A Dead Yesterday (1916)

movie

Country: N/A
Genres: Drama, Short
Release: 1916-07-09
Director: Charles Giblyn
Writers: Tom Lewis
Language: None | English
Stars: Hobart Henley , Jean Hathaway , Cleo Madison , Hylda Hollis , Ray Hanford , Agnes Vernon , Georgia French
Runtime: min
Awards: N/A
AKA: A Dead Yesterday (United States of America) , A Dead Yesterday
Plot: Tom Wren is the pampered son of a wealthy mother. The family fortunes are at a low ebb on account of the poor management by the widow and her son, Tom, and it is the mother's fond wish to replenish the bank account by a marriage between her son and a wealthy young heiress. Tom agrees with this plan, but is really in love with Agnes Kempler, a model at one of the large department stores. He has furnished a house in anticipation of his marriage with the model, and one day, while his mother is shopping in the store in which the model works, he sends the girl a note that everything is ready for the marriage, and that she is to be at the house at four that evening. The girl has just had a trying time posing with a gown for Tom's mother, although neither of the women knew of the other. The young couple are married secretly. Nearly all the fortune of the Wrens is invested in coal mines in West Virginia, and on the recommendation of an old family friend Tom is sent to look after their interests. While in the mine fields Tom meets John Ford, a mountaineer whom he formerly knew, and his daughter, Ella. Tom is trying to figure a road out which is unfamiliar to him, when Ella offers to accompany him and they set out in the machine. An accident happens and they are forced to remain out all night. Her father has grown anxious over her absence overnight with a man and sets out to find them. He locates them and tells Tom he will either have to marry the girl or be killed. He is forced to marry her. Soon afterwards he leaves for home. Time passes and Tom gets a note from his mountaineer wife that she is in the hospital with a baby. He goes to his mother's house and she confronts him with the news that all their fortune is gone and says he will have to marry the heiress to save them from ruin. He shows her the note he has just received from one of his wives and tells her it is impossible. The mother is deeply shocked and goes to the hospital. Tom leaves for his first wife's. Tom arrives at his home and Agnes notices his pocket is torn and insists on fixing it. In running her hand in the pocket to sew it she finds the note. She is horror-struck, but manages to keep him in ignorance of her knowledge. She goes to his mother's house to make herself known. While there Ford, the father of Ella, arrives, and Agnes, in the next room, hears him tell of the baby. She renounces her claims as a wife in favor of the wife and baby. Time passes and Agnes has become an outcast. Ella has died and her child is left to comfort the husband. He has vainly tried to find Agnes. Ella's child is the pride of the household and has a great hold over the father. Agnes is brought into court on a charge of vagrancy. A society woman present, representative of an uplift league, takes her to the league, telling the judge she would like to try to reform her. At the room she meets Tom's mother, who is also a member of the society. Mrs. Wren overrides the girl's objections and takes her home with her. At the home Tom is playing in the garden with the little girl when his mother sends him word to come in. To his surprise he finds his first wife, who has always loved him. There is a happy reconciliation.
IMDB:tt0321956