The Master Mystery | |
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Directed by | Harry Grossman Burton L. King |
Screenplay by | Arthur B. Reeve Charles Logue |
Produced by | B. A. Rolfe |
Starring | Harry Houdini Marguerite Marsh Ruth Stonehouse Edna Britton William Pike Charles Graham |
Music by | Michael Mortilla |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Octagon Films |
Release date |
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Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
The Master Mystery is a 1918 American mystery silent serial film told in 15 installments. The film was directed by Harry Grossman and Burton L. King and written by Arthur B. Reeve and Charles Logue. The film stars Harry Houdini, Marguerite Marsh, Ruth Stonehouse, Edna Britton, William Pike, and Charles Graham. Episode 1 was released on November 18, 1918, by Octagon Films. [1] [2] It is one of the first films to feature a powered exoskeleton.
Justice Department agent Quentin Locke is investigating a powerful cartel that is protected by The Automaton, a robot. However, it uses a gas weapon known as The Madagascan Madness.
Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician Robert-Houdin (1805–1871).
Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks, and other perils, often in combination.
The year 1919 in film involved some significant events.
The year 1916 in film involved some significant events.
Arthur Benjamin Reeve was an American mystery writer. He is known best for creating the series character Professor Craig Kennedy, sometimes called "The American Sherlock Holmes", and Kennedy's Dr. Watson-like sidekick Walter Jameson, a newspaper reporter, for 18 detective novels. Reeve is famous mostly for the 82 Craig Kennedy stories, published in Cosmopolitan magazine between 1910 and 1918. These were collected in book form; with the third collection, the short stories were published grouped together as episodic novels. The 12-volume publication Craig Kennedy Stories was released during 1918; it reissued Reeve's books-to-date as a matched set.
Lila Lee was a prominent screen actress, primarily a leading lady, of the silent film and early sound film eras.
Rolfe Photoplays Inc. was an American motion picture production company established by musical entertainer B.A. Rolfe. Its productions were primarily filmed on the East Coast, usually in and around Fort Lee, New Jersey, although the company also filmed in California. Its films were distributed through an agreement with Louis B. Mayer's Metro Pictures Corporation.
Marin Sais was an American actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the 1910s and 1920s. Sais' acting career spanned over four decades and she is possibly best recalled for appearing in Western themed films.
Ermine and Rhinestones is a 1925 silent film, written by Louise Winter, and directed by Burton L. King
Brian Selznick is an American illustrator and author best known as the writer of The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007), Wonderstruck (2011), The Marvels (2015) and Kaleidoscope (2021). He won the 2008 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration recognizing The Invention of Hugo Cabret. He is also known for illustrating children's books such as the covers of Scholastic's 20th-anniversary editions of the Harry Potter series.
Franklin Bryant Washburn III was an American film actor who appeared in more than 370 films between 1911 and 1947. Washburn's parents were Franklin Bryant Washburn II and Metha Catherine Johnson Washburn. He attended Lake View High School in Chicago.
Marguerite Marsh was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in more than 70 films between 1911 and 1923. Early in her career, she was known as Margaret Loveridge.
Gladys Leslie Moore was an American actress in silent film, active in the 1910s and 1920s. Though less-remembered than superstars like Mary Pickford, she had a number of starring roles from 1917 to the early 1920s and was one of the young female stars of her day.
Parlor, Bedroom and Bath is a lost 1920 American silent comedy film produced and released by Metro Pictures and directed by Edward Dillon. The film stars Ruth Stonehouse and Eugene Pallette.
A Beast at Bay is a 1912 silent short film directed by D. W. Griffith. It was produced and distributed by the Biograph Company. Preserved in paper print form at the Library of Congress.
The Woman in Room 13 is a lost 1920 American silent mystery drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Pauline Frederick. It was produced and distributed by Goldwyn Pictures and is based on a Broadway play of the same name, The Woman in Room 13. The film was remade at Fox in 1932 as a talkie.
The year 1919 was marked, in science fiction, by the following events.
Murder in Times Square is a 1943 American mystery film directed by Lew Landers and starring Edmund Lowe, Marguerite Chapman and John Litel.
Midnight Madness is a 1918 American silent mystery film directed by Rupert Julian and starring Ruth Clifford, Kenneth Harlan and Harry von Meter.
Face to Face is a 1922 American silent mystery film directed by Harry Grossman and starring Marguerite Marsh, Edna Holman and Coit Albertson. It was distributed by the independent company Playgoers Pictures.