Prohibition
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Hal Reid
Thurlow Bergen
David Wall
Charles Trowbridge
Charles Dow Clark
Virginia Westbrook
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Richard Larkin inherits an appetite for alcohol from his father Lemuel, although his younger brother Ben is not affected. Both boys fall in love with their neighbor Hattie Holmes. When Hattie becomes Dick's fiancée, she warns that if he ever takes a drink, she will break the engagement, so Ben, who overhears this, tempts Dick to drink. After Dick obtains a prescription from his doctor that he hopes will cure his desire to drink, Ben replaces some of the medicine with whiskey, which causes a quarrel between Hattie and Dick after she smells whiskey on his breath. After Ben unsuccessfully tries to have Dick killed in an accident, Dick nearly kills Ben in a fight. William Irving, a lawyer whose career has suffered because of alcoholism, successfully defends Dick. Although Dick and Hattie marry, Ben continues to plot against Dick, until Hattie finds Ben's diary, which causes Lemuel to drive Ben away. Before the birth of her child, Hattie spends several hours a day concentrating her thoughts on a waterfall, so that her baby will not inherit her husband's vice.
Director
Hal Reid
Cast
Thurlow Bergen
David Wall
Charles Trowbridge
Charles Dow Clark
Virginia Westbrook
Mary Moore
Roberta Paine
Lila Barclay
Mario Maroney
Edward Nannery
Maude Westbrook
Della Trado
Mae Georgine
Margaret Vollmer
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Public figures in favor of the Temperance cause appeared in the film's prologue. These included Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, Senators Richmond Pearson Hobson of Alabama, Wesley L. Jones of Washington, Henry T. Ashurst of Arizona, Moses E. Clapp of Missouri, Morris Sheppard of Texas, John F. Shafroth of Colorado, James K. Vardaman of Mississippi, and John D. Works of California. In the film, allegorical figures appear to try to influence the characters to drink or to abstain. The birth of Christ is also depicted. The film was shot at the Centaur Film Co. studio in Bayonne, NJ. According to a news item, the Prohibition Party planned to use this film in their campaign for the presidential election of 1916. AKO, "The Gideons," the national association of traveling men who put Bibles in almost every room in hotels throughout the country, planned to distribute literature about the film.
