The Master Mystery (first four episodes) was first shown at a special trade show on November 7, 1918 at the Strand Theatre in New York City.
To honor this special event, I am sharing from my personal collection, the following 1918 Master Mystery Newspaper Reviews on the day they appeared 101 years ago:
- Sat Nov 9
- Sunday Nov 10
- Friday Nov 15
- Saturday Nov 16
- Saturday Nov 23
- Motion Picture News
- The Moving Picture World
And at the conclusion (next week) of this series, I will do a special post that ties it all together.
Today, I share the reviews from Motion Picture News and The Moving Picture World:
I love the writing in these reviews: “There is also a proper love interest, and Houdini tackles the scenes with the heroine with the same calm courage he shows in risking his neck.” Ha, ha! C’mon–kissing an attractive young woman isn’t that bad.
“He is not a great actor to be sure.” They were panning his acting back then.
To be fair: “Margaret Marsh is seen as the heroine and a very attractive one she makes” and “To do him justice, his acting isn’t half bad, and will receive but little adverse comment”