Name: The Alster Case
Released: 1915
Cast: Bryant Washburn, John Cossar, Ruth Stonehouse, Anne Leigh, Louise Crolius

Cast & Crew

Film Details

Release Date

Dec 6, 1915

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Essanay Film Mfg Co.

Distribution Company

V-L-S-E, Inc.

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the novel The Alster Case by Rufus Gillmore (New York, 1914).

Synopsis

Cornelia Alster, an eccentric, wealthy spinster, withdraws her business from a firm of lawyers and secretly names George Swan, a young clerk in the firm, as executor of her estate. That evening, she attends the theater with Swan and, upon arriving home, notices her two wards, Beatrice and Linda, entertaining two men. Beatrice is talking with her sweetheart, Allen Longstreet, a young inventor, while Linda is arguing with Keith, the butler, who is attempting to blackmail her. When they hear Miss Alster approach, the girls hide the men in their rooms. Miss Alster threatens to throw the girls out the next day and spies on the two couples, but fails to identify the men. The next morning, she is found dead, and Trask, a celebrated private detective, is engaged by Swan. Trask investigates clues leading him to suspect and then exonerate the girls, Longstreet, the butler and the maid. When he remembers that Swan announced the murder before anyone told him about it, Swan confesses that he killed Miss Alster to save the reputations of the girls, whom he hopelessly loved.