing to discuss payment of the loan, but first he shows Sharsted a prized device: a camera obscura. As they talk, Gingold asks Sharsted what he is, and Sharsted defensively admits that he’s a moneylender. Gingold then explains that the camera obscura is coupled to prisms and lenses on the roof. It captures images of the surrounding town and projects them on a table in the room. Sharsted is impressed, and Gingold comments that the projection has a softening effect when viewing something from a distance. Gingold then focuses the camera obscura on Mr. Thwitt and says that Sharsted destroyed him. The moneylender insists that he made a perfectly legal transaction, but Gingold says that what is legal is not necessarily just. Sharsted says that he plans to take Thwitt’s house, and warns that he can force Gingold to sell some of his treasured paintings to pay his debt. Gingold focuses on Thwitt, saying that his business is a far cry from humanity. Sharsted, unimpressed, reiterates that the 300 pounds are due in three days and asks if Gingold is ready to pay.



Again, Gingold avoids discussing payment and offers Sharsted another glass of sherry and a tour of the house. When Sharsted refuses and says he’ll be back on Monday, Gingold offers him a view of another rare camera obscura, the only one still in existence. The old man takes Sharsted to a hidden panel and the moneylender hesitates, but Gingold insists, warning that the stairs are very old. Sharsted goes with him to an upstairs room and activates the new device. As it shows images, Sharsted recognizes the Corn Exchange that burned down when he was a boy. Gingold reveals more images, all from the past, including the shop where his father had his moneylending shop. He focuses the image, revealing the shop even though it was destroyed years ago. Sharsted suspects a trick using old slides and turns to go, and Gingold gives him one last chance to reconsider Thwitt’s case. The moneylender refuses and Gingold bids him a final, ominous goodbye.



Sharsted makes his way through the darkened hallway toward the stairs, steps through a door, and finds himself on a unfamiliar street. He approaches a lamplighter and asks if there are any taxis nearby, and realizes that the lamp is a gaslight, despite the fact they haven’t used gas in a quarter-century. A horse-drawn cart goes by, despite the fact no one has used such carts in years. When Sharsted turns back to the lamplighter, he discovers that the man has disappeared. Looking around, Sharsted sees the Corn Exchange and other buildings that he saw on the camera obscura. He believes that Gingold has somehow convinced him to imagine the buildings.

A wagon draws up and Sharsted approaches the driver, who knows him by name. After a moment’s consideration, Sharsted realizes that the driver is Sanderson, a grave robber who was caught and died in prison. Sanderson congratulates him on being a keen lad and drives off. As he goes, Sharsted sees a corpse in the back of the wagon. The moneylender tries to run away but finds himself back at the Corn Exchange. The lamplighter is there and laughs maniacally at him. Running, Sharsted finds another man, Drucker, a war profiteer and partner of his father who is now a rotting corpse. Drucker hung himself rather than face trial, and the noose is still around his neck.



Sharsted runs away, only to find himself back at the Corn Exchange. Another moneylender, Abel Joyce, steps out and Sharsted remembers that that he was at Joyce’s funeral. The dead man laughs at him and the other people in the street, and Sharsted staggers down another road. Sanderson drives his cart toward Sharsted and disappears just before hitting him.

Gingold watches Sharsted on the camera obscura, and the moneylender makes his way to his father’s store. His father, William Senior, is inside and invites him in. Sharsted shatters the glass and finds himself back on the steps of the exchange. As the ghouls and grave robbers close in on him, Sharsted calls out to Gingold. The old man, watching on the camera obscura, says that Sharsted is with his own kind and will spend the rest of eternity in his own making, and then covers the viewing table.



Share this article with your friends