SILENT FILMS 1916-1920: PITFALLS OF A BIG CITY (1919)

CREDITS

Released: April 13, 1919

Production Company: Fox Film Corporation

Featured Cast: Gladys Brockwell, William Scott, William Sheer, Neva Gerber, Al Fremont, Ashton Dearholt, Janice Wilson, Buck Jones

Director: Frank Lloyd

Writer: Bennett Cohen (story), (scenario)

TECH

Runtime 1 hr (60 min)
Sound Mix Silent
Color Black and White
Aspect Ratio 1.33 : 1
Film Length 1,800 m (6 reels) (USA)
Negative Format 35 mm
Cinematographic Process Spherical
Printed Film Format 35 mm

STORY

Tenement dweller Molly Moore, trying to forget her crooked past and go straight, runs a cheap restaurant in the underworld district in order to educate her younger sister Marion. Jerry Sullivan and Spike Davis, two friends from Molly’s past, are released from prison. Jerry has always loved Molly and is determined to find work despite Spike’s bad influence. When Spike forces himself on Marion during her visit to Molly, Molly sends her back to her educated friends.

Marion then becomes engaged to Ted Pemberton, the brother of her boarding school friend Alice. Spike plans to rob the Pemberton home on the night of the engagement party, and threatens to expose Molly’s past if she does not help him. Molly refuses, but when she follows him to the Pemberton home to dissuade him, she is arrested by the police while Spike escapes. Jerry locates Spike, and with the aid of Dave Garrity, a plain-clothes policeman,

Spike is arrested and Molly freed. Jerry and Molly wed and rebuild their lives. (TCM)