Money's Merciless Might - Production & Contact Info (original) (raw)

The first part shows us the happy home of a prosperous American broker, Julius P. Leclerc. His daughter, Suzanne, is possessed of rare beauty and charm, and it remains for a daring young French aviator to capture the heart of the charming ...See moreThe first part shows us the happy home of a prosperous American broker, Julius P. Leclerc. His daughter, Suzanne, is possessed of rare beauty and charm, and it remains for a daring young French aviator to capture the heart of the charming young girl. It is a case of love at first sight when the two meet on the aviation field close to New York City. But Serge Renot, although a capable and daring flying-man, proves to be unsound in his ideas of business morality, and is not blessed with a goodly store of wealth by any means. This information is ferreted out by the powerful capitalist, William Runciman, who desires nothing so much as an alliance with the fair daughter of his friend Leclerc. Runciman and Leclerc visit Renot's club and discover the young man gambling heavily, and Leclerc is strengthened in his determination to put a stop to Renot's suit. But the broker has not seen the storm gathering around him; his speculations fail one after another. His Liberlan stock drops to zero, other stocks fall to vanishing point, and Leclerc wilts under the crushing blow. Seized with sudden heart failure the broker expires. Suzanne realizes that union with a penniless aviator is impossible in their present straitened circumstances, and that the only way that she and her mother can continue to live in comfort is for the daughter to make a rich alliance. So with sadly diminished income they resolve to spend one more season in Europe, and depart for the sunny lands of the Riviera. Serge Renot returns to his beloved Paris. At Cannes Suzanne is introduced to a French lieutenant named de Vergne, the eldest son of a wealthy countess, and the officer promptly falls head over heels in love with the beautiful American girl. Suzanne likes him sufficiently to promise to become his wife. But here upon the scene appears William Runciman, whose chief creed is that his money can procure anything he may want. Runciman invites Renot to Cannes and shows him Suzanne and de Vergne returning from a ride in the woods. Renot is furiously mad, and with jealous rage he challenges the army man to a duel, Next morning we see this duel take place, and de Vergne is badly wounded. Renot calls on the Leclercs, but Runciman has forestalled him. Suzanne tells the aviator that she can never forgive him, and that her former love has turned to hatred. She rushes to the house where Countess de Vergne and her son reside, only to learn that her fiancé and his mother have departed. A few days later Serge Renot writes a pathetic note to Suzanne appealing once more to her love, and stating that unless she will relent from her present attitude, he has resolved to commit suicide in a dramatic manner while in the air. At this proof of his devotion Suzanne does relent, and hurries off to the aviation ground to prevent Serge carrying out his intention. But she gets there too late; Renot has started. We see his aeroplane sailing through the cerulean blue of the southern skies like a swallow on the wing, when the explosion takes place, and the aviator falls to the ground, crushed to death beneath the wreck of his machine. A month elapses. Suzanne and her mother are back in the New York house, but it is a sad homecoming. The sheriffs have been busy and everything of value bears a justices' seal upon it. Poor distracted Suzanne knows not what to do. At one time she contemplates a speedy release from earthly troubles, but the thought of her helpless mother being left alone to battle with the world deters her. And then she makes the supreme sacrifice. William Runcimaq has told her that when all else fails, when her friends have all deserted her, when everything looks black, all she has to do is to send him the single word "'Come." The story closes with Suzanne addressing a note to the financier, couched in the following brief manner: "Come, Suzanne." Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less