The Temptation of John Gray - Production & Contact Info (original) (raw)

Our hero, John Gray, is seen leaving his old mother and starting off to make a fortune in the gold mines in Colorado. We next see him and his companion digging for gold and finding nuggets. Craving amusement, John Gray drifts into a ...See moreOur hero, John Gray, is seen leaving his old mother and starting off to make a fortune in the gold mines in Colorado. We next see him and his companion digging for gold and finding nuggets. Craving amusement, John Gray drifts into a Western dance hall and gambling saloon. He sees other men win, and stakes his entire bag of nuggets in an exciting gambling scene. A turn of the card sweeps away the hard earned savings of weeks of toil. John goes bravely back to work, ashamed of his folly and determined never to gamble again. His companion brings him a telegram from the old family doctor at home telling him that his aged mother is very sick, perhaps dying, and keeps calling for him. John tries to borrow money from his companion, who is dead broke, then trudges off to the town of Red Dog. He tries to borrow money from the gambling house keeper, who spurns him. A stage coach comes up. Seated on front, with the driver, is the armed messenger of the Wells Fargo Express Company, guarding a small safe full of money. John pleads with the driver, and shows him the telegram. The stage driver will not help him. In despair John places the muzzle of his revolver to his forehead, determined to end his life. Before he can pull the trigger, he sees, in a vision, his sick old mother, rising from her bed, and pleading with him to come back to her. Deeply moved. John puts his revolver away. He sees the Wells Fargo's safe, and makes a desperate resolve. He will get some of the money from that safe and go back to his mother, at any cost. The passengers come out of the hotel and are driven away in the stage. John jumps on behind the stage, and ties a handkerchief over his face, and when the stage reaches a lonely spot, John climbs on top, seizes the gun of the messenger, compels the messenger and driver to jump from the stage, and John drives the stage off. John drives the stage into the woods. At the point of a revolver he compels the two men passengers, one a dignified English tourist, and the other a very comical Hebrew drummer, to lift the safe from the stage and carry it into the woods. The third passenger, the young daughter of the Englishman, is compelled to go back into the stage. John is now seen carrying the express messenger's gun behind the Hebrew and the Englishman, who are staggering alone under the weight of the safe. The poor Hebrew is exhausted, and much comedy is shown in his attempts to lose his job. Meanwhile the brave girl left in the stage coach has unharnessed one of the stage horses, and riding him bareback, dashes off in search of her father. She finds the cap that her father has dropped, and goes bravely into the woods after him. John has driven off the Hebrew and Englishman. Taking a shell from the gun, he pours the powder from same into the safe lock and explodes it. He puts one package of money into his shirt and drags the safe off to bury it. It is made clear that he resolves to return every dollar to the express company. The girl comes through the bushes, seizes John's gun and pointing it at John, compels him to give up the money he has taken. John pleads with her and shows her the telegram that lead him to steal the safe. The girl, touched by the message and John's evident repentance, gives him the money to go home, and lets him escape just as a party of cowboys dashes up to her rescue. John is seen stopping a fast moving train and the next scene shows John's mother on a sick bed. John enters. With a cry of joy the mother embraces her son. Back of them appears a face that John can never forget, the girl who saved him. She stretches out her hands in benediction over the mother and son, once more united and happy. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less