The Meddler (1915)
John Ogden and Adelaide Main are in love with each other. A mercenary father and a wealthy suitor come between them and the result is that Adelaide marries Edward Ward. Ward, however, is extremely dissipated and Adelaide soon realizes that her marriage was a mistake. Two years pass, and Ogden decides to leave for South Africa. Before he goes he receives permission from Adelaide to see her. After a pleasant evening's conversation, Ogden kisses Adelaide goodbye just as Ward, in an intoxicated condition, appears at the library door. Ogden steps out of the window onto the piazza and walks away. Ward looks stupidly about the library and then goes upstairs to bed. Twenty years later Ogden returns to America with a fortune, and becomes a figure in the financial world. Adelaide died a few years after her unhappy marriage. One evening at the club, Ogden sees Ward passing through the room accompanied by his son, Frederick. Ogden becomes acquainted with Frederick and takes a great fancy to him. The older Ward, whose fortunes are at a low ebb, induces Ogden to take Frederick into his office, his object being to obtain inside information to further his son's own interests. While at the theater one evening, Ogden sees Fred seated directly in front of him, apparently interested in Janet Morris, a singer. Ogden doesn't know that Janet comes of an excellent family, and that, owing to her father's death, she has supported her mother since she was sixteen years of age. Nor does he know that Fred and Janet have known each other since they were school children, and that Fred therefore was not being victimized through a silly infatuation for a stage favorite. Otherwise, he would not have meddled in their love affair to save Fred from going to perdition. There is a great activity in a certain stock known as C.D.O. which is controlled by Ogden. The elder Ward tries to obtain inside information in regard to this stock from Fred, who, being loyal to his employer, declines to comply with his father's request. So Ward gets into Ogden's private office surreptitiously and finds there a scribbled order which reads, "Buy C.D.O. offered at market," but he doesn't see Ogden return to his office and add to the order the words, "when it touches 70 or below." Ward plunges on C.D.O. There is a terrible flurry in Wall Street when it becomes known that C.D.O. has passed a dividend. Ward has bought at 88 and the stock drops down to 74, and he is wiped out. We next see Ward contemplating suicide. Fred, with a view of obtaining a raise in his salary, goes to Ogden's house. He informs his employer of his approaching marriage, but is told by Ogden that he is opposed to his marrying an actress. Meanwhile Ogden has written a note to Janet, asking her to come and see him after the theater in regard to an important matter. At the theater Fred is shown the letter by the doorkeeper, who is acting under instructions from Janet, and he immediately takes a cab to his employer's house. Janet arrives at Ogden's house, and while seated in an anteroom the elder Ward enters, pistol in hand. Ward curses Ogden and tells him he has come to settle a score of long standing. Janet has crept up behind him, however, and prevents him from becoming a murderer. Fred bursts in the door and Ward is soon overcome, but Ogden bids him depart and sober up. Then Ogden realizes that he has acted the part of a meddling bungler. He takes Janet's hand and puts it in Fred's, with a firm resolve to make amends by furthering the interests of the happy lovers.
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Domestic
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International
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Worldwide
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GenresDrama
Short
IMDbPro
See more details at IMDbPro
| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| Brinsley Shaw | Director |
| William Addison Lathrop | Writer |
| Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| Charles Ogle | |
| Joseph W. Girard | |
| Clara Beyers | |
| Robert Whittier |
