In The White Tiger, director Tod Browning, a former magician, provides an exposé of the “mystifying mechanics” of the famous  chess-playing automaton widely exhibited in late 18th and early 19th century Europe and America. The automaton, fashioned to represent a Turkish chess master, was an often convincing—though entirely fraudulent—representation of artificial intelligence: the device was actually operated by a human chess expert concealed within the cabinet below the chess board. Browning, a great admirer of Edgar Allan Poe, combined Poe’s famous 1836 essay on the hoax with the author’s fascination with tales of mystery and the macabre. The protagonists in the film use the “baffling” device to gain entrance to a wealthy estate and execute a jewel heist. In exposing the fraud, Browning violates a precept of the magician’s code of ethics; to never reveal the mechanics of an illusion.

Articles in the Aug. 5, 1922 Universal Weekly and Exhibitors Trade Review recounted actress Priscilla Dean’s recent arrival in New York City to simultaneously promote her upcoming film, Under Two Flags (1922) and begin work on another Tod Browning picture, this one written expressly for her by the director. Under the working title Lady Raffles, principal photography began at the Eden Musée wax museum on Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY. Sequences were filmed in the evenings, after the museum had closed to the public. Filmmakers allowed writers and members of the press to observe production during the weeklong shoot. Two months into filming, the Sept. 23, 1922 Film Daily reported that Universal had changed the title to White Tiger. Cast and crew returned to the West Coast in Oct 1922, completing final scenes at the studios in Universal City, CA. The Nov. 4, 1922 Exhibitors Trade Review described an “elaborate ballroom set” and enthused that the film might be the “best” of Priscilla Dean’s Universal-Jewel career.

Although a Feb. 17, 1923 Moving Picture World article indicated that the film had been scheduled for a May 7 release, reviews did not appear until much later in the year, suggesting that the release date had been pushed back. White Tiger received favorable assessments in the Nov. 18 Film Daily, Nov. 2 Variety, and Dec. 15 Exhibitors Herald. However, the Dec 1923 Educational Screen placed the film on a “Not Recommended” list, declaring that it contained “too much crookery.” A similar story titled Lady Raffles was remade in 1928 by Columbia Pictures.