|
The Man Who Called After Dark
(1916) United States of America
B&W : Two reels
Directed by Walter Coyle (Walter V. Coyle)
Cast: Jack Drumier [Henry Whitmore], Vera Sisson [Dorothy, Whitmore’s ward], Jack Mulhall [Robert Whitmore], Ivan Christy [Daniel Hayes, the editor], Gretchen Hartman [Mrs. Daniel Hayes], Charles Perley [Stanley Cooper]
Biograph Company production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Released 11 april 1916. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Robert Whitmore, the son of a wealthy businessman, at college becomes addicted to gambling and incurs several debts, the I.O.U.’s of which are held by the proprietor of a gambling parlor, who threatens to bring the matter before the president of the college if Robert does not pay at once. In order to get the money, Robert raises a check which his father has sent him, giving it to the gambler in settlement of his I.O.U.’s. But the gambler is suspicious and holds the I.O.U’s until he has seen the check go through. Meanwhile Robert has returned home and upon the day of his arrival, his father received the canceled check from the bank endorsed by the gambler. Armed with the check, he returns home and finds Robert in the act of destroying several pieces of paper as he enters. Noting his confusion at the time, he shows him the check and asks him if he knows anything about it. Realizing that there is no escape, Robert breaks down and confesses, whereupon his father mildly but firmly declares that he must go away and make out for himself, not to return until he has proved himself worthy of his father’s forgiveness. Dorothy, his father’s ward, is in love with Robert and is amazed when she learns that Robert has gone away without leaving any explanation. Firmly intent upon proving his mettle, we find Robert in a distant city, where he is searching in vain for work. Among other places he tries to get a position as reporter on one of the leading papers, but fails. One morning during his stay in town, a man is found shot dead in one of the public parks, and while the authorities search for clues, the identity of the murderer remains a mystery. As the murdered man was a stranger in town, it looks as if the affair would be dropped, when Robert hits on a plan, whereby he may prove himself a valuable asset to the paper before mentioned in increasing its circulation through a great scope. He hastens to the editor to lay his scheme before him which is that he leave a certain chain of evidence that will direct their reporters to him as the murderer of the man found in the park. This proposition is accepted by the editor, who has promised Robert to produce enough counteracting alibis to clear him, after the paper has enjoyed the fruits of the story. The plan works only too well, for the jury brings in a verdict of guilty and it looks very much as if Robert would suffer the penalty of the crime, because the editor had positively refused to even recognize him when he, at the last moment, disclosed the whole plot. The news reaches Dorothy and she hastens to Robert’s side, believing his story to be true. They both reason that the editor must have had some hidden reason for throwing Robert down, so with this in view, Dorothy secures a position as a lady’s maid in the home of the editor, and there learns that it was the editor himself who had killed this man, whom he claims was his wife’s sweetheart, and carried him to the park. This all comes out during a quarrel between the editor and his wife regarding the man, who called one night after dark, and whom he claimed to be a lover, and the wife confesses that it was her former worthless husband, whom she thought died years before in prison, for during this quarrel Dorothy is listening at the door. The district attorney is notified and the wrong righted.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 8 November 2022.
References: Spehr-American p. 2 : Website-IMDb.
|
