{{short description|1930 film}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = The Jade Box | image = The Jade Box (1930) - 1.jpg | caption = Advertisement | director = Ray Taylor | producer = Henry MacRae | writer = Frederick J. Jackson | narrator = | starring = Jack Perrin<br />Louise Lorraine<br />Francis Ford | music = Sam Perry | cinematography = | editing = | distributor = Universal Pictures | released = {{Film date|1930|02|25}} | runtime = 10 chapters (220 minutes) | country = United States | language = English | budget = }} '''''The Jade Box''''' (1930) is a Universal movie serial. It was a partial sound film with long silent sequences. Only an incomplete version survives today in Universal's vault, with incomplete footage and some missing sound discs.
==Plot==
John Lamar buys a Jade Box in Asia but it is stolen by his friend Martin Morgan. A cult, searching for the box because it contains the secret to invisibility, catches up with and abducts Lamar. After discovering the theft, the cult send a message to Martin and the pair's children: John Lamar's son, Jack, who is engaged to Martin Morgan's daughter, Helen. Jack searches for the Box while Martin attempts to discover the secret of invisibility for his own schemes.
==Cast== *Monroe Salisbury as John Lamar, original purchaser of the Box and cult abductee *Jack Perrin as Jack Lamar, John's son & Helen's fiance *Francis Ford as Martin Morgan, false friend of John Lamar *Louise Lorraine as Helen Morgan, Martin's daughter & Jack Lamar's fiance *Wilbur Mack as Edward Haines *Leo White as Percy Winslow *Jay Novello as Bit *Eileen Sedgwick *Frank Lackteen
==Critical reception== Cline states that, while ''The Jade Box'' is not of a high technical quality, it did show at the time that a mystery serial could be improved by the addition of music and sound effects.<ref>{{cite book | last = Cline | first = William C. | title = In the Nick of Time | url = https://archive.org/details/innickoftimemot00clin | url-access = registration | year = 1984 | publisher = McFarland & Company, Inc. | isbn = 0-7864-0471-X | pages = [https://archive.org/details/innickoftimemot00clin/page/47 47] | chapter = 3. The Six Faces of Adventure }}</ref>
==Chapter titles== # The Jade of Jeopardy # Buried Alive # The Shadow Man # The Fatal Prophecy # The Unseen Death # The Haunting Shadow # The Guilty Man # The Grip of Death # Out of the Shadows # The Atonement <sub>Source:</sub><ref>{{cite book | last = Cline | first = William C. | title = In the Nick of Time | url = https://archive.org/details/innickoftimemot00clin | url-access = registration | year = 1984 | publisher = McFarland & Company, Inc. | isbn = 0-7864-0471-X | pages = [https://archive.org/details/innickoftimemot00clin/page/201 201] | chapter = Filmography }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0021007|title=The Jade Box}} *[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/J/JadeBox1930.html ''The Jade Box'' at SilentEra]
{{s-start}} {{succession box | title=Universal Serial | before=Tarzan the Tiger (1929) | years='''The Jade Box (1930)''' | after=The Lightning Express (1930)}} {{end}}
{{Universal serials}} {{Ray Taylor (director)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jade Box, The}} Category:1930 films Category:1930 fantasy films Category:American silent serial films Category:Transitional sound films Category:American mystery films Category:American black-and-white films Category:Universal Pictures film serials Category:Films directed by Ray Taylor Category:Films with screenplays by Frederick J. Jackson Category:American fantasy films Category:1930 mystery films Category:1930 English-language films Category:1930 American films Category:Silent mystery films Category:English-language fantasy films Category:English-language mystery films