The "Silent Hall of Fame" has looked for copies of this silent film and at first thought they found a trailer in Europe, but, alas, all copies of this film and its trailers no longer exist.
The plot is one in which two people who were once childhood friends, a crooked political boss, Daniel Steele (Lewis Stone), and the editor of a daily city paper, John Ballard (Henry Walthall), go to war as the newspaper attempts to expose Steele. To complicate matters, the editor's son, Bill, (Malcolm McGregor) is in love with a girl, June Westcott (Marceline Day) whose guardian is Steele. He has never been anything but good to her, so she disbelieves what Bob tells her. When his father is killed by Steele's vice ring for his efforts to expose Steele through a free press, Bob takes over for his father as editor and continues the fight to expose the members of the vice ring.
The reviews for this one were very good, saying it was a very realistic portrayal of the running of a newspaper and the life of reporters on a newspaper. Part of this is due to the fact that the director, George Melford, was a former editorial writer in New York.
This was essentially the last full year for silent films, and although Lewis Stone and Henry Walthall went on to have good careers in sound films, the other stars of this production did not have similar fates. George Melford continued to direct pretty steadily until 1933, then his activity fell off. He directed "East of Java" in which Charles Bickford was mauled by a tiger to the extent that Fox dropped their intentions to sign him on as a leading man. Marceline Day had a good but short career in silents, acted steadily in poverty row productions until 1933, and then retired, refusing to be interviewed about her experiences as a film actress for the rest of her life. Malcolm McGregor also had a good silent career that did not translate to sound film. He died from smoking in bed at only age 52 in 1945. Walthall's career in sound films was only cut short by his death in 1936.
The plot is one in which two people who were once childhood friends, a crooked political boss, Daniel Steele (Lewis Stone), and the editor of a daily city paper, John Ballard (Henry Walthall), go to war as the newspaper attempts to expose Steele. To complicate matters, the editor's son, Bill, (Malcolm McGregor) is in love with a girl, June Westcott (Marceline Day) whose guardian is Steele. He has never been anything but good to her, so she disbelieves what Bob tells her. When his father is killed by Steele's vice ring for his efforts to expose Steele through a free press, Bob takes over for his father as editor and continues the fight to expose the members of the vice ring.
The reviews for this one were very good, saying it was a very realistic portrayal of the running of a newspaper and the life of reporters on a newspaper. Part of this is due to the fact that the director, George Melford, was a former editorial writer in New York.
This was essentially the last full year for silent films, and although Lewis Stone and Henry Walthall went on to have good careers in sound films, the other stars of this production did not have similar fates. George Melford continued to direct pretty steadily until 1933, then his activity fell off. He directed "East of Java" in which Charles Bickford was mauled by a tiger to the extent that Fox dropped their intentions to sign him on as a leading man. Marceline Day had a good but short career in silents, acted steadily in poverty row productions until 1933, and then retired, refusing to be interviewed about her experiences as a film actress for the rest of her life. Malcolm McGregor also had a good silent career that did not translate to sound film. He died from smoking in bed at only age 52 in 1945. Walthall's career in sound films was only cut short by his death in 1936.
