The Power of Print (1914)
Jessie, the daughter of the leader of the dominant party in city politics, receives a much coveted invitation to join a whist club favored by society. She becomes a constant attendant and as the play is for large stakes she soon becomes deeply in debt. Her father cannot help her as he has put every cent he has into the campaign, which will either make or break him. Meanwhile Cartwright, the owner of one of the two leading newspapers of the city, is supporting Farnell's candidates in his paper. Meeting Jessie he becomes infatuated with her and under the pretense of business calls at the Farnell home every evening. Jessie, who personally cannot tolerate Cartwright, for the sake of her father dissembles her true feelings and hides her dislike. In a dishonorable manner Cartwright gets hold of a letter from Farnell to his daughter saying that his only hope is party success in the coming election, and with this knowledge determines to use it to his advantage to win Jessie. At this juncture Bob Whitney returns home from college in disgrace, having been expelled not for innate wickedness, but sheer super-abundance of animal spirit. His angry father forbids him the house and tells him that until he has proved himself a man he will have nothing to do with him. Unknown in the city, Bob applies for a job as reporter on Cartwright's paper, where his inherited talent shows itself and soon raises him to the position of star reporter. Cartwright to frighten Jessie into marrying him, plans an exposé of gambling among society and sends out Bob to dig up the facts at Jessie's whist club. Meeting Jessie he falls an instant victim to her charms and asks and receives her permission to call upon her. The elder Whitney seeing a statement in the rival paper, The Times, to the effect that its circulation surpasses that of The Star, his own paper, by 40,000, calls at the office of the Times to demand an explanation. While there he sees to his surprise his own son and is told that he is now their best reporter. Dumbfounded and proud of his son, he offers Bob a position as city editor on his own paper, which Bob at once accepts. Bob resigns from the Times at once and thereupon, of course, stops his investigation of society gambling, and plans to marry Jessie. Cartwright in rage at the news determines to knife the Farnell candidates, but in a dramatic scene at the Farnell residence, Bob, with his fiancée beside him, tells him to do his worst as the support of his father's paper will be sufficient to make up for the defection.
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GenresDrama
Short
IMDbPro
See more details at IMDbPro
| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| Charles Dudley | Director |
| Wilbert Melville | Writer |
| E.D. Horkheimer | Producer |
| H.M. Horkheimer | Producer |
| Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| Henry King | |
| Charles Dudley | |
| Madeline Pardee | |
| David Porter |
