Madame Mystery
About Madame Mystery
Madame Mysterieux (Theda Bara) is a secret agent whose work has baffled Europe, and she is carrying an explosive gas that could level a city. A hungry artist (Tyler Brooke) and a struggling author (James Finlayson) stumble on two unconscious agents who had been chasing her, decide there must be a reward, and take the agents' place. They follow her onto an ocean liner bound for America. In the scramble for the gas, Finlayson swallows it and floats away like a balloon. Oliver Hardy plays the ship's Captain Schmaltz.
Cast & crew
More about Madame Mystery
Richard Wallace and Stan Laurel directed. Laurel also wrote, with Carl Harbaugh, H. M. Walker, Hal Yates, Krag Johnson, Grover Jones, and Hal Roach. Hal Roach produced. Pathé Exchange released it on 18 April 1926. Rob Stone dates the shoot 1–24 December 1925; his book says filming began on the 10th. Copyrighted 15 March 1926. Production number S-8, two reels, 21 minutes. A foreign version ran five reels. Floyd Jackman, Harry W. Gerstad, and Len Powers photographed. Richard C. Currier edited. A few seconds, including Bara, were later cut into 45 Minutes from Hollywood, released 26 December 1926.
Themes
Making
Laurel, not yet teamed with Hardy on the series billing, co-directed and co-wrote an All-Star parody and put Hardy on the liner as the captain.
Look
Floyd Jackman, Harry W. Gerstad, and Len Powers photographed the street, the agents, and the liner.
Preservation
A complete two-reel print survives, one of the few Theda Bara films that do. It is scarce outside private collections. Seconds of it, with Bara, also sit inside 45 Minutes from Hollywood.
Notes
- Fred Malatesta plays the Man of a Thousand Eyes. Martha Sleeper, Sammy Brooks, Helen Gilmore, and William Gillespie are also billed.
- It is the only film in which Theda Bara and Oliver Hardy appear together.
- Bara is mocking her own vamp parts. The name on the titles is Madame Mysterieux, not Mystery.
Scenes
- Brooke and Finlayson find two unconscious agents and take their identities.
- They trail Madame Mysterieux onto a liner for America.
- Finlayson swallows the gas and floats off.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Madame Mystery (1926).webm)
