Film vs Film
Select two cult films to compare side by side.
Not Guilty Synopsis
Ed Andrews, a young shipping clerk, is in love with Dora Birch, and has as rival Tom Matthews, but wins the girl, much to his mother's satisfaction. A raise in salary hastens their marriage and two years later their baby arrives. Andrews, celebrating the event, goes to the corner bar with George Gardner, his chum, and, after several drinks, Gardner gets into a fight with Jim Matthews, Tom's brother, knocking him down with a blow, Matthew's head striking the pavement, causing his death. George runs away, and Ed bends over Matthews, trying to raise him. The crowd threatens him and he starts to run, but is soon caught. In the morning he is fined for disorderly conduct, and is near freedom when word comes that Matthews is dead, and he is held for murder. Tom is a ward detective, and four months after the arrest, swears that Jim was killed while resisting highway robbery. Ed is sentenced to death, and the shock kills his wife, his mother taking the child and rearing her. She pleads with the Governor, and in view of the evidence he commutes Ed's sentence to imprisonment for life. His mother tells him of his wife's death, and, with his nerve crushed, he begins his prison life. Nineteen years later his daughter falls in love with Paul Matthews, son of the man who had sworn away his life. Ed's mother continues her efforts in his behalf, and Gardner, dying in a distant city, tells the truth about the assault. Ed is pardoned and meets his daughter for the first time in the warden's office. Ed and his daughter are having luncheon on the beach when he sees a man fall from a boat, swims out to save him and brings him to shore, but the man is dead and Ed recognized the body as that of Tom Matthews, the brother of the man his friend had killed, and on whose evidence he had spent twenty years in prison. Then he feels that while nothing can give him back his lost youth, his wasted life and the wife he loved, he has overtaken the man who was responsible for his troubles.
The Price Synopsis
A young girl, reared in luxury, is thrown penniless upon her own resources. She becomes secretary to a great artist, who, in younger and poorer days, married the landlady's daughter. In need of inspiration, the artist turns to his charming secretary. Believing that she loves him, the girl submits, but finds her mistake, when, meeting a flourishing physician, she learns true love. Both the physician and the artist want to marry the girl, the latter promising to get rid of his present encumbrance. Fearing that the physician will learn of her past, the girl refuses his offer of marriage. The artist, having a weak heart, drops dead at her feet upon learning that she does not love him; whereupon the girl becomes the physician's bride. The artist's widow, seeking vengeance, after a protracted discussion between the physician and his wife, secures the position of housekeeper in their home. She plants seeds of jealousy within the wife by telling her the physician loves his adopted child, whom he has brought up from infancy. The wife flies in a rage, charging her husband with infidelity; whereupon the widow, making her revenge complete, reads a diary to husband and wife foolishly kept by the artist, telling of his relations with the former secretary. In her frenzied protestations, the wife also reveals the fact that it was her rejection of his love that caused the death of her lover. Attempting suicide, the wife is prevented by her maid, who shows her the folly of such an act. The wife, impressed by the recital, decides to live down the past, and try to win back her husband's love.
"Not Guilty" holds a slight edge in general audience appreciation, but "The Price" offers its own unique cult appeal.
Suggested Watch:
Not Guilty