The Broken Gate
Cast & Crew
Paul Scardon
Bessie Barriscale
Joseph Kilgour
Sam De Grasse
Marguerite De La Motte
Arnold Gregg
Film Details
Synopsis
Twenty-year-old Don Lane returns from college to visit his mother in the town of Spring Valley, where she has worked in a millinery shop to support him since his infancy. There Don learns that he is an illegitimate child and that his mother is still stigmatized in Spring Valley. When he fights some malevolent townsmen in defense of his mother's name, he lands in jail, although he is soon freed by "Hod" Brooks, a lawyer and long-time friend of Aurora's. Soon after, Don is jailed again, on circumstantial evidence, for the murder of the town drunkard; in despair, Aurora goes to visit Judge William Henderson, who is the guardian of Don's sweetheart Anne Oglesby. Aurora pleads with the judge to defend Don in court; when he refuses, Aurora threatens to expose Henderson as Don's father. Together with Anne, who has overheard the conversation, Aurora forces Henderson to take Don's case. A lynch mob attacks the Spring Valley jail, only to discover that Don has escaped. The mob then proceeds to Aurora's house, which they almost destroy. Don arrives in time to save his mother by threatening the mob with a revolver, and soon after, Henderson and Brooks arrive with the news that a half-witted boy has committed the murder. After the mob disperses, Henderson offers to atone for his sins by marrying Aurora, but she refuses him. Aurora is united with Brooks, and Don with Anne.
Director
Paul Scardon
Cast
Bessie Barriscale
Joseph Kilgour
Sam De Grasse
Marguerite De La Motte
Arnold Gregg
Lloyd Bacon
Evelyn Selbie
Alfred Allen
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film was remade in 1927 by Tiffany Productions, with Dorothy Phillips and William Collier, Jr. in the lead roles and James C. McKay directing; another 1927 Tiffany film, One Hour of Love, is alleged to be based on the same source material, but its plot bears no resemblance to that of either of the other versions. (See AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.0640 and F2.3997.)
