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Gloves of Ptames

A mysterious pair of gloves from an ancient Egyptian tomb cause chaos in this silent 'trick' comedy.

Fantasy 1914 9 mins Silent

Overview

The early 20th century Egyptology craze is put to comic use in this neatly-done 'trick' film. An English gent receives a pair of ancient Egyptian gloves by his archaeologist uncle. But when he puts them on, everything he touches disappears! The gloves pass from one unhappy owner to another, until they fall into the hands of a wily tramp who uses them for his own dishonest ends...

Originally released as The Gloves of Ptames, this film was reissued as Mysterious Gloves. Frustratingly, the only surviving copy of the film is missing some 60 feet, so we don't see if the villain gets his comeuppance - although we can guess... The tramp is played by Fred Rains, father of the more famous Claude Rains, star of The Invisible Man and Hitchcock's Notorious.