This curious picture is a cross between fantasy and science fiction (at least, the 1922 version of science fiction) and features Broadway actors Grant Mitchell and Margaret Irving in their motion picture debuts. Arthur Wyman (Mitchell) is the typical absent-minded scientist. He is in love with Mary Langdon (Irving), the daughter of his landlady (Gertrude Hillman). To help her out, he invents an alarm clock that does not tick (this being long before the days of electronic devices). Using the money he has earned writing an article, Wyman tries to put the finishing touches on a radio that will contact Mars. He falls asleep as he is tinkering with it and dreams that he has gotten in touch with the Martians. They give him a lot of valuable informationâhe learns a special way to make diamonds from coal, fashion gold from clay, and create steel that weighs "less than nothing." What he learns makes him fabulously wealthyâuntil, much to his disappointment, he wakes up. But then Mary arrives and tells him that the rights to the "tickless" alarm clock have been sold for a lot of money, so things work out after all.
Question: Who does Arthur Wyman love?, Answer: Mary Langdon. Question: Who does Arthur contact in his dream?, Answer: The Martians. Question: What does Arthur invent that does not tick?, Answer: Alarm clock.