Reeder.

Films

Literally hundreds of screen melodramas have been fashioned from Wallace material. The highlights are given below; the first three are American silent serials.

The Green Archer. Pathé serial, 1925. Allene Ray, Walter Miller. Directed by Spencer Bennet. From the 1923 novel. A mysterious costumed archer lurks on the grounds of Bellamy Castle, helping a reporter expose the secrets of its recluse millionaire owner.

The Mark of the Frog. Pathé serial, 1928. Donald Reed, Margaret Morris, Frank Lackteen. Directed by Arch Heath. Based on The Fellowship of the Frog (1925). In search of a vanished treasure, a criminal ring headed by the hooded “Frog” terrorizes New York.

The Terrible People. Pathé serial, 1928. Ray, Miller. Directed by Bennet. From the 1926 novel. An heiress is imperiled by the gang of a criminal who seemingly has returned from the dead.

The Terror. Warner Brothers, 1928. Louise Fazenda, May McAvoy, Edward Everett Horton, John Miljan. Directed by Roy Del Ruth. Warner Brothers’ second all-talking feature, the film was based on Wallace’s play of 1927. A Scotland Yard operative goes to an old house in his search for a murderer who mutilates his victims.

The Ringer. British Lion (British), 1928. Leslie Faber, Annette Benson, Lawson Butt. Directed by Arthur Maude. Screenplay by Wallace, from his play, which began a successful London run in 1926; the most frequently filmed Wallace work. A criminal skilled in disguises eliminates his enemies despite heavy police surveillance.

The Flying Squad. British Lion (British), 1929. Wyndham Standing, Dorothy Bartlam, Bryan Edgar Wallace and Carol Reed (in bit roles as petty crooks). Directed by Maude.