Whispering Wires (1926) DVD-R

Starring Anita Stewart, Edmund Burns, Charles Clary, Otto Matieson, Mack Swain
Directed by Albert Ray

Print: black/white
Runtime: 60 min.
Genre: mystery

With Mack Swain and Arthur Houseman in the cast, it's obvious that this murder mystery-melodrama has a lot of comic relief. There are murders being committed, and each one is foretold by a phone call in which a whispering voice relates the hour it will happen. After two of these strange deaths, Doris Stockbridge (Anita Stewart) finds her own life in danger. She and her sweetheart, Barry (Edmund Burns), call in a pair of detectives, Cassidy and McCarthy (Swain and Houseman, respectively). Not that this pair is capable of doing much. In fact, their efforts come to naught until a bloodhound is called in on the case. The dog proves to be smarter than the detectives. This trio helps (or hinders) Barry as he attempts to find the killer -- which he does primarily through his own wit. The guilty parties -- an escaped convict and a mad inventor -- are rounded up before they can harm Doris.