Heredity (1915)
Mrs. de Marigny, a widow, without funds, leaves her little daughter, Grace, at a foundling asylum. That same day, an unidentified waif is found by the riverside and brought to the asylum, and through the carelessness of a nurse the babies are wrongly tagged. Several weeks later Mrs. Marigny returns for her baby, but learns it has been adopted by the wealthy Van Dorns, and decides to let her stay with them. The real Grace has been adopted by a couple named Whitfield, who set her to work in a dressmaking establishment when she is fourteen. The Van Dorns have named their adopted child "Beatrice," and at fourteen she is already beginning to show signs of inherited criminal tendencies. She steals from her foster-parents, who are willing to return her to her supposed mother, Mrs. de Marigny, now Mrs. Burleson, but through the absence of an identifying scar on the girl's arm, it is discovered that Beatrice is not her daughter. Meantime, the Whitfields are having a hard time and Grace is the sole support of the household. Beatrice goes from bad to worse, and spreads ruin and misery among those who came in contact with her. She finally runs away with a crook, Spider, and becomes a woman gangster. Greenfield, a political crook, recognizes in Beatrice the daughter of his dead wife who had run away. Determined to reform the girl, Greenfield, on finding he cannot, kills her, then shoots himself, while Mr. and Mrs. Burleson learn from Mrs. Whitfield and the Foundling Asylum authorities that Grace is their own daughter.
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Domestic
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Worldwide
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GenresDrama
Short
IMDbPro
See more details at IMDbPro
| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| William Humphrey | Director |
| Seymour Galland | Writer |
| Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| Carolyn Birch | |
| Katharine Lewis | |
| Rose Tapley | |
| Thomas R. Mills |
