Josephine Earle Movies

Betty Compson traveled to England to star in this expensively-made society drama. Louise Boucher (Compson) is a Parisian dancer who meets David Compton, an English officer (Clive Brook) during World War I. They fall in love and make wedding plans, but before they can get married, he is sent to the front. Compton receives a serious head wound in battle, and it causes him to lose his memory. As a result, he forgets his past, including his fiancee. He goes back to London and inherits his uncle's business. He also meets and marries a woman (Josephine Earle) who is more interested in society than she is in starting a family. Meanwhile, Louise has had a child from her brief union with Compton and gone on to become the famed dancer Deloryse. Years after she and Compton parted, she sees him and his wife in a theater in which she is performing. They meet and Compton's wife offers to adopt her little boy. She also asks Deloryse to dance at her ball. She agrees, even though her doctor has warned her that a heart ailment could make this dangerous. Deloryse pays no heed to his advice and dances anyhow. Her heart gives out and she dies in Compton's arms. The screenplay to this picture was written by a fledgling filmmaker by the name of Alfred Hitchcock. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Chrissey Desselden (Anita Stewart) is the ward of John Warburton (Charles Richman), who dearly loves her. She promises to marry him, but then becomes fascinated by Robert Neyland (Rudolph Cameron). She only realizes that Neyland is not worthy of her when he drunkenly insults her. She then goes through with the wedding to Warburton, even though she confesses she does not love him. Neyland's life is quickly going downhill, but Chrissey decides she wants him after all and Warburton allows her to go to Reno to procure a divorce. While she is there, Neyland tries to ruin Warburton in the stock market, but he needs funds from Chrissey to complete the deal. She wires him the money, unaware of its purpose. Warburton's friend, Colonel Taylor (Charles Stevenson), lets her know the truth. She keeps the money from reaching Neyland, who is ruined. He commits suicide, and Chrissey decides to be a real wife to Warburton. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This 1916 Vitagraph 5-reeler would seem to be the spiritual ancestor to the 1992 melodrama The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. A seemingly guileless country girl is hired as the secretary of a famous author. What the author doesn't know is that the girl is planning to wreak vengeance upon the author's unfaithful wife, who years earlier caused the suicide of the girl's brother. Manners and mores being what they were in 1916, the two-timing wife was the villain of the piece. With this in mind, the wife's ultimate punishment -- wrought not by the girl but by an automobile accident -- could be interpreted as Divine Retribution. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi