A White Lie - Production & Contact Info (original) (raw)

Robert Jordan, a young lawyer, is the happy husband of a charming young wife, and the father of a beautiful little girl. Ralph Deland, a good looking scoundrel, pretends friendship for the husband, although caring only for the wife. The ...See moreRobert Jordan, a young lawyer, is the happy husband of a charming young wife, and the father of a beautiful little girl. Ralph Deland, a good looking scoundrel, pretends friendship for the husband, although caring only for the wife. The child, playing in the garden with her father, runs back into the parlor for her Teddy bear. She sees the villain embracing her mother, and runs out into the garden to tell her father that the bad man is hurting her mother. The infuriated husband enters the room just as the wife is releasing herself from the embraces of Deland. Jordan restrains himself until Deland has left the room, then he demands an explanation. The wife protests her innocence and Jordan is convinced that she has been blameless. But one thought now possesses his mind: he must kill the scoundrel who so wronged his good wife. He takes a revolver from his desk, but his little girl comes in, and the sight of her sweet face makes him give up all thought of revenge. Later in the evening Deland calls, and by bribing the butler, secures an interview with the woman he has insulted. He assures her that he has only come to apologize. A door is heard to open. The husband has entered the house. The wife realizes that if Deland is found there, her husband will kill him. She persuades Deland to hide in the pantry. Jordan enters and sits at the desk, at work over legal papers. Hours pass. Jordan hears a noise in the adjoining room. Thinking it is a burglar, he takes his revolver and hides behind the portière. Deland opens the pantry door slowly and goes toward the hall entrance. Jordan calls to him to stop, and as Deland starts to run, Jordan fires, killing him. Jordan telephones to police headquarters that he has shot a burglar. The police arrive and an ambulance surgeon finds in Deland's coat the note in which Jordan has threatened to kill Deland. Jordan is arrested and, taken away by the police, despite his protestations of innocence. We next see Jordan in a prison cell; a warden brings him a letter from his wife telling him that the Governor has commuted his death sentence to imprisonment. Twelve years pass. The child, now a beautiful woman of nineteen, is at the Convent of the Sacred Heart; accompanied by a nun, she walks out with her mother to the railway station. Convicts are repairing the road. The mother recognizes in one of the striped unfortunates her husband. The poor father bids the mother not to let their child know. The trio pass on. Jordan stands looking sadly after the two beings he loves so well. The convicts fight the guards and Jordan runs away. He is followed by two guards, and after thrilling fights and a unique ride, he climbs the wall of the very convent in which his daughter is a pupil. Father and child meet, and a pathetic scene is interrupted by one of the nuns. The guards are seen coming up. The father hides behind a shrine, and the daughter pleads with the nun to save her father, an innocent man. The guards question the nun. A pause. Will the good sister break her vow? She feels a despairing child's hand touch hers, and she tells a white lie, the lie that is sometimes more benevolent than truth. The guards pass on and Jordan is saved. After a few days, in the disguise of a gardener. Jordan, accompanied by his wife and child, sails for England. Our closing scene shows a happy, reunited family, as they sit down to their evening meal, and as they voice their gratitude to the Father of all, a vision of the nun is seen, her hands spread in benediction over the man whom she saved with a white lie. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less