The Moving Picture Weekly (1916-1917)

--THE MOVING PICTURE WEEKLY 15 Advance Impressions of ''The Voice on tiie Wire" OT since the publication of "The Murders of the Rue Morgue" has there been a series of crimes forming a mystery so baffling as that which forms the central theme of the new Universal serial, "The Voice on the Wire." Murderers, both in fact and in fiction, have before now succeeded in committing their crimes without leaving a trace for the authorities of justice to work upon. But in this serial photoplay, which is a screen adaptation by J. Grubb Alexander, of the novel of the same name by Eustace Hale Ball, a clue is left each time that a victim is sent to his doom, a triple clue, which never varies, but which serves only still further to complicate the impenetrable mystery surrounding the fate of each victim. In the first place, there is the voice on the wire, from which the serial takes its name, and which is heard before each tragedy, sometimes by the victim himself, sometimes by the investigator, John Shirley, who is trying to solve the problems, sometimes by the dead man's nearest relatives. Before each of the series of murders, a warning comes over the telephone, but when the call is investigated by the telephone company, it always comes from an unidentified source, from a disconnected wire, or from premises which are known to have been destroyed by fire. Sometimes central denies that the number has been called at all. The second clue is the appearance in the vicinity of the deed of a men acing shrouded figure, never clearly seen, but always lurking, a shadow among shadows, near the scene of the crime. In each episode we think that we have identified the figure, only to find that our identification is a mistake. When the first episodes were run, one after the other, in the Universal projection room, every member of the company had a different explanation to offer of this mysterious figure, and every one of the explanations proved to be wrong. But the greatest novelty of all, is the manner in which the murder is committed. The third clue in each case is the mark of a human thumb over the heart of the victim, sometimes on the bare flesh, sometimes ground deeply into the clothing. John Shirley, the criminologist (played bj Ben Wilson), and his advisor, Doctor Renolds (played by Joseph Girard), identify this as the Japanese death punch, the "Sen Si Yao," a development of jiu-jitsu ( or Japanese wrestling, in its very highest form, a pressure strong enough to stop the action of the heart, applied by the thumb upon the exact spot in which it will be effective. Not every student of jiu-jitsu learns the "Sen Si Yao," for not every student gains the exact knowledge of anatomy necessary to find and identify the small area in which the pressure of the thumb will be fatal. Great experience is necessary in order to find the right spot unerringly, for a fraction of an inch to the right or to the left, too high or too low, will render the pressure ineffective, and the attack must be without warning in order to give the victim no chance to shift his position and avoid the contact at the fatal point. A moment's pressure induces temporary suspension of the action of the heart, but if it is continued for the requisite number of seconds, the heart action is paralyzed, and death results — a death which, to all but the initiated, leaves no trace of the manner in which it was inflicted. In this unique manner, and surrounded by the baffling circumstances of the disconnected wire and the muffled figure, and traced each time to the operation of the "Sen Si Yao," three men have already met their death, each time in the company of the same chorus girl (played by Neva Gerber), before Captain Cronin, head of the detective bureau (played by Howard Crampton) decides that he requires the assistance of some one with more scientific knowledge, and more imagination than the ordinary official of the machinery of justice possesses. John Shirley, a student of criminology, is asked to investigate the mystery, and he enlists the cooperation of his friend, the scientist Doctor Renolds. All their knowledge, their science, and their precautions are in vain, however. The mocking voice warns Shirley each time, gives the name of the victim and the hour of the crime, and Shirley, though he takes extraordinary pains to protect the threatened man, is circumvented in every case by the evil force which seems supernatural in its powers.