The Million Dollar Mystery
| The Million Dollar Mystery | |
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Brochure for Episode 3 showing actor James Cruze
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| Directed by | Howell Hansel |
| Produced by | Charles J. Hite |
| Written by |
Lloyd Lonergan Harold McGrath |
| Starring |
Florence La Badie Marguerite Snow James Cruze Frank Farrington Sidney Bracey Lila Chester |
| Cinematography | George Webber |
| Distributed by | Thanhouser Film Corporation |
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Release date
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Running time
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23 chapters |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $125,000 approx. |
| Box office | $1,500,000 |
The Million Dollar Mystery is a 23-chapter film serial, released in 1914, directed by Howell Hansel, and starring Florence La Badie and James Cruze.
The film was produced by Thanhouser Film Corporation and filmed in New Rochelle, New York. The film serial was the company's biggest success, largely due to the popularity of La Badie who performed her own stunts. Publicity gimmicks, including a prize for the member of the public who sent in the best idea for a conclusion to the serial, were used to boost the serial's success. The Million Dollar Mystery was the new serial project from the Chicago Tribune following the success of The Adventures of Kathlyn. The serial was released with the gimmick that the last chapter was unwritten. Twenty two chapters were written based only on the title, while the serial was left purposefully unfinished with no final chapter.
A prize of $10,000 was offered for the best suggestion (advertised as "$10,000 for 100 words"). Thousands of letters were received in response to this and Ida Damon, a secretary from St. Louis, won the prize. In a further publicity stunt, the character Florence Hargreaves was actually reported missing. Details of the plot were fed to newspapers and the police as if they were real events. Seven days passed before this story was exposed as fiction.
SOURCE:
A prologue for The Million Dollar Mystery introduced the characters and groups. After the opening title card shows "hundreds of hands" grasping for the money and then a shot of the check for $10,000 the solver of the mystery is shown prior to the beginning of the first reel. Baby Florence is left at a boarding school with a note and half a bracelet instructing that her father will come to take her back upon her eighteenth birthday. Hargreaves, here played by Alfred Norton, is chased by the Black Hundred, but he receives a note and money before attempting to escape by balloon on the top of a building. The balloon is shot down and the first chapter ends.
Important figures cast in scenes included William Montagu, 9th Duke of Manchester. The Duke of Manchester was cast in a scene aiding Florence in escaping from Countess Olga and her "band of conspirators".
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