Stage Fright

Tiny huddles with his dogs in a wicker basket on the stage of an abandoned vaudeville theater. He emerges to have them practice a trick that makes the dogs attack a tattered straw boater hat on command. A second man, Arnold Hugh, appears on stage and Tiny, fearful, backs away and slips toward the orchestra pit.

Arnold confronts Tiny on the stage and threatens to torture the dogs if they cannot reach his height. Tiny tries to back away, loses his balance, and falls into the orchestra pit with his clothes snagged on a broken plank.

Years earlier, Tiny discovers one of his dogs is missing during a theater act and fears the crowd will turn against him. Daphne urges him to go on with the show, insisting the act can still work. The fear of rejection haunts him as the audience waits.

In a silent movie that features the missing dog, Arnold and Daphne achieve success while Tiny's training goes uncredited. Arnold pressures Daphne not to tell Tiny about the theft and takes all the credit for training the dogs.

Tiny trains the dogs to jump up and place a boater on Tiny's head at his command. When Arnold uses this trick in a movie, it fails because he is taller than Tiny and cannot replicate the effect. The setback fuels the tension between them.

Angered by the failed trick, Tiny retrains the dogs to attack on command. Arnold leaves the studio to confront Tiny on the studio stage, foreshadowing the climactic confrontation at the opening scene.

Daphne decides she no longer wants to work with Arnold and follows him to the theater where his actions will ripple through the events to come. She is drawn into the unfolding conflict.

Daphne swings a sandbag across the stage, knocking Arnold down, and confesses her involvement to Tiny. Arnold rises to strangle Daphne, prompting Tiny to issue the attack command to the dogs.

Tiny commands the dogs to attack; they advance toward Arnold who grabs a metal latch as a weapon. The movie screen collapses and falls on Arnold, killing him.

After the death, Tiny is lifted into view on the organ that had provided background music for Arnold's films, now glowing white as if bewitched. He steps down unhurt and looks on as the theater settles.

Arnold's spirit rises from his body and steps onto the organist's beckoning. The organ drops away, carrying Arnold down to the Underworld as the theater collapses around them.

Daphne persuades Tiny to overcome his fear of rejection and leave with her. They, along with the dogs, exit into the light of the outside world as the theater falls apart behind them.