Crystal Balls in Film 4
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Crystal Balls in Film, Part Four
One of the best parts of collecting images of crystal balls in cinema is the prospect of locating the film and watching it. Whether sincere, hokey, spooky, or corny, every one of these movies tells us something about how crystal gazing was seen by the screen writers and directors of the past 125 years, and also how the prop masters and actors dealt with the crystal sphere as an artifact.
1916: "The Mysteries of Myra," starring Howard Estabrook as Dr. Payson Alden, Jean Sothern as Myra Maynard, and M.W. Rale as the Master of the Black Order. Myra Maynard is plagued by a wide variety of metaphysical assaults by the corrupt Black Order, a secret organization which uses magic, curses, and any supernatural means possible to achieve its ends. Myra's father belonged to the Black Order until his death, and two of his daughters have already committed suicide. Will Myra be next? This is a partially lost chapter-play film, written by the noted occultist Hereward Carrington. It has been restored in part through the use of stills and other working materials.
Colour movie poster.
Genre: Horror.
1916: "The Mysteries of Myra," starring Jean Sothern as Myra Maynard. "ACHIEVEMENT - We do not need to use superlatives -- Nor do we deem it necessary to say that THE MYSTERIES OF MYRA *is the greatest feature series ever released.* We will let this information come from 1,487 of the leading exhibitors, reviewers and newspaper men who attended the private showing of this feature series. *And furthermore, to reiterate our contention, we might add that out of an audience of 1,487 we actually closed 703 contracts. THIS IS HISTORY! You can book it at our nearest exchange. INTERNATIONAL FILM SERVICE, 1 COLUMBUS CIRCLE, N.Y."
Black and white advertisement in "Variety Magazine," April 28, 1916; p. 29.
Genre: Horror.
We can learn about how fortune telling, prophesy, divination, and the occult have been perceived over the years when we see the role played by the crystal gazer in a fictional story. And because crystals are so flashy, they serve as stand-ins for all means of fortune telling. Yes, there are movie in which we can see horoscopes and astrologers, hands and palm readers, cards and caromancers, and just flad out clairvoyant seers — but when the sets are dressed, many of those readers end up with a crystal ball somewhere in range of the camera's eye. They are simply too attractive to leave out of the picture.
1916: "The Mysteries of Myra," starring Jean Sothern as Myra Maynard. Myra flirts with the occult as the Black Order closes in on her, trying to force her to suicide through the exercise of mental concentration.
Black and white movie still.
Genre: Horror.
1929: "The Black Watch," starring Victor McLaglen as Captain Donald Gordon King and Myrna Loy as Yasmani. In the early part of her career, Loy often played an exotic Eurasian or a vixenish villainess.
Black and white still.
Genre: Drama.
On the other hand, one of the most frustrating parts of collecting images of crystal balls in cinema is the issue of "lost films." It is shocking how many movies, both silent and sound, simply do not exist anymore. For some of these, we have a few publicity stills, newspaper advertisements, and lobby cards, but for others all that may remain are the notices in theatrical news magazines announcing the commencement or the wrap of shooting, or a review in some hick paper in Indiana that praised the show to the skies, thus adding to our frustration because we will never be able to see it.
1933: "Ramblin 'Round Radio Row #7," starring Al Dary and Ray Kulz. A radio salesman is trying to sell some gypsies a radio, but they have their own easy to operate crystal ball, that even works as a TV. They show him how well it works by listening to the doings of the Rhythm Boys (shown here), the Pickens Sisters, Tito Guizar, and Ann Lee, and let him try to receive a Frank Hazard program.
Black and white still.
Genre: Short.
1939: "Charlie Chan at Treasure Island," starring Sidney Toler, Cesar Romero, and Victor Sen Yung, and featuring Gerald Mohr as Dr. Zodiac in a wild costume with a yoke that depicts all of the Sun Signs. Charlie's investigation of a phony psychic during the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island leads him to expose a suicide as murder.
Black and white publicity still.
Genre: Mystery.
Among the most frustrating of these lost films is "The Crystal Ball" of 1914. All that remains is a poster (with a crystal ball), a lantern slide advertisement (of a Hindu swami with a crystal ball), and a plot synopsis from "Moving Picture World" — yet this is the very first movie ever to feature a crystal bal.
1943-1945: 'Inner Sanctum' series of films, starring Lon Chaney, Jr, and featuring David Hoffman as the Spirit of the Inner Sanctum. Each of the six films in the Inner Sanctum series, which was based on a contemporaneous popular radio show, was introduced by Hoffman's floating head in a crystal ball.
Black and white still.
Genre: Mystery.
1943-1945: 'Inner Sanctum' series of films, featuring David Hoffman as the Spirit of the Inner Sanctum. The films in the series were: 1) Calling Dr. Death 1943, 2) Weird Woman 1944, 3) Dead Man's Eyes 1944, 4) The Frozen Ghost 1945, 5) Strange Confession (a.k.a The Man Who Reclaimed His Head) 1945, 6) Pillow of Death 1945.
