“So I’ve heard,” Jupiter replied. “I imagine that for Mr. Allen to have achieved such effects, these monsters and creatures he used must have looked quite real.”
“Of course they did,” Mr. Hitchcock said crisply. “You don’t frighten people with weak imitations of things that are supposed to be frightening, lad. It has to look and act exactly like the real thing.”
Jupiter nodded. “Who makes them?”
Mr. Hitchcock laughed. “We have very clever studio prop men, naturally. Sometimes a horrendous creature is animated by some ingenious mechanical device inside, motor driven or through gears and a crank. At other times, depending upon the action required of it, we use a different technique. We move the creature a bit at a time and photograph it, and then again and again until we have made it do whatever is required. That is called the ‘stop-motion’ technique, for your information. When all the frames are run off together, the action seems continuous, you see.”
“I understand,” Jupe said. “And what happens to the monsters that were created, after the picture is completed?”
“Sometimes they are put away,” Mr. Hitchcock said, “and saved for another occasion. Sometimes they are sold to an auction house. Other times, they are simply destroyed. Does that answer your question?”
“Yes,” Jupe said. “But I have another. Do you have any of Mr. Allen’s films available that we could see? One particularly to do with dragons.”
“Odd you should ask that,” the director said, after a moment’s pause. “I’ve been looking through our film library for an old classic of his entitled Creature of the Cave, one that is almost entirely to do with a dragon. I’ve been meaning to make a close study of it for my next picture. Not that I intend using Allen’s ideas,” he added hastily, “but merely to assure myself that my picture will have to be very good indeed to beat his.”
“It would be most helpful to us, Mr. Hitchcock,” Jupe said quickly, “if we could see this film. I would like very much to see for myself how a real dragon is supposed to look and act. Could you arrange it?”
Mr. Hitchcock didn’t hesitate a moment. “Be at my studio in an hour. I shall be at Projection Room Four.”
The phone went dead. Jupiter put it down on its cradle slowly. He turned to Pete and Bob.
“Remember,” he told them. “We will be looking at what is supposed to be an authentic dragon. Pay close attention to the film when we get there. Perhaps you may notice something that might save our lives later.”
“What could that be?” Bob asked.
Jupiter got up and stretched, “I’ve been going on my theory that the dragon at Seaside is a fake. Perhaps I’m wrong. In that case, our dragon is real!”
Promptly on time, transported by Worthington in the grand old Rolls- Royce, The Three Investigators arrived at the bungalow on the Hollywood studio marked as Projection Room Four. Mr. Hitchcock, seated at the rear with his secretary, nodded hello.
“Lads, take those seats down front,” rumbled Alfred Hitchcock. “I’m just about to signal the projectionist, and we’ll get started.”
He pressed a button on the seat near him, and the room went dark. Light flickered from a small opening in the booth behind the director, followed by a whirring sound.
“Remember,” warned Mr. Hitchcock, “this picture was made a very long time ago. The print we are showing is perhaps the only one available. It is underexposed and will be dark and murky in spots. That cannot be helped.
“That is enough introduction. On with the film!” Soon, the boys forgot where they were, Mr. Hitchcock had not exaggerated. The film was as suspenseful as he had indicated it would be. The story held their attention, and little by little they were led along the path of horror by the skill of the old film director who had made it.
The next scene on the screen dissolved to a cave. The next moment they were in it. And then, as their hearts pounded wildly again, they saw it once more — the dragon!
It filled the screen as it entered the cave, a grotesque creature, huge and frightening. Its short wings lifted, showing long muscles rippling and writhing like live snakes under its wet scaly skin. Then the small, dark head turned on its long, swaying neck to face them.
The long, powerful jaws opened as it roared.
“Wow!” Pete whispered. He shrank back in his seat involuntarily. “That’s real, all right!”
Bob stared at the monster moving closer on the screen, and his hands gripped the arms of his seat tightly.
Jupiter sat quietly, concentrating on every move the screen dragon made.
Spellbound they watched the film until the finish. When the dark projection room was flooded suddenly with light, they were still tense and shaking from the film’s impact.
As they walked to the rear of the room, their legs were rubbery.
“Whiskers!” Bob exclaimed. “I’m beat. It was just like last night, all over again. I forgot it was a movie!”
Jupiter nodded. “There’s the proof of how a master of horror can achieve his effects. Mr. Allen had the skill to make us accept and believe anything he wanted. He scared us all out of our wits with a make-believe dragon on a celluloid film. That was his intention and we let him. That’s something we must always remember.”
“Well?” asked Alfred Hitchcock. “Can you see now why my friend Allen was once regarded as the master of horror films?”
Jupiter nodded. He had a lot of questions to ask the mystery director, but he saw Mr. Hitchcock was busy and his secretary waiting to take notes. Instead, he thanked him for providing the film.
“You’ve seen your film dragon now,” Alfred Hitchcock said. “I shall await with great anticipation your solution of the mystery of the one in Seaside ”
He ushered the boys out and they headed for the gleaming Rolls-Royce where Worthington waited.
They settled back against the leather seats as the tall chauffeur drove slowly towards the gate.
“You told us to watch the dragon closely,” Bob said after a moment, “and I did. I couldn’t see any difference between this dragon and ours. Could you, Pete?”
Pete shook his head. “The only thing different was this dragon had a better roar than ours.”
“I don’t think it had a better roar,” Bob replied. “It’s just that ours seemed to cough a lot.”
Jupiter smiled. “Exactly,” he said.
“What do you mean, Jupe?” Pete asked.
“Apparently our dragon in Seaside is more susceptible to bad weather. It seems to have developed a cold.”
Bob looked intently at Jupe who was sitting back looking quite content. He didn’t trust that look. It meant as he had learned from the past, that Jupe was on to something. Something that had eluded both Pete and himself.
“How could a dragon catch a cold?” he asked.
“They’re supposed to live in damp caves and water.”
Jupiter nodded. “My thoughts exactly. And in a few more hours when we return, we shall be able to expose the mystery of why our cave dragon coughs. If my theory is correct, it might explain why we were allowed to leave the cave, and are still alive.”
Pete thought about this and frowned. “That sounds pretty good, Jupe. But what if your theory isn’t correct?”
Jupiter blew out his cheeks. “It had better be,” he said. “After all, I’m betting our lives on it.”
15
Questions and Answers
Pete suddenly exploded. “Maybe it’s time you stopped being so mysterious, Jupe, and told us what’s going on. We became The Three Investigators to solve riddles and unexplained mysteries. Nobody said anything about becoming Kamikaze suicide pilots. I like my life. Bob probably likes his, too. How about it, Bob?”