The story
“The secret room in the house of Hassam Ali, is the opening scene in The Case of the Perpetual Glare, the fifth episode of Zudora, Thanhouser’s great serial by Dr. Daniel Carson Goodman. The mystic sits in reverie before the crystal ball, when into the secret room glides his Hindu servant, a weird, shriveled, bearded creature who never steps upon the screen without suggesting some new unpleasantness. This time he speaks to his master, then leaves, but only to return again and usher in two white-haired old men. Apparently the pair are twins, and, by the look of them, cranks. They hold an earnest consultation with Hassam Ali, and presently Zudora is summoned. She kneels beside her uncle and he slips an arm around her.
“’We are hunting a stone of matchless brilliance, my dear,’ he says to her. ‘Some new Koh-I-Noor that will catch light up, concentrate it, and throw it like a burning shaft in whatever direction we wish. There is some such stone around because we have seen this phenomenon of light throwing, and are anxious to find the source of it. We believe that it could have originated in nothing but a wonderful diamond.’
“Zudora, unaware of the fact that this is only another attempt of her uncle’s to trick her, readily consents to attempt the search. All she thinks of is that he has promised his consent to her marriage with John Storm, the young lawyer whom she has learned to love, if she solves twenty cases brought to him in his capacity as a mystic detective. She has already solved four cases. Here, then, is her opportunity to explain a fifth and count one more step toward the goal of her hopes. She sets out happily, and going to the cabin of the aged twins, which is situated at the top of a bare hill, she talks with them. They tell her that this jewel has the strength and potency of an eternal fire, and with that bit of information to comfort her she goes down the hill again.
“As she walks along, the card she holds in her hand catches fire. Alarmed, she looks around her. Soon a magazine she is carrying also bursts into flames. Smoke rises from her hat. Everywhere she goes, fire seems to follow her. In desperation she runs wildly across a nearby field where her lover, John Storm, is waiting. As they are hurrying along, a farmer, driving a load of hay, catches up with them and offers them a lift which they gladly accept. They are no more than safely seated on the comfortable hay, however, then it catches fire, and bewildered and frightened, they and the farmer leap from the wagon for their lives.
“The picture changes, and on the screen are shown the two old men, alternately rubbing their hands together gleefully or staring through a telescope. Soon Hassam Ali joins them. He, too, seems delighted by what he sees through the long, brass covered instrument, and together the three go back to the dilapidated cabin on the hilltop. There, presently, Storm comes with Zudora. They are attacked by the twins and, while they are being securely tied, Hassam Ali, who has been in hiding, departs without being seen and goes home.
“When the twins come to him, there, to be paid for what they had been led to believe was only an attempt to frighten a disobedient girl, Hassam Ali suddenly makes known to them his nefarious schemes for doing away with Storm and Zudora. They refuse his overtures to aid in this attempt, and leave. Their machine, that wonderful invention with which they produce the perpetual glare and with which they hope to startle the world, is not to be turned into a weapon for murder, so they tell Hassam Ali.
“In a rage with them, Hassam Ali stalks up the street to see what he can do alone. He collects a gang of ruffians on the way and with them succeeds in planting dynamite in the hill where the twins have their cabin. When this is done and a fuse has been run to the bottom of the hill, he sends for the twins, for at the last moment he has decided to spare their lives. They crouch, cowering by the mystic as he touches a match to the fuse.
“Meanwhile, John Storm has struggled free of the ropes that bind him and loosed Zudora. She hastens away, but fearing some catastrophe, hurries back and high on the hill sees her lover smashing that strange arrangement of cylindrical mirrors and magnifying glasses which has produced the mysterious glare. She stops never a second to examine this strange affair, but suspecting from the looks of the workmen she has seen on her way, that something portends, climbs up and seizes Storm and hurries down the hill again. They reach safety just as the dynamite flings the hill high in the air.”
Summary from Reel Life · 12 December 1914
