The third series of Elaine's adventures, The Romance of Elaine, was filmed in Ithaca.

THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE
Pathé 1914 / 14 Chapters / Mystery
Source: Novels by Arthur B. Reeve

Hero: Craig Kennedy (Arnold Daly)
His Pal: Walter Jameson (Creighton Hale)
Leading Lady: Elaine Dodge (Pearl White)
Mystery Villain: The Clutching Hand
Supporting Cast: Sheldon Lewis, Floyd Buckley
Produced by: Theodore and Leopold Wharton
Directed by: Louis Gasnier, George B. Seitz

Plot: Scientific detective Craig Kennedy uses his gadget-filled lab to discover the identity of the murderer of Elaine's father, who is known only as "the Clutching Hand."

Notes: Titles for European releases of this serial were The Clutching Hand and The Mysteries of New York.

Episodes:

1. The Clutching Hand: When millionaire Taylor Dodge comes into possession of vital evidence against the masked criminal known as “the Clutching Hand,” he is murdered, and master detective Craig Kennedy is put onto the case.
2. The Twilight Sleep: Kennedy receives a letter from Elaine, telling him to abandon the case - a letter which Elaine insists she did not write.
3. The Vanishing Jewels: Kennedy thwarts a clever jewel robbery by the Clutching Hand’s men, then engages the would-be robbers in a furious crosstown chase.
4. The Frozen Safe: The Clutching Hand attempts to rob the Dodge family’s new safe by pouring liquid gas into it and waiting for the expanding vapors to blow off the door.
5. The Poisoned Room: The Clutching Hand attempts to murder Elaine by saturating her bedroom wallpaper with arsenic.
6. The Vampire: When Elaine shoots one of the Clutching Hand’s men while he attempts to burgle her house, the master criminal kidnaps her in order to use her blood to save the wounded man’s life via transfusion.
7. The Double Trap: The Clutching Hand uses two elaborate ruses to lure Elaine and Kennedy into a series of devious traps.
8. The Hidden Voice: By a remarkable coincidence, the Clutching Hand intercepts a phone call from Elaine, meant for Jameson, in which she says that she has discovered her father’s papers, including evidence against the Hand. Telling her to leave the papers unread, the master criminal sends his men after Elaine while he plans to recover the documents.
9. The Death Ray: Desperate to set Kennedy off his trail, the Clutching Hand threatens to strike down innocent bystanders unless Kennedy drops the case. Carrying out his threats by means of a death ray, the Hand is thwarted when the deaths fail to elicit anything but angst from the detective. Unfazed, the master crook sets his sights on a target far dearer to Kennedy: Elaine Dodge.
10. The Life Current: The Clutching Hand attempts to force Kennedy away from Kennedy by ruining his relationship with Elaine. When this fails, he kidnaps her, drags her into an old sewer system, and leaves her to suffocate from sewer gas.
11. The Hour of Three: The Clutching Hand makes a vicious attempt on the life of Elaine by rigging her birthday present (a wristwatch) to shoot a poisoned needle into her wrist.
12. The Blood Crystals: A new adversary for Elaine and Kennedy enters the picture in the shape of Long Sin, a Chinese gangster, who, for his first trick, lures Elaine into an opium den and attempts to keep her captive.
13. The Devil Worshippers: Long Sin, now allied with the Clutching Hand, uses the master criminal’s wiles and resources to create a trap for Elaine. Once captured, she faces death at the hands of a Chinese cult intent on sacrificing her to appease their god.
14. The Reckoning: Bargaining for his life, Long Sin agrees to betray the Clutching Hand. While the master criminal prepares one last diabolical scheme, Long Sin delivers to Kennedy a piece of evidence which allows Kennedy to finally divine the identity of the Clutching Hand!

Filming Locations: Pathe's Jersey City studio

Novel: Photoplay novelization by Arthur B. Reeve published 1914 by Hearst International Library

THE NEW EXPLOITS OF ELAINE
Pathé/Wharton 1915 / 10 Chapters / Crime Melodrama
Source: Novels by Arthur B. Reeve; sequel to The Exploits of Elaine

Hero: Craig Kennedy (Arnold Daly)
His Pal: Walter Jameson (Creighton Hale)
Leading Lady: Elaine Dodge (Pearl White)
Villain: Wu Fang (Edwin Arden)
Main Henchman: Long Sin (Mike Rale)
MacGuffin: A ring which will unlock the hidden treasure vault of the Clutching Hand
Directed by: George B. Seitz

Plot: Elaine unknowingly comes into possession of a ring which is the key to locating the treasure concealed by the Clutching Hand before his demise. The ring had previously belonged to the vicious Tong leader Wu Fang, who is determined to recover it.

Episodes:

