The Great Problem
Cast & Crew
Rex Ingram
Violet Mersereau
Violet Mersereau
Dan Hanlon
Lionel Adams
Kittens Reicherts
Film Details
Synopsis
After her father, Bill Carson, is imprisoned, and her mother Mary dies, Peggy becomes a pickpocket. When she is caught, a reform-minded district attorney, George Devereaux, decides to take her in as his ward and "civilize" her. George's experiment is a success, and Peggy is soon engaged to one of his friends. At the wedding, however, she realizes that she really loves George, so she runs away and becomes a thief once again. Meanwhile, Bill has been released, and he is determined to kill George, who had him convicted. When Peggy, who secretly has been watching George, sees Bill pull a gun on him, she jumps between the two men and lets the bullet hit her. Bill forgets all about vengeance after wounding his daughter, and then, when Peggy recovers, George marries her.
Director
Rex Ingram
Cast
Violet Mersereau
Violet Mersereau
Dan Hanlon
Lionel Adams
Kittens Reicherts
William J. Dyer
Mrs. J. J. Brundage
Howard Crampton
Crew
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The original title of the story of this film was "The Experiment." According to news items, this film embodied the theories of American penologist Thomas Mott Osborne, the chairman of the New York State Commission for Prison Reform (1913) and warden of Sing Sing prison in New York State (1914-16). Osborne assumed a false name and secretly served a week at Auburn prison to learn of conditions there. At the time of this film's release, Osborne was vindicated in court of one set of charges, and awaiting trial on further indictments. Sources conflict concerning the name of the actress playing Mrs. Devereaux. Reviews credit Mrs. J. J. Brundage, while the synopsis in the copyright descriptions credits Mrs. J. H. Brundage. According to a modern source, Nellie Slattery played a housekeeper and Louis Stern played "James Carlton."
