Zudora
Also known as The Twenty Million Dollar Mystery and The Demon Shadow in the USA : [Zudora in the Twenty Million Dollar Mystery]
(1914-1915) United States of America
B&W : Serial / 20 chapters
Directed by Howell Hansell
Cast: Marguerite Snow [Zudora], James Cruze [Jim Baird, a reporter; and Hassam Ali], Harry Benham [John Storm], Sidney Bracy [Detective Tom Hunt], Frank Farrington [Captain Radcliffe], Mary Elizabeth Forbes [Madame Duval], Jane Fairbanks [Mrs. Ramsey], Morgan Niblack [Bruce], Helen Badgley, [?] Florence La Badie?
Thanhouser Film Corporation production; distributed by Thanhouser Syndicate Corporation through Mutual Film Corporation. / Scenario by Lloyd Lonergan, [?] Daniel Carson Goodman and Harold McGrath? (episodes [?] 1-9?), Howell Hansell (episodes [?] 10, 13-20?), and Francis Worchester Doughty and Howell Hansell (episodes [?] 11-12?), from a screen story by Daniel Carson Goodman. / 20 chapters: © 26 September 1914 (as the screen story “Zudora”) by Daniel Carson Goodman [LU3522]; [1] “The Mystic Message of the Spotted Collar,” © 4 November 1914 (as “The Mystery of the Spotted Collar”) by Thanhouser Syndicate Corporation [LU3652], released 23 November 1914; [2] “The Mystery of the Sleeping House,” © 2 December 1914 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU3887]; [3] “The Mystery of the Dutch Cheese Maker,” © 2 December 1914 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU3888]; [4] “The Mystery of the Frozen Laugh,” © 4 November 1914 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU3651], © 28 December 1914 (as “The Mystery of the Haunted Hills”) by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4112]; [5] “The Secret of the Haunted Hills,” © 28 December 1914 (as “The Mystery of the Perpetual Glare”) by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4113]; [6] “The Mystery of the Perpetual Glare,” © 29 December 1914 (as “The Case of the McWinter Family”) by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4057]; [7] “The Mystery of the Lost Ships,” © 6 January 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4115]; [8] “The Foiled Elopement”; [9] “Kidnapped; or, The Mystery of the Missing Heiress”; [10] “Zudora in the $20,000,000 Mystery; or, The Gentlemen Crooks and the Lady,” © 18 January 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4236]; [11] “A Message from the Heart,” © 3 February 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4353]; [12] “A Bag of Diamonds,” © 3 February 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4352]; [13] “The Raid on the Madhouse; or, The Secret of Dr. Munn’s Sanitarium,” © 12 March 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4823]; [14] “The Missing Millions,” © 12 March 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4824]; [15] “The Ruby Coronet,” © 12 March 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4825]; [16] “The Battle on the Bridge,” © 12 March 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4826]; [17] “The Island of Mystery,” © 12 March 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4827]; [18] “The Cipher Code,” © 20 March 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4771]; [19] “The Prisoner in the Pilot House,” © 20 March 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4772]; [20] “The Richest Woman in the World,” © 1 April 1915 by Thanhouser Film Corporation [LU4897]. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / The serial was renamed The Twenty Million Dollar Mystery after the release of chapter nine. The serial was edited down to ten chapters and rereleased as The Demon Shadow on State Rights basis by Arrow Film Corporation in 1919.
Drama: Mystery.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost : Incomplete prints exist in the Library of Congress film archive [chapters 1 and 2]; in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences film archive [chapter 1]; in the George Eastman Museum film archive [unidentified chapter]; in the film holdings of Film Preservation Associates (Blackhawk Films collection); and in private film collections [chapter 8: super 8mm reduction positives].
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Serials
Listing updated: 14 January 2017.
References: Lahue-Bound p. 58; Lahue-Continued pp. 16, 62a, 159-160, 284, 289; LoC-MoPic-2 pp. 887-888, 983-984; Slide-Aspects pp. 73, 75; Stedman-Serials pp. 15, 47; Tarbox-Lost p. 172 : Website-IMDb; Website-SerSq : with additional information provided by Eric Stott and Robert Youhouse.
Home video: DVD.
|