Whispering Wires

Whispering Wires
Whispering Wires
Directed by	Albert Ray
Screenplay by	William Conselman; Gordon Rigby
Based on	Whispering Wires; by Henry Leverage
Starring	Anita Stewart; Edmund Burns; Charles Clary; Otto Matieson; Mack Swain; Arthur Housman
Cinematography	George Schneiderman
Production; company	Fox Film Corporation
Distributed by	Fox Film Corporation
Release date	October 24, 1926;
Running time	60 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Whispering Wires is a 1926 American mystery film directed by Albert Ray and written by William Conselman and Gordon Rigby. It is based on the 1918 novel Whispering Wires by Henry Leverage, which was also made into a stage play.^[1] The film stars Anita Stewart, Edmund Burns, Charles Clary, Otto Matieson, Mack Swain and Arthur Housman. The film was released on October 24, 1926, by Fox Film Corporation.^[2]^[3]^[4] Little is known about Henry Leverage, the author of the original novel, except that he served prison time in Sing Sing for car theft.^[5]

Plot

A person is murdered after receiving a weird phone call, in which someone is heard whispering in a menacing way. Barry McGill sets out to uncover the killer's identity before he can kill again. Barry's girlfriend Doris Stockbridge gets a similar phone call, and tells Barry that she thinks she is to be the killer's next victim. Barry teams up with two fumbling detectives named McCarthy and Cassidy and a bloodhound, and the bloodhound winds up being more effective than the detectives. Barry manages to capture and unmask the killer before he succeeds in murdering Doris. The culprit(s) turns out to be actually two people....an escaped convict and a mad scientist.^[5]

Cast

Anita Stewart as Doris Stockbridge
Edmund Burns as Barry McGill
Charles Clary as Montgomery Stockbridge
Otto Matieson as Bert Norton
Mack Swain as Cassidy
Arthur Housman as McCarthy
Heinie Conklin as Jasper
Frank Campeau as Andrew Morphy
Scott Welsh as Triggy Drew
Mayme Kelso as Ann Cartwright
Charles Sellon as Tracy Bennett

Preservation

A 35 mm print of the film is held by George Eastman House.^[6]

References

↑ "Silent Era : Progressive Silent Film List". Archived from the original on January 25, 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
↑ "Whispering Wires (1926) - Overview". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
↑ Janiss Garza. "Whispering Wires (1926) - Albert Ray". AllMovie. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
↑ "Whispering Wires". Catalog.afi.com. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
1 2 Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 309. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
↑ "Whispering Wires". collections.eastman.org. Retrieved September 6, 2025.

External links

Whispering Wires at IMDb

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[1] "Silent Era : Progressive Silent Film List". Archived from the original on January 25, 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2019.

[2] "Whispering Wires (1926) - Overview". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2018.

[3] Janiss Garza. "Whispering Wires (1926) - Albert Ray". AllMovie. Retrieved August 30, 2018.

[4] "Whispering Wires". Catalog.afi.com. Retrieved August 30, 2018.

[Tome309-5] 1 2 Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 309. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.

[6] "Whispering Wires". collections.eastman.org. Retrieved September 6, 2025.

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