Summary
A marble lobby, mahogany counters, and the faint scent of ink on ledger paper set the stage for this 1923 morality tale that feels like a fever dream shot through stained glass. Bill Reid, an earnest clerk with ink-stained fingers and a gaze that bends toward Ruth Stuyvesant’s candle-lit profile, is promoted into the inner sanctum of William Stuyvesant’s banking empire. The gesture ought to signal ascent; instead it triggers a slow-motion avalanche. Ralph, the heir whose smile curdles under neon chandeliers, bankrolls the sybaritic Grace Andrews with forged checks, each signature a shiver of forgery across his father’s name. Tom Burnett, a social climber whose tuxedo seams strain from ambition, frames Reid, hoping to clear the path to Ruth’s dowry. During a masquerade dripping with gilded confetti and saxophone sweat, Stuyvesant confronts Burnett; a gunshot ricochets off Corinthian columns, and the banker collapses like a marionette with severed strings. Reid, shackled by circumstantial straw, is condemned to the electric chair. From death-row shadows he escapes through a concatenation of Ruth’s midnight visits, detectives’ hunches, and a climactic rooftop chase where moonlight slices the smoke. Justice, belated and brutal, drags Burnett and Ralph into the klieg-light of truth while Reid and Ruth walk into a dawn that feels less like victory than exhausted reprieve.
Synopsis
Young Bill Reid is given a position at the bank of William Stuyvesant, whose daughter Ruth he loves. The banker's son Ralph Stuyvesant is in love with vamp Grace Andrews and supporting her in luxury. To meet Grace's extravagant demands, Ralph forges his father's name to a check, but suspicion for the crime is thrown on Reid by Tom Burnett, who wants to marry Ruth for her money. At a ball thrown by Stuyvesant, the banker is murdered by Burnett when the former accuses him of theft. Burnett and Ralph again contrive to throw the blame on Reid, who is convicted of the murder on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to death. Through Ruth's tireless efforts and the assistance of the chief of detectives, Reid escapes and the real criminals are brought to justice.
