THE TAXI MYSTERY
starring Robert (Bobby) Agnew and Edith Roberts
VARIETY
May 5, 1926
Not much of a mystery. And not much of a picture. Just a melodrama that tries to be spooky and fails.
The evil designs of Fred and Vera Norris on Nancy Cornell, musical star, cause the supposed mystery. Vera is Nancy's understudy and looks like her (this being not peculiar for both roles are played by the same lady).
Two unprogrammed characters, as goofy detectives, several times accuse the wrong parties and show perfectly how not to be a sleuth. Theirs is the comedy end, little that it is. Edith Roberts, in the dual role, looked sweet enough in one and hot-tempered enough to look wicked in the other. She is a capable actress. Baby faced Robert Agnew showed nothing out of the usual run in the young Harry role. He is always an outstanding juvenile. Distinguished looking Phillips Smalley fitted well as Willoughby Thomson as did Bertram Grassby as the villain.
But the mystery has not yet been explained. It is just that young Canby met Nancy in a taxi and for the most part of the film tries to find out if she was really the one he had met. That's the mystery.
With the picture unlikely for any kind of adults and misundertandable
for children, how it can make itself enjoyable and profitable
over the outlying circuits is a bigger mystery.
For more information, see "The Taxi Mystery" as our "Feature of the Month."