The Scarlet Trail
Cast & Crew
John S. Lawrence
Beth Ivins
Vincent Coleman
Margaret Blanc
John Costello
John S. Lawrence
Film Details
Synopsis
Bob Grafton and Ethel Harding fall in love and become engaged, but when a newspaper story reveals that the boy's father Ezra made his fortune by selling bogus patent medicines for the treatment of venereal diseases, the girl's father forbids the marriage. Having learned from his father that the accusations are true, Bob angrily leaves home, whereupon his father confronts the reformer who exposed his activities. When bribery fails, he and his allies launch a campaign to ruin the reformer's reputation by alleging that her sexual hygiene program constitutes a moral threat to children. Meanwhile, the young man, accompanied by his sweetheart, visits his army enlistment office, where he learns from the medical examiner that he has inherited an incurable blood disease from his father. Realizing that he can never marry, Bob returns home, writes his father a scathing letter and shoots himself.
Director
John S. Lawrence
Cast
Beth Ivins
Vincent Coleman
Margaret Blanc
John Costello
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Reviewers disagreed on the film's length. According to reviews, more than two million copies of Robinson's pamphlet were distributed throughout the U.S. Army and Navy and through Y. M. C. A. offices and other welfare organizations. The film was endorsed by the American Defense Society, Hygiene Division. One review credited the direction to N. R. Greathouse, who was the general manager of G. and L. Features, Inc. This was G. and L.'s first film. Two sources credit B. S. Moss with production. The film opened in New York on December 21, 1918 and was released to the state rights market early in 1919.
