Heliotrope
Cast & Crew
George D. Baker
Wilfred Lytell
Ben Hendricks
Julia Swayne Gordon
Betty Hilburn
Diana Allen
Film Details
Synopsis
While spending her vacation at the home of her friend Mabel Andrews, the daughter of millionaire George Andrews, convent-educated Alice Hale meets Mabel's brother Jimmie and they become engaged. Unknown to Alice, who believes that she is an orphan, her father Heliotrope Harry Hasdock, so named for his fondness for the perfume named heliotrope, is serving a life sentence in the penitentiary. When Heliotrope learns that his wayward wife Mollie intends to blackmail Alice and her fiancé with this revelation, he pleads for a leave of absence, swearing to return to prison after he has thwarted his wife's schemes. The governor grants Heliotrope his leave, with the proviso that he will not harm Mollie. Instead, Heliotrope clandestinely trails her from one place to another, always keeping her appraised of his presence by the scent of heliotrope, until, fearing for her life, he allows her to catch a glimpse of him, knowing that she will shoot to kill. Mollie does so, and for her husband's murder, is sentenced to life in prison, thus preventing her from carrying out the scheme to injure Alice.
Director
George D. Baker
Cast
Wilfred Lytell
Ben Hendricks
Julia Swayne Gordon
Betty Hilburn
Diana Allen
Fred Burton
Clayton White
William B. Mack
William H. Tooker
Thomas J. Findlay
Crew
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was A Whiff of Heliotrope. Child's story was the basis for three other films; the 1928 Paramount film Forgotten Faces, starring Clive Brook and directed by Victor Schertzinger (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.1921); the 1936 Paramount film Forgotten Faces, starring Herbert Marshall and directed by E. A. Dupont (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.1435); and the 1942 United Artists release A Gentleman After Dark, starring Brian Donlevy and Miriam Hopkins and directed by Edwin L. Marin.
