La secta de los misteriosos

Following the success of "Los misterios de Barcelona", "La secta de los misteriosos" was a serial made as well in Barcelona (and actually released in 1916) by one of the top directors of the Spanish film industry (we should better say Catalan film industry, since all production facilities were based in Catalonia) at the time: Alberto Marro. Fed by the successful release of similar serials produced in France at the time (being "Fantomas" an outstanding predecessor to this one), "La secta de los misteriosos" was thought lost for many years until an incomplete copy exhibited in Austria and Germany in the 20's was found and underwent a partial restoration by the Cineteca del Friuli resulting into this film to which more than a half of the footage remains undiscovered.

The plot involves a gang of criminals (The Heron, The Fox and The African) hot on the the trail of a mysterious jewel. Divided in two different pieces, once put together, the jewel will lead its owner to a marvellous treasure. One of the pieces is owned by Dr. Planas whereas the other belongs to the countess of Bellevue. The burglars take the countess' part of the jewel as they kidnap her daughter. Inspector Hernandez helped by his faithful assistant Carlos will overcome every sort of danger in order to retrieve the jewel and rescue the girl unharmed.

Unfortunately, the plot gets badly damaged by the continuous jumps and the story becomes in straightforward terms unknowable, resulting so hard to follow the movie fails at catching the viewer's attention. The best of it is "the moor legend", used by one of the characters to embellish the jewel's background. The rest is nothing but a Feuillade wannabe film that brings nothing new to light. Had a proper restoration been performed and...who knows. But once most of the material couldn't be found, they must have thought: whatever is better than nothing. But "whatever" doesn't necessarily add up, that's why this movie, to me, doesn't make it.