The Girl Who Had a Soul (1915)

movie

Country: USA
Genres: Drama, Short
Release: 1915-05-10
Director: Lucius Henderson
Writers: Elaine S. Carrington
Language: None | English
Stars: Mary Fuller , Matt Moore , Mrs. Charles Craig , Curtis Benton , Charles Ogle
Runtime: min
Awards: N/A
AKA: The Girl Who Had a Soul , The Girl Who Had a Soul (United States of America)
Plot: Old Mother Hubbard is the chief of a band of crooks. Mary is one of them, and is given some of the more difficult tasks, as she has proven that she is best able to evade the hands of the law. For this she is given the soubriquet of "The Dodger." She is almost apprehended by Wilkes, a detective, one day while picking pockets, but manages to give him the slip. Mary is peering into a florist's window when she is seen and admired by Dr. Carl Roberts, who happens to be passing with his fiancée, Agnes Merrick. The doctor remarks to Agnes that the soul of that girl is apparent in her eyes. The next day, Dutchy, a fellow thief, is to rob a jeweler named Isaacson, and tells Mary to help him. The detective bureau are apprised of the contemplated robbery, and Wilkes is assigned to watch the crooks. Dutchy is in the act of passing the jewels to Mary who puts them in her muff when they are observed by the detective. He follows Mary and she succeeds in losing him by darting around a corner. She is knocked down by Dr. Roberts' automobile, and he takes her to a hospital. When she has regained her strength, she is given a position as housekeeper in Dr. Roberts' home to fill the place of the woman who left. Agnes is really in love with Dr. Fox, the assistant to Dr. Roberts, but is marrying the latter purely for his money. Dr Roberts is unaware of the unfaithfulness of his fiancée and his assistant. Mary visits the den of thieves, surrenders the plunder of jewels, and voices her resolution of having nothing further to do with them. Dutchy, believing that Mary is trying to pull something over them, has his mother, Old Mother Hubbard, delegate another member to follow Mary and learn her new address. Mary hears of Agnes' engagement to Dr. Roberts, and becomes jealous, for she has fallen in love with him herself. Having secured Mary's address, Dutchy, under the pretext of being ill, visits Roberts' office, and is successful in giving Mary a note warning her not to do the gang any harm. After a dinner given by Dr. Roberts in honor of his engagement, Dr. Fox and Agnes slip into the office of Dr. Roberts where Mary is trying to seek solace in seclusion. She surprises them by turning on the lights, and finds them in each other's embrace. Dr. Fox threatens her to silence by telling her that be will apprise Dr. Roberts of Dutchy's visit to the house when the doctor was absent, and of Dutchy's threat to put her into prison if she does not steal on the night of the dinner the expensive string of pearls which Roberts had bought for his fiancée, and to which demand she acceded. Afraid that Dr. Fox would strike her in his rage, she raises her arm to protect herself in such a way that it is interpreted by Dutchy, who is hovering outside, as the sign to enter. Dr. Roberts, looking for Agnes to give her the present, is told by the butler, who had seen Dr. Fox and Agnes go into the office where they are. Roberts becomes suspicious, and Mary tries to stop him from going into the office. In pushing her aside, he drops the pearls. She picks them up, and peers into the room where the two men and Agnes are. Fox wounds Roberts, who, in self-defense, seizes a scalpel, and with the little strength that he has left, stabs his opponent in the back. Fox dies. Dutchy enters, Agnes exits, and the crook takes the pearls from Mary. He is caught, however, by the waiting detectives. Dr. Roberts lapses into unconsciousness, and Mary, to prevent the stigma of a murderer from the doctor's name, professes to have killed Fox. She is arrested and Agnes remains silent. During the trial, Agnes, who has now developed a strong hatred for the man who killed her lover, declares that Mary is lying, and explains everything. Through a newspaper, Roberts learns of the situation, and supported by a doctor he appears in the courtroom and tells his story. He is pardoned, and tells Mary that notwithstanding her past, he wants her to be his wife. Dutchy is sentenced to a long term in prison.
IMDB:tt0005388