The movie opens with an elaborate looking ballroom accented by an artificial bandstand called the Clockwork Wizards. At the face of the room, sits a caped pianist with a dark hood and concealed face, thumping away at an elaborate pipe organ. A woman with strange clothing walks in and the two begin waltzing as the clockwork band plays on. But everything is not all fun and games. After a tango or two, our hooded villain, Doctor Anton Phibes and his lovely assistant, Vulnavia, leave the stately lair and embark upon a journey in a Rolls Royce.