Mystery Woman
Cast & Crew
Eugene Forde
Mona Barrie
Gilbert Roland
John Halliday
Rod La Rocque
Mischa Auer
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
French Captain Jacques Benoit is found guilty of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment at Devil's Island. His wife Margaret subsequently learns that when he was carrying documents back from Athens, Jacques met Dr. Theodore Van Wyke, a celebrated millionaire and art connoisseur, on a train and then stayed at the same hotel with him in Constantinople, where the documents were stolen. Upon learning that Van Wyke plans to travel to New York on the ocean liner Columbia , Margaret, with the assistance of her husband's friend and fellow officer Cambon, obtains a passport under the name of Marguerite Rivaire. On the ship, Margaret attracts the interest of both Van Wyke and Juan Santanda, whose attempts at flirtation she ignores. On the last day of the voyage, Santanda finds a document in Van Wyke's room and, after tearing it in half, hides half of it in his phonograph and gives the other half to Jepson, the ship's bartender. Margaret, who was about to search Van Wyke's room when she saw Santanda leave it, feigns a fall on the ship's stairs and allows Santanda to carry her to his room, where she finds the half of the document hidden in the phonograph while Santanda leaves to get champagne. After Santanda carries Margaret to her room, Van Wyke, after having been alerted by a radiogram that Santanda is the international thief Juan Perez, questions Santanda while his secretary Dmitri searches his room, including the phonograph. The document's absence surprises Santanda, and after the ship docks in New York, he climbs into the window of Margaret's hotel suite and suggests that they go into partnership to sell the document. Margaret agrees, and because one of Van Wyke's men is watching her door, Santanda stays the night in one of her rooms. The next day, they slip out, eluding Van Wyke's man, and go to Jepson's apartment, where they find him stabbed to death and the other half of the document gone. Margaret goes to see Van Wyke, who, although he knows that she stole the document, still hopes to have a romance with her. She arranges to meet him the next day to sell him her half of the document for $600,000. That night, while Van Wyke is out, Margaret and Santanda, who has fallen in love with her, enter Van Wyke's penthouse, where Santanda subdues Dmitri. While Santanda applies a blowtorch to Van Wyke's safe, Dmitri revives and switches the elevator off. After Santanda retrieves the other half of the document, Margaret takes it and tries to escape in the elevator. When it won't go down, she pulls a gun on Santanda, but as he approaches, she fails to fire. She explains that she needs the document to secure her husband's freedom, whereupon Santanda gives it up. When Van Wyke and his men return, Santanda distracts them while Margaret, who passionately kisses him goodbye, escapes. In the elevator, she hears the shoot-out in which both Van Wyke and Santanda fall. Back in France, Benoit's rank is restored, and he is knighted as a member of the Legion of Honor, as Margaret throws him a kiss.
Director
Eugene Forde
Cast
Mona Barrie
Gilbert Roland
John Halliday
Rod La Rocque
Mischa Auer
Billy Bevan
William Faversham
Howard Lang
George Barraud
Arno Frey
Hal Boyer
Carey Harrison
Gloria Roy
Perry Ivins
Ernest Shield
Marty Faust
Pat O'malley
Pat Flaherty
Sherry Hall
Jerry Jerome
Creighton Hale
Brenda Fowler
Ben Hall
Larry Steers
Paul Mcallister
Starrett Ford
Anders Van Haden
Bentley Hewlett
George Nardelli
Crew
Alfred Bruzlin
Duncan Cramer
Lewis Creber
Samuel Kaylin
Philip Macdonald
Helen Marlowe
Joe Mcguinn
Dudley Nichols
Ed O'fearna
Ernest Palmer
E. E. Paramore Jr.
Royer
Loretta Rush
John Stone
Lamar Trotti
Sol M. Wurtzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles for this film were Strangers in the Evening, Twenty-Four Hours by Air, Twenty-Four Hours a Day, Twenty-Four Hours, Mystery Blonde and The Mystery Woman. According to news items, Irving Cummings was originally scheduled to direct and Claire Trevor was to star in the film. According to a Hollywood Reporter production chart, John Davidson was in the cast; his participation in the final film has not been confirmed. Although a 35mm print of the film is on nine reels, the print is divided into seven parts and the copyright records confirm that the film was originally seven reels.
