The Eternal Magdalene (1919)
Director:
Arthur Hopkins
Writer:
Robert McLaughlin (play)
Stars:
Charles Dalton, Marguerite Marsh, Charles Trowbridge
Genre:
Drama
Time: (5
reels) 50min
Country: USA
Release Date:
20 April 1919 (USA)
Production Co:
Goldwyn Pictures Corporation
Survival status:
(unknown)
Current rights
holder: Public domain.
Plot
Leading citizen
Elijah Bradshaw calls a town meeting to persuade citizens to pay
$30,000 for an evangelist to lead a religious and moral clean-up to
drive out the town's prostitutes. Only one person stands against
Bradshaw and cites Christ's charity to Mary Magdalene as the example
that they should follow. When Bradshaw discovers that his daughter
Elizabeth is involved with his secretary Macey, he orders her out. He
then dreams of Magdalene who shows him men in bread lines given hymn
books instead of food; a church where the poor cannot reach the door
latch; Elizabeth driven from a brothel and depositing her child in an
asylum; his son Paul killing Macey and then his own wife dying when
Paul is arrested. Horrified, Bradshaw awakens and stops Elizabeth
from leaving. After Paul and Macey explain that Macey and Elizabeth
have been secretly married, Bradshaw cancels the evangelist's visit
and begins to implement compassionate reforms.
