This was long for a silent film, over two hours, but probably the best silent film I have seen to date.
The story starts in Africa where a man is traveling with his sister-in-law, who is ill and just delivered a baby girl. They receive news that his brother, her husband was gravely ill himself. Subsequently both parents die...thinking that if he gets rid of the baby there is nothing to stop him from inheriting the estate, title and fortune...the uncle first thinks of killing the baby girl, but instead gives her to the nurse to take to America and raise in anonymity.
Sixteen years later, the girl named Agnes has been raised by this cold nurse who she believes to be her mother...but not really understanding warm motherly affection. The nurse having run out of money compromises herself and gets observed stealing by a wealthy older man. This man takes advantage of the situation by promising not to turn her in if she will marry young Agnes to him. After explaining the situation to Agnes she agrees to sacrifice herself to the old creepy man in marriage, which is how they become engaged.
Subsequently, a young wealthy land owner returns from his travels and meets Agnes...the two fall in love. He invites Agnes and her "mother" to stay at his estate.
The estate which has been unoccupied for years has, unbeknownst to the young man, been being used by bootleggers to store their stock bootleg. Learning the house is being opened up again, they rush to get their supplies out the back.
In the evening there is a big dinner party, but we discover that before the dinner party one bootlegger turned on the other and tried to steal a half a million dollars in cash. He is cornered and killed by his partner but not before he managed to stash the cash. While the staff are opening the house up, the young man's butler discovers the bag containing the cash...but he only sees the important documents that were placed by the bootlegger on top. Thinking the papers were important he takes them downstairs and locks them in the safe which is behind a hidden panel in the wall.
Staff members discover the murdered bootlegger upstairs and the police detectives are called. Meanwhile a dinner party happens and many guests and staff are behaving suspiciously as people sneak off...we assume one of them is the murderer and looking for the money.
And so this becomes a murder mystery...with lots of shady characters!
It was great...although I am not sure it needed a hurricane like storm, but it has one!
"Don't reveal the villain and pay attention to the early scenes..."
I am going to honor their wishes and not share who the villain is, only to say that I was able to guess but it did not dim my delight with the film at all.
A bit of a surprise that I enjoyed tremendously!
I loved one of the end scenes tremendously...a hand kiss followed by a kiss on the cheek (do you know which one).
I highly recommend this to silent movie fans and just cinema fans in general!
"Mystery of love, the sweetest of mysteries without which there would be no light...no music..."
"That moment when a man asks a woman to go with him on the path of Love. The path that goes through life and on through eternity."
