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And the Children Pay Synopsis
William Clark sends his son Billy to a brothel to learn of life's necessary evils, on the eve of his departure for college. On his Christmas holiday, Billy, who has fallen in with a fast crowd, persuades his childhood sweetheart, Margery Reynolds, to drink wine and then takes the intoxicated girl to a hotel. Back at college, Billy refuses to marry the pregnant Marge, and she, unable to confide in her father, a minister, leaves for Chicago, where her child is born blind and crippled. When Marge, forced into prostitution, recognizes Billy at a brothel, he is arrested and fined $550 for child support. After the baby dies in court, however, Billy returns home, and Marge is taken to Kate Addams' Coulter House for fallen women. At the insistence of his father, Billy agrees to marry another woman, but Rev. Reynolds, whose wife has died of grief, learns of Billy's betrayal and denounces him from the altar. Billy, taken ill, dies in his mother's arms.
Human Passions Synopsis
Alerted to his wife's infidelity by his closest friend, Duncan Shields, Texas rancher Frank Warren shoots the lover and leaves. Sixteen years later, Warren, living in an old castle in Cuba, sends his secretary Fernwald to take his daughter Lola from his wife's influence. Lola and Shield's son, Duncan, Jr., have fallen in love, but when Fernwald arrives, Duncan mistakenly believes that Lola's warm greeting is symptomatic of a promiscuity that characterized her mother. He is saved from suicide by sailors and becomes a member of their crew. Aboard the ship to Cuba, Duncan rescues Lola from Fernwald's attempted rape. After Fernwald steals her papers, goes ashore, and watches as the boat bursts into flames and sinks, Lola and Duncan drift to an island. Meanwhile, Fernwald has his old sweetheart impersonate Lola to gain her inheritance. After Lola and Duncan are rescued and survive a wash-out on a mountain road, they are taken to the castle, where Fernwald attempts to poison Duncan. They struggle, Duncan pushes Fernwald over a ledge, Lola and her father are reunited, and Lola and Duncan embrace.
"And the Children Pay" holds a slight edge in general audience appreciation, but "Human Passions" offers its own unique cult appeal.
Suggested Watch:
And the Children Pay