The Trunk Mystery - Production & Contact Info

The Trunk Mystery (1914)
Short | Short, Comedy

The Trunk Mystery (1914)

Short | Short, Comedy

Dunn Brown's "nights out" have brought worry to his family. Among his visitors is Smith, a suitor for his sister Gwendolyn's hand, and between them has sprung up a dislike because of Smith's claims that the professional detectives never ...See moreDunn Brown's "nights out" have brought worry to his family. Among his visitors is Smith, a suitor for his sister Gwendolyn's hand, and between them has sprung up a dislike because of Smith's claims that the professional detectives never discover anything, while if he had the opportunity he could sleuth out the most mysterious crime. Brown is at his club, "under the weather," while his family is packing to leave for the country, and Smith is sent to look for him. He arrives at the club and induces Brown to go home. Being unable to find his overcoat, Brown is furnished with a very gaudy one, belonging to a member of the club. On his way home he encounters a tramp about to be arrested and releases him from the officer, promising to provide him with a bed and breakfast. This scene occurs at a coal yard, which the police are clearing of tramps, and his flashy overcoat becomes much soiled. Arriving home with his new friend, his wife refuses to let him into his bedroom, so he goes to sleep on the parlor floor. In the early morning he awakens with no memory of the events of the night before, and notes with alarm the sleeping tramp on the floor, whom he finds it impossible to wake up. The morning paper arrives, telling of a murder in a coal yard, the suspected murderer being some individual in a flashy plaid overcoat. In his disordered mind he pictures himself as the murderer, and the tramp on the floor as the victim, for here is a flashy overcoat as evidence. Seeing that he must act quickly, he takes from the largest truck the apparel with which it has been packed and hurries the sleeping tramp into it. He is discovered by Susan, the maid, whom he bribes to keep his secret. By this time Smith arrives to bid his fiancée farewell. He, too, reads of the coal yard murder and nominates himself as the detective to hunt it out. During breakfast the tramp awakens, creeps out of the trunk, hurries into the street and is arrested. Finding the empty trunk opened, the family hurries the apparel back into it, and when the baggagemen arrive it is sent with the other baggage, and Brown in terror keeps his eye upon it from the taxicab behind. The club member arrives in search of his overcoat. Smith, who has already seen the overcoat, and suspected Brown of the crime, turns his suspicions upon the club member, whom he arrests. The inspector detains the club member, and Smith sets out in pursuit of other evidence. He encounters Susan, puts her under a third degree, gets from her what she knows about the trunk affair, and starts off in pursuit of Brown, after placing Susan, too, in jail. Meanwhile, the Browns have started for the country, where Brown has many adventures in attempting to conceal the trunk. In these adventures he is pursued by the indefatigable Smith, who finally arrests him and takes him and the trunk to the police station in the city. Here it is discovered that there has not been any murder at all, that the account was a hoax, perpetrated by an enterprising club reporter. Smith's prisoners are released; the club member thrashes him for his unwarranted arrest. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less

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Cast	+ Add Cast
6 cast members

Name	Known for
William H. Turner Sherlock Smith Sherlock Smith See fewer	The Last Performance (1929)
Eleanor Blanchard Gwendolyn Brown Gwendolyn Brown See fewer	Life's Whirlpool (1916)
John Smiley Dunn Brown Dunn Brown See fewer	The Battle of Shiloh (1913)
Carol Holloway Mrs. Dunn Brown Mrs. Dunn Brown See fewer	A Game of Wits (1914)
Justina Huff Susan Susan See fewer	Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1913)
Clarence Elmer The Tramp The Tramp See fewer	The Engineer's Revenge (1914)