I know a certain lawyer in a little town
Who got the name of Snoops from always snoopin’ around
He was the most peculiar man I’ve ever seen
I’ll give you a description of the man I mean
Not so far from here
There’s a very lively atmosphere
Everybody’s going there this year
And there’s a reason
The season opened last July
Ever since the U.S.A. went dry
Everybody’s going there and I’m going too
The Master Mystery stars Harry Houdini as Justice Department agent Quentin Locke, who is investigating a powerful cartel that’s protected by a “menacing” robot (referred to in the film as “the Automaton‘); the cartel is using a gas weapon called “the Madagascar Madness” — and, given that this is an old-time silent film serial, there’s a cliffhanger ending at the end of each chapter. And, since this is a Houdini film, there’s plenty of escape artistry to get out of them. The Master Mystery is available on DVD as part of the DVD collection, Houdini: The Movie Star.
In The Penalty, Lon Chaney stars as Blizzard a criminal mastermind crippled in his childhood by a young doctor’s mistake. He takes his revenge on the world through his crimes. But is the person he has become his fault or is there some other explanation?
The Penalty
(sung by Fred Astaire and Red Skelton in Three Little Words)
Ming Toy loved a boy,
Happy little Japanee;
Oo-long was his name,
Set her heart a flame.
One day he say, “Soon I gotta go away;”
When he leave Ming Toy grieve;
Everybody hear her say:
