Summary
A soot-smudged John Hargrave, cap in trembling hand, begs granite-hearted mill baron Roger Winton for any job that will buy laudanum for his dying mother; Winton’s frosted refusal becomes the funeral bell that tolls her offstage demise. Eighteen winters later Hargrave re-emerges, no longer supplicant but sovereign of a whirring paper empire whose very smokestacks sneer at Winton’s older brick. Between them wavers Irene Foster—gilded, restless, trading kisses like stock options—who wants Winton’s pedigree and Hargrave’s vault in equal, faithless measure. While the fathers duel with ledger blades, Roger Jr. courts Irene in roadsters and rooftop gardens, unaware that Hargrave’s true ally is the demure Margaret Carlisle, a secretary whose quiet lamp burns longer than any mill whistle. When Winton Sr. hires saboteurs to turn Hargrave’s shop floor into a fist-flying anarchy, the fray leaves our protagonist groping through literal darkness, his retinas scarred by the same flashpoints that once seared his conscience. Yet blindness strips the last veneer of vengeance from his heart: he hears Margaret read him balance sheets like love poems, and in that hush he understands that empire is worthless without an heir to the spirit. A risky surgery restores his sight; the wedding bells that follow drown out the foundry’s roar, and the closing shot frames Hargrave’s purple mourning coat—once a beggar’s only garment—now draped over a chair like a banner of hard-won grace.
Synopsis
Poverty-stricken John Hargrave is forced to beg employment from rich mill owner Roger Winton in order to save his sick mother's life. Winton refuses to help, and when Hargrave's mother dies, he swears revenge. Eighteen years pass and Hargrave is now owner of a large paper mill, in competition with Winton. Hargrave and Winton's son, Roger Jr., are also rivals for the same woman, Irene Foster, who desires Winton's love but Hargrave's money. Winton, Sr., in an attempted takeover of Hargrave's stock, bribes labor agitators to create turmoil in Hargrave's plant. Hargrave discovers the plot, foils the scheme and discovers Irene's disloyalty. Although stricken with blindness because of the agitation in his life, Hargrave finds true love with his secretary, Margaret Carlisle. Once his sight is restored, he marries Margaret.
Review Excerpt
"
The first time we see John Hargrave he is already a ghost—cheekbones sharpened by hunger, coat the color of bruised plum—pleading across a mahogany desk polished so brightly it reflects only the ceiling’s indifference. Director William F. Moran lets the camera linger on that mirror-like surface for an extra beat, as though inviting us to notice the absence of human reflection. It is 1903 in an unnamed New England mill town, and the industrial age is devouring its own children with methodical g..."
