A Law Unto Herself (1914)

movie

Country: USA
Genres: Drama, Short
Release: 1914-10-08
Director: Joseph De Grasse , Edwin S. Porter
Writers: James Dayton
Language: English
Stars: Elsie Jane Wilson , Rupert Julian , Joe King , Agnes Vernon , Eve Marius-Paigne
Runtime: min
Awards: N/A
AKA: A Law Unto Herself , A Law Unto Herself (United States of America) , Mademoiselle Andrea (United States of America)
Plot: Andrea Dubois is preparing for her marriage. The hours she spends over her trousseau are long and pleasant. Edmond Rodger, her fiancé, she esteems and honors as a gentleman. Rodgers was highly respected by all his friends, yet underneath there ran a streak of yellow. Rodger had willfully coveted and realized the love of Elsie Levine, only to betray his love. In a touching scene Elsie searches out Rodger, confesses her condition, and urges him to fulfill his promise in marriage. Rodger responds by explaining his coming marriage to Andrea. Elsie returns home to confess the whole affair to her brother, Rupert. Rupert determines to avenge his sister's wrong. Departing from the house he makes his way to the club and searches out the guilty man. He meets him in the private ante-room. The curtains are closed, a revolver drawn, there is a report, and when the club members rush in, Rodger lies dead. Rupert has escaped. The news is carried to Rodger's fiancée. It is at this time that she makes the oath of vengeance, which she endeavors for five years to fulfill. The first reel closes with the scene at the bank of the river. Elsie, the betrayed little girl, pauses by the shore. She drops her hat and gazes into the water as the picture fades. At the opening of the second reel Rupert Levine, under the assumed name of Rupert Livingston, is met as an attaché of a foreign legation. For five years he has managed to evade punishment for the killing of his sister's betrayer. About this time he receives an invitation to a reception given in honor of the French Ambassador. Here we are taken into the home of Andrea. We are shown a page from her diary, which reads. "Five years of search has revealed no trace of Edmond's assassin, but I will find him and hound him to his death." The night of the reception arrives and with it fate steps in and takes a hand. We are in a beautiful ballroom. Andrea is there. The host at her side presents her to Rupert, and as the hands clasp and the eyes meet, there is a glance of mutual attraction. The evening is hardly past before these two people, unaware of each other's identity, have experienced the quickening of love. Other meetings follow, and time finds love in the heart of Andrea for Rupert. It is at the time she realizes this that Rupert's identity is revealed to her. The shock of discovery plays havoc with her resolutions, and yet, there is her oath. She knows nothing outside of the fact that Rodger was killed by Rupert, and in turn, she plans an awful revenge. This is to poison herself, under conditions which would point to Rupert as being her murderer. With the sense ever present that something is all wrong, she carries this plan into execution, except for the quick wit of her maid, who substitutes a bottle of water for the poison. When Rupert explains to her that she has sacrificed herself for the man who was untrue to her, and caused his sister's death, she was glad that it had happened as it did. Our story ends with Andrea believing in a higher power than her own, looking forward to happier days with the man who was a man in word and deed.
IMDB:tt0329284