Black and white still.
Genre: Mystery.
Another area of frustration involves my collection of publicity stills featuring actors and actresses (mostly actresses, if the truth be told) holding or gazing into crystal balls -- with no indication as to the date the photo was made or the name of the film — if there was one — to which it can be attached. Sometimes a search through the performer's filmography pays off and the image can be tagged to the right film. But quite a few remain loose and undated.
1944: "Black Magic," starring Sydney Toler as the Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan and Mantan Moreland as Birmingham Brown. Charlie searches for a murderer amidst numerous ghosts conjured up by a strange variety of spiritualists and occultists.
Colour movie poster.
Genre: Mystery.
1944: "Black Magic," starring Sydney Toler as the Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan and Mantan Moreland as Birmingham Brown, and featuring Dick Gordon as William Bonner, with his sinister crystal ball.
Black and white still.
Genre: Mystery.
Then there's the problem that arises when we have seen a film once or even several times, or have read its synopsis, and we know for sure that there is a crystal ball scene in it, but no matter where we search, we cannot find a publicity still or a lobby card of the scene in which the crystal ball appears.
1944: "Black Magic," starring Joseph Crehan as Sgt. Matthews, Jacqueline deWit as Justine Bonner, Frances Chan as Frances Chan, Dick Gordon as William Bonner, Geraldine Wall as Harriet Green, Frank Jaquet as Paul Hamlin, and Claudia Dell as Vera Starkey. {CAPTION}.
Colour lobby card.
Genre: Mystery.
1940s: Ann Sheridan holding a crystal ball.
Black and white publicity still.
This is especially galling when we use the IMDb database to search for films with the keywords "crystal ball," and neither IMDb's image cache, nor a wider search engine exploration produces a single image, and we do not have the film in our own rather extensive collection. (Okay, frankly, we have thousands of films on DVD; but we are cheap and won't pay more than ten bucks each for them!)
1945: "Blithe Spirit," featuring Margaret Rutherford as Madame Arcati. {CAPTION}.
Colour still.
Genre: Fantasy.
YYYY: "Blithe Spirit," starring Rex Harrison and Constance Cummings, and Margaret Rutherford as Madame Arcati. {CAPTION}.
Colour still.
Genre: Fantasy.
Sometimes we can rent or purchase a purported crystal ball film and make a screen-grab of the crystal ball scene — if the quality of the print is clear. Other times we know the film is not lost, but we cannot locate a copy anywhere. Or, sad to say, we lacked the time to make the screen grab this year, and are putting off until ... whenever.
1946: "The Phantom Thief," starring Chester Morris and Jeff Donnell, and featuring Marvin Miller as Dr. Nejino. {CAPTION}.
Black and white still.
Genre: Drama.
1947: "Hard Boiled Mahoney," starring Leo Gorcey and the Bowery Boys, and featuring Dan Seymour as Dr. Armand. {CAPTION}.
Sepia and green ink movie poster.
Genre: Comedy.
With all of that in mind, we have arrived at a plan to make this collection bigger, better, and more eccentric than ever: crowd-sourcing. What follows is a list of films that have crystal balls in them, according to the IMDb keyword database, which is itself crowd-sourced, and thus prone to error.
- XXX.jpg
YYYY: "Title," starring {Stars}. {CAPTION}.
Black and white still.
Genre: {GENRE}. - XXX.jpg
YYYY: "Title," starring {Stars}. {CAPTION}.
Black and white still.
Genre: {GENRE}.
Still, despite the possibility of crowd-sourcing errore, these are films we have not seen yet — and they are the films from which we want crystal ball screen grabs. If, during a search at IMDb or Elsewhere online we have found a publicity still, poster, or lobby card of a man in a turban, we presume that he is a "Swami" or crystal gazer character in the film, and we offer both the character name and the actor's name.
- XXX.jpg
YYYY: "Title," starring {Stars}. {CAPTION}.
Black and white still.
Genre: {GENRE}. - XXX.jpg
YYYY: "Title," starring {Stars}. {CAPTION}.
Black and white still.
Genre: {GENRE}.
Can you help by supplying a screen shot of a crystal ball scene in any of these movies?
- 1918: Betta, the Gipsy (a lost film)
- 1922: Haxan, a.k.a. Witchcraft Through the Ages
- 1924: The Thief of Bagdad
- 1930: Honeymoon Zeppelin
- 1932: Sinister Hands; Swami Yomurda (Mischa Auer)
- 1934: The Moonstone; Yandoo (John Davidson)
- 1937: High Flyers
- 1941: The Crystal Gazer
- 1941: Playmates
- 1942: The Falcon Takes Over
- 1943: No News Is Good News; The Answer Man (Robert Benchley)
- 1946: Aladin
- 1946: The Crackpot King
- 1947: Le tempestaire
See Also
Lovely Ladies and Their Little Balls
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Thank you.
catherine yronwode
curator, historian, and docent
Your Wate and Fate
Special thanks to my dear husband and creative partner nagasiva yronwode for illustrations, scans, and clean-ups.