The Suicide Club (1914)

Prince Florizel, disillusioned with life, is ready for any mad freak in order to vary the monotony of existence. He makes the acquaintance of a young man, who introduces him and his friend, Colonel Geraldine, to the "Suicide Club," an organization which meets in a secret underground apartment. Here the members are discovered seated around a table while the president deals the cards to determine who is to die. The one who has the ace of spades is to be killed by the hand of the one who has the ace of clubs. The prince and his companion think at first that it is a joke, but when they read of the first tragedy in the papers they know the business is serious. At the next meeting of the club the prince himself is doomed, but is rescued at the last moment by his friend Geraldine. He sends a message to the president to say he will not betray his secret but insists that he shall accompany the colonel's son to Paris and that one of them must die. In Paris the president has an accomplice, a beautiful woman, who lures the young Geraldine to his doom. He is shot in the bedroom of an American visitor, who, with the aid of Dr. Noel, a friend of Florizel's, brings the body back to the prince in a trunk. Horrified at the outcome of his scheme, the prince decides now to give the president no quarter. Once more he is at the club, this time to see who is to have the honor of killing its nefarious head. The prince himself draws the ace of clubs, and the last scene of all shows a duel. At a critical moment the president's accomplice turns out the lights, but it is her man who receives the fatal lunge in the end, and the prince bows himself out of the apartment.