Summary
Everyman's Price is a taut, morally labyrinthine melodrama that interweaves courtroom theatrics with the personal disintegration of its protagonist, District Attorney Bruce Steele. As Steele grapples with the ethical implications of food profiteering, his pursuit of justice collides with the tangled web of familial obligation and romantic entanglement. The film’s narrative tension hinges on the collision between institutional authority and individual integrity, epitomized by Steele’s reluctant alliance with the enigmatic Ethel Armstrong. Her father’s culpability forces Steele into a precarious balancing act—between upholding the law and preserving his own emotional equilibrium. The climax, wherein Steele’s strategic dismissal of charges inadvertently catalyzes a cascade of revelations, is a masterclass in narrative subterfuge, culminating in a resolution that reframes moral victory as a compromise between public duty and private reconciliation.
Synopsis
District Attorney Bruce Steele is concerned about the extent of profiteering in foodstuff. He assigns men to investigate the problem, then dashes off to propose marriage to Ethel Armstrong, who accepts him, but later breaks the engagement when the investigators report that her father, financier Henry Armstong, is one of the profiteers. Bruce interrupts Ethel's father's trial, dismissing the case for lack of evidence. Grateful, Mr. Armstrong arranges to get Bruce and Ethel together again by a plot involving his son and Bruce's brother in a forgery case. The plot proves successful, everyone involved is proven innocent, Henry Armstrong releases the food he has kept from the market, and Bruce and Ethel rediscover their love.
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