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[The Mystery of the Glass Cage]
Also known as The Mystery of the Glass Cage in the USA
(1914) Italy
B&W : (length unknown)
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: (unknown)
Società Anonima Ambrosio production; distributed by Società Anonima Ambrosio. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / The film was released in the USA as The Mystery of the Glass Cage by Ambrosio American Company in March 1914.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Mr. and Mrs. Robert Morris are visited by their friend Mrs. Dalbret. They arrange to go for a short excursion on a sailing yacht. Among other passengers on board is Baron Dacre, who is anxious to make the acquaintance of Mr. Morris and his party and being utterly unscrupulous as to his methods he has one of his henchmen push Mrs. Morris overboard as if by accident. The Baron then plunges in to her rescue. Of course Mr. Morris is very grateful to his wife’s rescuer. They exchange cards and the Baron is formally presented to the two ladies. In the meantime we see the Baron’s valet reading a newspaper account of “another mysterious death” of a rich clubman, who after winning heavily at the Casino, a fashionable gambling club, is found dead and the police attribute it to suicide. The valet chuckles over their stupidity, for he well knows the secret of their death. A few days later, Mr. and Mrs. Morris with their guest decide to attend a masque ball at the Casino and the Baron lays his plans accordingly. He induces Morris to try his luck at “rouge-et-noir” and he wins a large amount. The Baron has two women accomplices who are to be introduced to Morris and to make up a supper party at the Baron’s house. By accident, however, Mrs. Morris and Mrs. Dalbret being masked and dressed very much like the other two ladies, are mistaken for them by the Baron, and when he tells them mysteriously to come with him and “follow instructions” they think it is some practical joke and fall in with his plans. They all go to the Baron’s house and the Baron gets Morris alone in a room and while he is seated talking, suspecting nothing, the Baron touches an electric button and a large glass cage descends and imprisons him. He thinks it a joke and laughs heartily, but as he notes the change in the Baron’s expression, a vague fear seizes him, for the smile of friendship has given place to a crafty, cruel, leer, of triumph. The Baron then explains that the cage can be filled with a deadly gas and to emphasize his statement he slowly turns it on. As the poisonous fumes begin to affect his victim, the Baron opens a small window in the cage and tells Morris he can save his life by giving up all the cash he has with him and also signing a check for $15,000. Morris indignantly refuses, but as the gas is turned on stronger he realizes that he is in the power of a merciless demon and hands over his money and signs the check. After securing the money, however, the fiendish assassin sets his infernal mechanism to pour in a still greater volume of gas, so as to insure the death of Morris. In the meantime the two ladies becoming tired of waiting in another part of the house, come into the room and discover Morris in the cage. They are unable to release him and seek a means of escape to go for help. As the outer doors are locked, Mrs. Morris lifts Mrs. Dalbret through an attic window, where she makes her way over the roof and along a narrow cornice to the adjoining house and is assisted to the street. Mrs. Morris after Mrs. Dalbret escapes, secures a heavy knife and succeeds in cutting the pipe which carries the gas into the cage, but is herself overcome by the fumes. The Baron after counting and gloating over his ill-gotten gains discovers Mrs. Morris unconscious and carries her upstairs to the “death room,” where he finds to his astonishment that Morris is reviving and the gas is no longer flowing. While he is examining the apparatus the door is broken in by the officers led by Mrs. Dalbret and the scoundrel is arrested. Morris is released from the cage and falls into the embrace of his faithful wife and her brave friend who have rescued him from a terrible death.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: (unknown) [Italy]; Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 2 May 2021.
References: Tarbox-Lost p. 209 : Website-IMDb.
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