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Florence La Badie and James Cruze.
Photograph: Silent Era image collection.
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The Million Dollar Mystery
Also known as El misterio del millón de dólares in Spain
(1914) United States of America
B&W : Serial / 23 chapters / 46 reels
Directed by Howell Hansell (Howell Hansel)
Cast: Florence La Badie [Florence Gray Hargreave], Marguerite Snow [Countess Olga Petroff], James Cruze [Jim Norton], Frank Farrington [Braine], Sidney Bracy [John Hargreave; and Jones, the Hargreave butler], Alfred Norton [Stanley Hargreave], Lila Chester [Susan Farlow, Florence’s friend], Mitchell Lewis [the gang leader], Creighton Hale [a gang member], Roy Hauck [the best man], Claire Kroell [Russian Princess Parlova], A. Leo Stevens [the aviator], Albert C. Froome (Albert Froom) [a conspirator], Peggy Burke [a conspirator spy], May Wallace [the wife], Mignon Anderson, Arthur Bauer, Baby Julie Cruze, Irving Cummings, Madeline Fairbanks, Marion Fairbanks, Donald Gallagher (Donald Gallaher), Alexander Hall, Carey L. Hastings, Morgan Jones, Dave Keleher (Daniel Keleher), Lydia Mead, Charles Meade, Eugene Moore, Billy Noel, Joseph Phillips, William A. Sullivan (Billy Sullivan), Nick Woods (N.Z. Wood), The Duke of Manchester [bit part (chapter 7)], Archibald White [bit part (chapter 7)], Mae Tinee [bit part (chapter 11)], John Burke [bit part (chapter 21)], Champ Clark (James Beauchamp Clark) [bit part (chapter 21)], Lindley M. Garrison [bit part (chapter 21)], Thomas R. Marshall [bit part (chapter 21)], Laddie the dog, Shep the dog
Thanhouser Film Corporation production; distributed by Syndicate Film Corporation (Mutual Film Corporation). / Produced by Edwin Thanhouser. Scenario by Lloyd F. Lonergan (Lloyd Lonergan), from a screen story by Harold MacGrath (Harold McGrath). Location manager, Daniel Keleher. Cinematography by George Webber. / 23 chapters (two reels each): [1] [?] “The Airship in the Night” or “A Call in the Night”? released 22 June 1914, © 8 May 1914 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU2654]; [2] [?] “The False Friend” or “The Master's Man”? released 29 June 1914, © 9 June 1914 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU2908]; [3] [?] “A Leap in the Dark” or “The Safe in the Lonely Warehouse”? released 6 July 1914, © 9 June 1914 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU2909]; [4] [?] “The Top Floor Flat” or “The Flat on the Top Floor”? released 13 July 1914, © 9 June 1914 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU2910]; [5] [?] “At the Bottom of the Sea” or “The Problem of the Sealed Box”? released 20 July 1914, no copyright registration; [6] “The Coaching Party of the Countess,” released 27 July 1914, no copyright registration; [7] “The Doom of the Auto Bandits,” released 3 August 1914, no copyright registration; [8] “The Wiles of a Woman,” released 10 August 1914, no copyright registration; [9] [?] “The Leap from an Ocean Liner” or “The Leap in the Dark”? released 17 August 1914, no copyright registration; [10] [?] “The Eavesdropper” or “The Past a Blank”? released 24 August 1914, no copyright registration; [11] “In the Path of the Fast Express,” released 31 August 1914, no copyright registration; [12] “The Elusive Treasure Box,” released 7 September 1914, no copyright registration; [13] [?] “The Secret Agent from Russia” or “An Agent from Russia”? released 14 September 1914, no copyright registration; [14] [?] “Tracked by the Secret Service” or “Norton Makes a Discovery”? released 21 September 1914, no copyright registration; [15] [?] “The Borrowed Hydroplane” or “Another Trap Set”? released 28 September 1914, no copyright registration; [16] [?] “Drawn into the Quicksand” or “Treachery in the Household”? released 5 October 1914, no copyright registration; [17] [?] “A Battle of Wits” or “Setting Traps for Norton”? released 12 October 1914, no copyright registration; [18] [?] “Trapped by the Flames” or “The Masked Ball”? released 19 October 1914, no copyright registration; [19] “A Blank Sheet of Paper,” released 26 October 1914, no copyright registration; [20] [?] “The Secret Warning” or “Braine Tries Another Weapon”? released 2 November 1914, no copyright registration; [21] [?] “The Documents in the Treasure Box” or “A Packet of Papers”? released 9 November 1914, no copyright registration; [22] [?] “The Waterloo of the Conspirators” or “A Night of Adventures”? released 16 November 1914, no copyright registration; [23] [?] “The Missing Million” or “The Solution of the Million Dollar Mystery” or “The Secret of the Million” or “The Mystery Solved”? released [?] 23 November 1914 or 22 February 1915?, no copyright registration. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / Audiences were invited to solve the mystery and win $10,000. The serial was edited to six reels and rereleased as a feature film by Randolph Film Corporation, distributed on State Rights basis through Arrow Film Corporation on 3 June 1918. The story was subsequently filmed as The Million Dollar Mystery (1927).
Drama: Mystery.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Serials
Listing updated: 1 May 2020.
References: Ball-Shakespeare pp. 316, 388; Bardèche-History p. 69; Everson-Detective pp. 23, 25; Lahue-Bound pp. 58, 89; Lahue-Continued pp. 6, 15-16, 62c, 158-159, 286; LoC-MoPic-2 p. 543; Slide-Aspects p. 73; Stedman-Serials pp. 14, 15, 22, 47; Tarbox-Lost p. 155, 169-171 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb; Website-SerSq.
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