1. The Serpent Sign: Elaine Dodge’s attempts at relaxation after her recent battle with the Clutching Hand are interrupted by strange noises issuing from behind her fireplace. Calling upon ace detective Craig Kennedy, he investigates the papers of the late master criminal and discovers a secret passage behind Elaine’s fireplace. He and Elaine enter the passage to investigate and are nearly murdered by the Clutching Hand’s old ally Long Sin!
2. The Cryptic Ring: Elaine becomes the prisoner of the ruthless Oriental gangster Wu Fang when she unknowingly purchases a ring which was stolen from Wu and which holds the key to the treasure hidden by the Clutching Hand prior to his demise.
3. The Watching Eye: Kennedy receives a ransom note from Wu Fang, stating that Elaine will be released unless he surrenders the ring immediately. The ever-cunning detective manufactures a counterfeit ring to give to the Tong leader, but Wu recognizes the forgery and Kennedy barely escapes with his life.
4. The Vengeance of Wu Fang: Frustrated by Kennedy’s trick, Wu Fang releases Elaine, telling her that her fate will be one more horrible than any physical harm his men could inflict upon her, that her friends will die one by one and she will live in fear of the day death will come for her. His first strike is at Craig Kennedy. Planting a tick infected with a lethal bacteria in Kennedy’s phone receiver, he waits for the disease to take hold of Kennedy and Jameson.
5. The Saving Circles: Wu Fang strikes against Kennedy in his home with a stolen airplane, a skilled aviator, and a powerful bomb stolen from the government.
6. Spontaneous Combustion: Wu Fang plants a chair in Elaine’s bedroom which is designed to imprison its occupant then burst into flames, burning anyone seated in it to death.
7. The Ear in the Wall: Wu Fang sends Elaine a box of roses, half red and half white. She is supposed to place one or the other in the window, thus choosing which person is to die first: Craig Kennedy or Elaine’s Aunt Josephine. Unbeknownst to her, Kennedy displays the red roses, thus choosing himself as the first victim, then sets a trap for Wu’s henchman.
8. The Opium Smugglers: While Kennedy is busy helping a Secret Service agent with an opium investigation, Wu Fang kidnaps Elaine and puts her on a boat to Shanghai, where she is to be sold as a slave.
9. The Tell-Tale Heart: Wu Fang sets a trap for Kennedy’s investigative assistant Jameson and then takes Elaine prisoner, intending to blind her!
10. Shadows of War: A group of secret agents hire Wu Fang to steal the working model of a new torpedo invented by Kennedy.

Novelization: Chapters 1-5 of The Romance of Elaine by Arthur B. Reeve

THE ROMANCE OF ELAINE
Pathé/Wharton 1915 / 12 Chapters / Spy
Source: Novels by Arthur B. Reeve; serials The Exploits of Elaine and The New Exploits of Elaine

Heroine: Elaine Dodge (Pearl White)
Her Pal: Walter Jameson (Creighton Hale)
Villain: Marcius Del Mar (Lionel Barrymore)
Mystery Hero: Professor Arnold
Supporting Cast: Arnold Daly, Bessie Wharton
MacGuffin: Plans for a torpedo
Produced by: Theodore and Leopold Wharton
Directed by: The Whartons, George B. Seitz

Plot: Craig Kennedy is gone, killed in a titanic watery showdown with Wu Fang. Will Elaine Dodge and Jameson be enough to counter the maneuvers of submarine-based spy Marcius Del Mar, even with the help of a naval lieutenant and a brilliant, secretive professor?

Notes: The three interconnected Elaine serials -- Exploits, New Exploits, and Romance -- were advertised individually, but on-screen intertitles read “The Exploits of Elaine” for all three.

Episodes:

1. The Lost Torpedo: Jameson and Elaine work to come to grips with their grief over the supposed death of Kennedy, while a mysterious submarine surfaces in the harbor and disgorges one man -- foreign agent Marcius Del Mar. Del Mar poses as a detective and starts cozying up to Elaine in hopes of getting her to reveal the hiding place of Kennedy’s torpedo design, but Jameson has received a mysterious note telling him to be wary of Del Mar, written by a strange, spry old man determined to fight Del Mar to the last. Who could it be? I’ll give you three guesses.
2. The Gray Friar: Elaine throws a costume party when she receives a note from Kennedy, saying that he is still alive and on the case. Del Mar takes advantage of the costume party to try and discover the hiding place of the torpedo. He finds the model, conceals it in a trunk, and makes off with it. The spy also succeeds in placing an operative in Elaine’s house in the form of a maid.
3. The Vanishing Man: Elaine’s lost trunk is returned to her by the old man, now disguised as a farmer, and finds the torpedo model concealed in the trunk. Del Mar’s men once again attempt to steal it, but find the old farmer in their way. He manages to destroy the model, much to the consternation of the henchmen. However, the master spy has enough on his plate as his government has ordered that he begin sabotaging bridges, harbors, and other strategic points.
4. The Submarine Harbor: Jameson has come into possession of damaging evidence against Del Mar, and makes an attempt to send it to the government, but is intercepted by the master spy’s men.
5. The Conspirators: The old man gives Elaine a cryptic warning of Del Mar’s latest sabotage attempt: the cutting of the Great Atlantic Cable!
6. The Wireless Detective: Elaine disguises herself as a man to investigate Del Mar’s submarine base.
7. The War Cloud: Elaine spies Del Mar and his agents storing supplies at a country club where Jameson is hunting foxes.
8. The Searchlight Gun: Del Mar attempts to plant a bomb in Elaine’s house, but she finds it and is on her way to show it to Professor Arnold when she is set upon by Del Mar’s men. However, she has a trick up her sleeve: a new gun sent to her by Arnold, which is outfitted with the 1915 equivalent of a laser sight.
9. The Life Chain: Del Mar’s agents lure Elaine into a trap in, of all places, a dressmaker’s shop.
10. The Flash: Del Mar, Elaine, and Professor Arnold become embroiled in a three-way struggle over a set of defense plans.
11. The Disappearing Helmets: Professor Arnold captures one of Del Mar’s men and finds on him a letter from Del Mar’s superiors instructing him to step up his campaign of sabotage.
12. The Final Chapter: Del Mar succeeds in capturing Elaine, but at the price of revealing the location of his secret base. A final titanic submarine battle with the Navy and Professor Arnold ensues; Arnold’s secret is revealed; and no one is surprised what it is.

Novel: Photoplay novelization by Arthur B. Reeve published 1915 by Hearst International Library (chapters 6-17)