Summary
In a riveting tale of fraternal dichotomy, Wild brothers Jimmy and Billy Roberts face disparate paths after their wealthy father disinherits them due to their penchant for street brawling. Jimmy plunges into a life of crime, aligning himself with a cohort of nefarious characters, while Billy seeks redemption through industrious toil as a telephone lineman in the quaint town of Midvale. It is here that Billy becomes enamored with the charming telephone operator, Betty Blair, whose grandmother, however, has earmarked her for a union with the affluent lawyer, Kilmaster. As Kilmaster's jealousy intensifies upon discovering a private detective's inquiries about Billy, he maliciously disseminates rumors suggesting the lineman is a character of dubious repute. A series of coincidences leads Jimmy and his accomplices to Midvale, where they orchestrate a bank robbery by severing the telephone lines. Billy, oblivious to his brother's involvement, hastens to repair the lines and inadvertently provides the police with the robbers' trajectory. During the chaotic aftermath, Jimmy finds himself trapped in a telephone building engulfed in flames, a consequence of a stray bullet from the bank robbery. Before the structure succumbs to the fire, Jimmy manages a poignant long-distance conversation with his ailing mother. Concurrently, Billy learns of his brother's predicament and rushes to the inferno, rescuing Betty and later declining his father's offer of financial assistance, opting instead to be the sole provider for his future wife.
Synopsis
Wild brothers Jimmy and Billy Roberts are disinherited by their wealthy father after being arrested for street brawling. Jimmy joins his crook friends, while Billy abandons his dissolute ways and gets a job as a telephone lineman in the town of Midvale. There, he falls in love with telephone operator Betty Blair, but her grandmother demands that she marry a rich lawyer named Kilmaster. The lawyer becomes jealous of Billy, and when he discovers that a private detective has been asking questions about the lineman, he spreads rumors that Billy is a criminal character. Meanwhile, by coincidence, Jimmy and his pals arrive in Midvale, cut a local bank's telephone wires, and rob it. When Billy hurries to the bank to repair the wires, he discovers which way the robbers have fled and alerts police. Jimmy, meanwhile, becomes separate from his gang during the getaway and ducks into the telephone building, which is on fire because a stray bullet fired during the nearby bank robbery broke a lamp. Jimmy and Betty become trapped in separate rooms. Jimmy telephones his ailing mother long distance with a final message before a wall caves in on him. When Billy telephones Betty with the message that the gang has been cornered in the next town, she tells him she is trapped in the fire. Jumping on his motorcycle, Billy rushes to the telephone building and carries the unconscious Betty to safety. He learns that his father, who found him through the private detective, wants to help him financially, but Billy turns down the offer, happy to be the breadwinner in his marriage to Betty.
