Name: An Alabaster Box
Released: 1917
Cast: Alice Joyce, Marc Macdermott, Harry Ham, Aida Horton, Patsey De Forest

Cast & Crew

Film Details

Release Date

Sep 10, 1917

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Vitagraph Co. of America; A Blue Ribbon Feature

Distribution Company

Greater Vitagraph (V-L-S-E)

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the novel An Alabaster Box by Mary Eleanor (Wilkins) Freeman, Florence Morse Kingsley (New York, 1917).

Technical Specs

Sound

Silent

Color

Black and White

Film Length

5 reels

Synopsis

Andrew Bolton, a progressive capitalist, enriches Brookville, a small New England town, by providing employment, but when he attempts to expand his operations, the townspeople fail to support him. When he loses his fortune and the money of others, he is imprisoned for embezzlement. Bolton's daughter Lydia goes to live with a wealthy uncle. Eighteen years later, after the uncle's death, Lydia returns to Brookville under an assumed name and purchases the Bolton estate, now neglected, with money inherited from her uncle. Lydia generously donates to local charities, and pays high prices to recover the estate's furnishings. Hostile factions in the town emerge as some distrust Lydia's motives, while others support her. When her father, having served his time, returns a broken man, Lydia tries to conceal him, but Bolton, now senile, proclaims his identity in the country store. A mob rushes to lynch Bolton and destroy the restored house, because they think that Lydia's money really belongs to them. As he denounces the mob, Bolton suffers a fatal heart attack. The mob disperses and the people now accept Lydia.

Director

Chester Withey

Director

Cast

Alice Joyce

Lydia Bolton/Lydia Orr

Marc Macdermott

Andrew Bolton

Harry Ham

Jim Dodge

Aida Horton

Lydia, as a child

Patsey De Forest

Fanny Dodge

Frank Crane

Wesley Elliott

Crew

A. Van Buren Powell

Scen