Walthall stars as Edgar Allan Poe in this rare 1915 film produced by The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company. An ardent reader of Poe's works since childhood no other actor could have portrayed the tortured soul that was Edgar Allan Poe more convincingly than Walthall. This biographical film chronicles the immigration of Poe's ancestors, the embittered life Poe led and his early and untimely death.