The Purple Cipher on AllMovie

Popular action star Earle Williams thrills his fans in the 1920 5-reeler The Purple Cipher. The plot centers around a Tong war in Chinatown. When one of the warlords expresses an interest in Williams' girl friend (Vola Vale), the chop suey hits the fan. In the tradition of everything but the kitchen sink, the climax of this otherwise landlocked thriller takes place in a submarine. Venerable Vitagraph studios may have been considered "the morgue of the movies" by 1920, but every once in a while the company was still able to churn out a winner like The Purple Cypher.