Summary
In the labyrinthine social structures of early 20th-century high society, Louise Parke orchestrates a clandestine exodus to Paris, seeking the forbidden embrace of her paramour, Stephen Underwood. This flight from filial duty triggers a catastrophic emotional collapse in her matriarch, Mrs. Treadway Parke, whose fragility prompts a desperate summons for the daughter’s return. Fate, however, intervenes with a jagged edge; the vessel carrying Louise's promise of homecoming is consumed by the maw of a wartime torpedo, leaving a vacuum of grief that threatens to shatter the mother’s sanity. Enter Dr. Granville, a physician of dubious ethical boundaries and radical prescriptions, who discovers in Peggy Murray—a humble purveyor of periodicals—a biological echo of the missing heiress. What follows is a surreptitious masquerade where the proletariat is polished into the patrician. Peggy, inhabiting the ghost of Louise, finds herself ensnared in a genuine romance with George Landis, only for the facade to crumble when the real Louise emerges from the wreckage of the world alive and unscarred. The subsequent quiet retreat of the impostor into the anonymity of a department store leads to a serendipitous reunion, culminating in a maritime spectacle of matrimonial coincidences where three disparate couples find their destinies inextricably knotted.
Synopsis
Louise Parke runs away to Paris with her lover Stephen Underwood, but because her mother, Mrs. Treadway Parke, misses her so deeply, she sends a wire announcing her return home. When the boat on which she is scheduled to sail is torpedoed, Mrs. Parke's physician, Dr. Granville, becomes concerned for her sanity and asks Peggy Murray, a newsstand girl who bears a remarkable likeness to Louise, to pose as the missing girl. At first the masquerade is successful: Mrs. Parke is happy and Peggy falls in love with George Landis. Soon, however, Louise returns unharmed, and Peggy slips away quietly. George finds Peggy working in the department store owned by his father and proposes. On their honeymoon cruise, the couple is surprised to encounter two more newly married couples: Stephen has married Louise; and Mrs. Parke has become Mrs. Dr. Granville.
Review Excerpt
"The year 1918 remains a crucible of cinematic experimentation, a time when the grammar of film was still being etched into the celluloid by pioneers who understood the visceral power of the close-up. In Hidden Fires, directed with a keen eye for social friction, we witness a narrative that transcends the simple 'lookalike' trope. It is a haunting meditation on the fragility of the human psyche and the performative nature of class. Mae Marsh, an actress of unparalleled emotional transparency, del..."
