Volume II: Filmography

Episode 4

ZUDORA

THE SECRET OF THE HAUNTED HILLS

a.k.a. THE MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED HILLS

December 14, 1914 (Monday)

Length: 2 reels (Reels 7 and 8)

Scenario: Lloyd F. Lonergan, from a story by Daniel Carson Goodman

Note: Under the title of The Mystery of the Haunted Hills, 53 prints of various scenes were deposited with the Copyright Office by the Thanhouser Syndicate Corporation. The copyright was recorded on November 19, 1914.

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, December 19, 1914:

"News of the first 'Zudora' baby has reached the offices of the Thanhouser film corporation at New Rochelle. Mrs. Grover Baluser, of North Baltimore, Ohio, a sister of the late Charles J. Hite, has a new smiling face in her home and she has given the baby the name of 'Zudora.'"

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, December 5, 1914:

"With the life of Zudora suddenly placed in jeopardy and help apparently nowhere within reach, the fourth episode of Zudora, Thanhouser's production of Dr. Daniel Carson Goodman's serial photoplay, reaches a thrilling climax after two reels of the most mysteriously interesting drama. Once more the baneful influence of Hassam Ali reaches out to injure the young lawyer, John Storm, his niece, Zudora's sweetheart. Once more the mystic detective almost accomplishes his end. Once more his niece unravels a mystery that threatens the piece of mind of her sweetheart, but in doing so she falls victim to an infuriated, half-witted boy, who has been inspired to evildoing by Hassam Ali, and almost loses her life. She is rescued by John Storm and together they discover the solution of the most baffling of the cases which Zudora thus far has been called upon to solve.

"Storm's parents, good country people who have given him a heritage of clean blood and excellent traditions, live in a village surrounded by hills that seem veritably to stand guard over the small town's security. However, on those very hills and in the very homes of the people, themselves, the wraith of a monstrous, fleshless, bullet-threaded hand has recently appeared without explanation. The people are wild with a fright occasioned by something they cannot explain, and Storm receives an urgent letter from his parents to come to them.

"Sending a note to Zudora, he rushes home to his parents and is welcomed, not only by them but by the maid servant and a half-witted boy, whom, by mistake, he once had shot through the hand during his boyhood. Zudora, too, comes to see his parents and is welcomed by them as a future daughter-in-law. As they are all rejoicing together, suddenly on the wall of a further room the specter hand appears. Storm's father rushes for his shotgun, and fires at the uncanny hand. The lead hurtles through the wall and strikes the serving maid in the arm. Suspecting that her uncle, Hassam Ali, is at the bottom of all this, Zudora and John Storm hasten back to town. Zudora sees the famous mystic first, and is met, of course, with a baffling denial. Then Storm comes and after a painfully heated exchange of words the older man tries to shoot the young lawyer. In the struggle that ensues, Hassam Ali is gradually overcome and bent back across a table top only to be rescued by Zudora just as Storm is about to be stabbed in the back by the mystic's Hindu servant.

"Going back to the excited townspeople who have gathered at the station to meet him, Storm comforts them by saying that the wonderfully clever Zudora is coming to their rescue and that she will solve the mystery. After several thrilling adventures Zudora and Storm finally decide that the source of the mysterious apparition is in the upper room of one of the farm's outbuildings. While Storm makes some other investigations Zudora runs to this place and is caught in the garret by the idiot boy, tied, gagged, and a rope wound round her neck. She closes her eyes hopelessly as a bandage is tied about her head.

"Then the scene shifts and John Storm is seen walking across the fields in the direction Zudora has taken. He has finally decided that she has hit upon the right idea and that he went off on a false scent. As he walks slowly along, all of a sudden he feels a sense of impending evil. He begins to run. As if directed by some unseen guide, Storm rushes up the stairs of the outbuilding and grapples with the idiot boy, subdues him and rushes to Zudora. Swiftly he unties the ropes. They climb to an upper room and discover the stereopticon machine which has thrown on the landscape the x-ray photograph of the skeleton hand."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, December 19, 1914:

"The story (two reels) is surely not convincing; but before the spectra of the hills is explained there is a sense of mystery. Good staging and able acting help the picture as an offering."

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