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A Woman's Daring Synopsis
"The Woman" is brought up on a farm by a miserly uncle who denies her the company of other young people. It is no wonder then that she is introduced by a traveling mining stock broker. When the uncle learns her plight, he puts her out. A storm is raging. The girl seeks shelter in the same place as the man who has seduced her. He persuades her to go to a nearby town and marry him. She does, but shortly after the ceremony she discovers that he is already married, when his wife and the police come and take him. Deserted and alone, the girl finds out that her uncle has been killed in the storm, and has left her his money. She takes it and goes to a small city where she lives. Five years later her little son is quite a lad, and they are living happily. The woman is known as a widow. Two men fall in love with her, a prominent physician and a broker. The broker wins his suit. Later her husband engages a chauffeur for the woman. When the man arrives at the house she discovers that it is the man who betrayed her. He threatens to expose her unless she keeps him supplied with money. She dares not refuse. He treats their son cruelly. One day the broker sees the chauffeur hit the lad and discharges him on the spot. The chauffeur again threatens the woman, this time telling her that if he does not get his job back he will reveal the truth about her. The woman goes to her husband's office when he is not in, and meets the chauffeur there. He flourishes a gun and a struggle ensues. The man is shot and the woman runs away. The coroner finds a locket in the hand of the dead man that belongs to the woman. He keeps the incriminating bit of evidence for the trial. The woman hides herself, unknowing that her husband has been arrested for the murder. A vision of the penitentiary causes her to hasten to court where she tells of the man's attack upon her. This testimony clears the husband, and both are discharged. She determines to have her mind free of the shadow of her secret, and tells her husband the true story of her life when they return home. She is forgiven.
Dust Synopsis
Marion Moore's sweetheart, Frank Kenyon, a young author interested in social reform, discovering that Marion's father is the owner of the worst factory in the city, pleads with her to persuade him to make better working conditions. Marion refuses. The season's society event is an entertainment for the benefit of the Belgian War Victims. Marian is to play "Humanity." That day, Mina, a child working in the factory, has her hand mangled in a machine. Frank learns of the accident from Bud and determines to bring the lesson home to Marian. He bribes her chauffeur to drive Marian to Mina's home. Marian is forced to enter the house with him. They find Mina alone and almost unconscious from an overdose of an opiate. The only hope of saving the child is by keeping her awake until he can summon medical aid. He orders Marian to walk the girl until he returns. Then he dashes away in the machine. Marian, seeing another machine approaching, leaves the child, and persuades the owner to drive her to the entertainment. When Frank returns, Mina is past saving. Wild with rage, he sets out for the entertainment. Marian has just achieved a great success when he arrives. He creates a sensation by mounting the platform and scathingly denouncing the shallow society people before him. Marian later hands him back his ring. He drives her by force to Mina's home. Marian is taken aback when she discovers that the animal mother is not weeping for love of Mina, but she wonders how she will ever pay for a cheap piano now that Mina's wages will no longer be forthcoming. Marian promises to attend to the payments. Marian laughs scornfully at Frank. Frank determines to wage a relentless war against Moore until conditions are modified. As champion of the working people, he is elected to the legislature. Frank introduces his bill for better factories. After much excitement, it is passed. Since the accident to Mina, Bud has been working to perfect a number of safety devices. With the idea of cheating the boy, Moore goes with him to a cabinet at one end of the building to look them over. Meanwhile a blaze has started. Soon the flimsy structure is ablaze. Marian escapes with the girls, hut Moore and Bud are trapped in the cabinet. From the roof of an adjoining building Frank throws a rope to the factory, where it fastens around a cornice. Then he makes his way hand over hand across the rope to the burning building, breaks through a skylight, and lowers a rope to Bud. Moore shoves the boy aside. Frank, angered, lowers the rope again for Bud. Moore rushes to the edge of the building. But as he hangs midway, the flames reach the rope, and he plunges to his death. A few weeks later the newspapers announce large gifts to charity from an anonymous source. Through Bud he discovers that it is Marian. The picture closes as she agrees to face the future with him.
"A Woman's Daring" holds a slight edge in general audience appreciation, but "Dust" offers its own unique cult appeal.
Suggested Watch:
A Woman's Daring