''His Mystery Girl'' is a 1923 American silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Robert F. Hill Robert F. Hill (April 14, 1886 – March 18, 1966) was a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Career Bob Hill began his screen career in 1915 at Universal Pictures. In those early days, members of film crews were sometimes c ...

and starring

Herbert Rawlinson Herbert Banemann Rawlinson (15 November 1885 – 12 July 1953) was an English-born stage, film, radio, and television actor. A leading man during Hollywood's silent film era, Rawlinson transitioned to character roles after the advent of sound f ...

, Ruth Dwyer, and

Margaret Campbell Margaret Campbell (April 24, 1883 – June 27, 1939) was an American character actress in silent films. In her later years she was the secretary of the Baháʼí Spiritual Assembly of Los Angeles. Career Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Campbell ...

Plot

As described in a

film magazine Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...

, the friends of Kerry Reynolds (Rawlinson) think he should be a more human young man and scare him into going to his doctor. The doctor, who is in on the joke, tells him that he is a very sick man. Leaving the doctor's office he sees a beautiful young woman apparently in distress and she wins his heart. Seeing her again at a hotel lobby, he notes that she drops a beaded handbag and takes it home. Seeing her advertisement about her handbag, he meets her and finds that the handbag contains valuable diamonds. Rushing to his apartment to check the bag's contents, he finds that it is gone. Then the woman appears at his door and demands the bag, and she is followed by a man claiming to be her husband. Kerry gets a message that she is a prisoner in a deserted house, and after some adventures he arrives to save her, and gets into a tremendous fight with a band of men who might be her kidnappers. He escapes with her and is chased by policemen on motorcycles. Finally, when he takes her from her home to the Justice of Police where he hopes to marry her, his friends tumble out and tell him that it has been a great practical joke on their part, and that the young woman is a student from a drama they hired to lead him into some adventures, and that the main villain is her brother. At the end there is a reconciliation and Kerry finding love.

Cast

as Kerry Reynolds * Ruth Dwyer as Gloria Bliss *

as Laurette Sligsby *

Jere Austin Jere Austin (1876–1927) was an American silent film actor from Minnesota. He was born John Van Akin Austin and he began in films in 1914 and made his last appearance in Cecil B. DeMille's ''King of Kings'' (1927). Austin had entered films wi ...

as Benn Bliss *

Ralph McCullough Ralph McCullough (1895–1943) was an American film actor of the silent era who occasionally played male leads as well as more numerous supporting roles. Later in his career he mostly appeared in smaller, often uncredited, roles in the sound era. ...

as Dick Reynolds * William Quinn as The Valet * Kasha Haroldi (uncredited)

Preservation

A copy of ''His Mystery Girl'' is held in the

George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection The George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection in Rochester, New York comprises about 28,000 titles, including features, shorts, documentaries, newsreels, and experimental moving images. The collection is renowned for its holdings of silent f ...

.Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: ''His Mystery Girl''
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References

Bibliography

* Munden, Kenneth White. ''The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1''. University of California Press, 1997.

External links

* * 1923 films 1923 comedy films Silent American comedy films Films directed by Robert F. Hill American silent feature films 1920s English-language films Universal Pictures films 1920s American films {{1920s-silent-comedy-film-stub