Circular Staircase

• 1915

• Watchlist

In this mystery, Aunt Ray Innes (Eugenie Besserer), an affable old maid, is spending time with her nephew Halsey (Guy Oliver) and niece Gertrude (Stella Razeto) at the home of a banker, Paul Armstrong. On their first night there, Aunt Ray and Gertrude find Paul's relative Arthur dead at the foot of the circular staircase. Gertrude's fiancé, Jack Bailey (William Howard), is a suspect at first, since he quarreled with Armstrong. He's cleared, but things get curiouser when the Armstrong bank fails, over a million dollars' worth of securities are found missing and Louise Armstrong (Edith Johnson), who was supposedly out West with her sick father, Paul, turns up at home. Aunt Ray discovers that the housekeeper was the murderer, and this leads her to a secret room in the house containing the stolen securities. Paul Armstrong appears through a secret doorway, and when he tries to escape he tumbles down the circular staircase and dies.