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  • The Inventor's Wife (1914)
  • Short | Short, Drama
The Inventor's Wife (1914)
Short | Short, Drama
John Ward, electrical expert in charge of the laboratories of a large electrical corporation, is at work on filament which will greatly reduce the cost of lighting. Constant application to his work necessitates Ward's continual absence ...See moreJohn Ward, electrical expert in charge of the laboratories of a large electrical corporation, is at work on filament which will greatly reduce the cost of lighting. Constant application to his work necessitates Ward's continual absence from home. This causes a misunderstanding between him and his wife. A rival corporation of Ward's firm sends their most trusted woman expert as a spy to obtain work in Ward's laboratory and incidentally to secure the secret of his invention. The woman, Ellen LaRue, makes rapid progress towards discovering the secret process, after she is once installed in the laboratory. She discovers the growing coldness between Ward and his wife, and she deliberately attempts to alienate Ward from Grace by offering her love to him. She misinterprets Ward's admiration for her skill as an expert for growing love on his part. Believing she will ultimately cause a separation between Ward and Grace, and then wed Ward herself, she delays sending in reports as to the progress of her crooked work in the laboratory. She mentally determines that if Ward will wed her, she will abandon her dishonest project. Ward is suddenly subjected to an attack of heart failure. His brother. Kenneth, a heart specialist, comes to Ward's home to stay with him during his illness. Ellen reports daily in Ward's home study to assist in carrying on the work on the invention, which Ward refuses to abandon. Grace, believing that Ellen and her husband are secretly in love, grows jealous. She commands Ward to discharge the woman. Ward refuses. Later, in the library, Ellen declares her love for Ward. Astounded, he removes her arms from about his neck and declares truthfully that he has never loved her. Grace, looking through the door, has seen enough of the scene to confirm her suspicions. When Ellen leaves the house Grace follows her with a revolver. Ellen, angered by Ward's abrupt refusal of her love, now determines to take the final notes on Ward's invention, which is now complete. She proceeds from Ward's home to the library, Grace following her. Grace sees her enter the laboratory and secretly follows. Kenneth has seen Grace leave the home, and fearing trouble, has quietly followed both women. Grace finds Ellen's dead body in the laboratory and flees in terror. Kenneth has witnessed the scene in the laboratory and remains behind to work out the mystery. Grace is sought after at her home by detectives, on the same night, and accused of the crime. Ward, hearing the damaging evidence, believes her guilty, and refuses even to touch the woman who has, in his belief, committed murder. At the height of Ward's denouncement of his wife, Kenneth enters to explain that Ellen was killed while tampering with a powerful switchboard, part of Ward's apparatus attached to his invention. Ward then learns for the first time that Ellen was a paid spy and a crook. He can only forgive Grace, and as husband and wife kneel beside their little girl's bedside, a mutual understanding at last comes to them. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less
Read more: Plot summary
Writer
Shannon Fife (story)
Producer
Siegmund Lubin
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Status
Edit Released
Updated Apr 29, 1914
Release date
Apr 29, 1914 (United States)

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3 cast members
Name Known for
Arthur V. Johnson
John Ward - the Inventor John Ward - the Inventor   See fewer
The Beloved Adventurer (1914)
Lottie Briscoe
Grace Ward - the Inventor's Wife Grace Ward - the Inventor's Wife   See fewer
The House of Mirth (1918)
Florence Hackett
Ellen La Rue Ellen La Rue   See fewer
The Beloved Adventurer (1914)
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