Back Pay

Seena Owen stars as small-town Hester, a woman who yearns for the bright lights and excitement of New York. She lives in a boarding house and has a dull boyfriend Jerry (Matt Moore) who wants to marry. Hester wants more. She tells him she has a "crepe-du-chine soul." So off goes Hester, leaving Jerry to stand on the railroad track, watching the train disappear into the distance.

Flash forward. Hester is living the high life in New York. She has s sugar daddy (J. Barney Sherry) and a slew of fancy friends ... she even has a maid. She has everything she ever wanted, but there's a nagging in her soul because she's never quite forgotten Jerry.

She takes a trip with her friends to a spa close to her home town. While they go off for a ride, she wanders the old town and finds Jerry. They talk. He's still waiting for her. She goes back to the city even more unsure of her decision.

Flash forward. Sugar daddy has by now given Hester everything she ever wanted. She has a Rolls-Royce, a house on Long Island, furs and jewels. Jerry goes off to war and is wounded. When he's shipped back home she goes to visit, but he's worse off than she expected. He might have only weeks to live. What will Hester do? Ultra-sad weepie makes good use of Seena Owen's sad face. Even at her lavish parties, she always seems sad. She's excellent as Hester. Matt Moore is also excellent as the dull-but-loyal Jerry. Ethel Duray is also good as the selfish friend.

Sets designed by Joseph Urban and directed by Frank Borzage, this was a major Cosmopolitan production. The small-town scenes were likely filmed in upstate New York or rural New Jersey.