Volume II: Filmography

Episode 6 .

THE MILLION DOLLAR MYSTERY

THE COACHING PARTY OF THE COUNTESS

Advertisement from The Cinema, February 25, 1915. This particular portrait of Florence LaBadie was widely reproduced. (F-809)

July 27, 1914 (Monday)

Length: 2 reels (reels 11 and 12)

SYNOPSIS-ARTICLE, Reel Life, July 25, 1914:

"Still firmly convinced that Florence Gray knows where her father's million is hidden, the Countess Olga and the conspirators, led by Braine, plan a coaching party to a suburban inn, where they have engaged the Egyptian room. Accordingly the Countess Olga calls upon Florence, who is still unsuspicious of her supposed friend, and invites her to join the coaching party. Hidden behind the curtains of the Hargreave home, Jones, the butler, hears of the invitation and at once telephones Norton, the reporter. Jones conveys his suspicions of the Countess to Norton, and the two follow the coach and four in a small cycle car of great speed.

"They watch the party dining while they hide in the woods near the inn and are amused for a part of the time by the paid entertainers, who dance all the latest steps. While the entertainers are busy tripping the lulufardo and the maxixe, Jones and Norton creep up on Braine and a fellow conspirator and overhear their plans to lure Florence to the Egyptian room. In one of the inn attendants Norton recognizes an old nurse, and the aged woman, eager to entertain, shows the reporter a secret passage leading out of the Egyptian room. A few minutes later they return to the spot where the party is still being amused and are just in time to trail one of the conspirators, who, disguised as a French count, leads Florence away from the table on the pretext of showing her the park.

"Closely followed by Norton and Jones, Florence and the conspirators stroll through numerous apartments in the inn. When the conspirator has inveigled Florence into the Egyptian room, he distracts her attention for a moment and then swiftly locks the door upon her. Florence turns to find herself a prisoner. Vainly she beats upon the doors of the room. The conspirators, however, have taken good care to draw the great bolts and Florence finally sinks exhausted on a lounge. She realizes that for the second time she has fallen into the trap laid for her by her enemies. This time, she knows, they will not hesitate to use any means to force her to reveal the hiding place of her father's million, information which the conspirators are unaware she does not possess. The bogus count hurries back to the garden party and secretly tells Braine and the Countess that he has succeeded in entrapping the girl again and that they once more have the opportunity of using any means that they find necessary to force the girl to their will. Headed by Braine and the Countess Olga, the conspirators excuse themselves from the other unsuspicious guests and hurry to the Egyptian room.

"Meanwhile, Norton and Jones, realizing from the actions of the conspirators that they have succeeded at last in trapping Florence, plunge into the mouth of the cave in the woods, which is hidden by shrubbery, and rush along its dark interior to the Egyptian room. They find Florence weeping hysterically with fear. Norton explains his intentions, hurriedly calms her and assists her into the tunnel. They have barely reached the other end of the secret passage when the Countess Olga and the conspirators enter the Egyptian room. A hasty examination of the room discloses the manner in which Florence made her escape, and the conspirators reach the end of the tunnel just as Norton, Jones and Florence mount three horses which they have hastily procured and gallop down the road.

"The conspirators engage a powerful motor car and start in pursuit. Jones realizes that they will soon be overtaken, and while Florence and Norton gallop on ahead he hides at a turn in the road. When the auto slows up the butler plunges a knife into both rear tires of the car and then runs back through the woods to his horse and gallops off. The conspirators, unable to follow, give up the pursuit in disgust.

"Motion picture patrons accustomed to the slap-dash staging of get-it-out-quick films will be treated to an agreeable surprise in this and succeeding episodes of The Million Dollar Mystery. The garden party in the woods required days to stage properly. A cascade was discovered in the woods nearly a hundred miles from the Thanhouser studio and the entire cast atop a smart coach followed the old Boston Post Road to the spot chosen by Director Hansel. Six pairs of professional dancers were engaged in New York, each couple being specialists in one of the new dances. Starting with the old fashioned rag the dancers in turn exhibit the Apache dance, the maxixe, the tango, the waltz tango and the latest Parisian novelty, the lulufardo. Several of the guests intersperse their interpretations of the gavotte and minuet while a couple dressed in the styles fashionable in the '50s dance a lively polka.

"The coach and four used in the episode was loaned to President Hite by a prominent member of the Westchester Country Club. Several prominent members of the Long Island hunting set applied to President Hite for permission to join the party, and arrangements were made whereby they might take part in the jolly jaunt along the Boston turnpike into the Connecticut hills. Upon arriving at the quaint old inn where the pictures were taken the party enjoyed a bounteous al fresco luncheon."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, August 5, 1914: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

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