The Public Defender (1917)
When bank president Leslie Morrison dips into the till, he seeks to place the blame on bank clerk David Moulton by altering the figures in Moulton's books. He lays his plan carefully, but upon leaving the building late one night, Morrison falls into an elevator shaft and is killed. Moulton, the one man known to have been there, is charged with murder and tried by district attorney Robert Murdock. Unable to afford a competent defense, Moulton is convicted and sentenced to die in an electric chair. However, Mary Reed, a stenographer who loves Moulton, appeals as a last resort to the newly elected public defender, Arthur Nelson. Nelson investigates the case and discovers evidence on the very eve of the execution, evidence that will warrant a stay. Rescued from death in the nick of time, Moulton is granted a new trial under the supervision of the public defender and is found innocent.
- Released
- 1917-11-03
- Genres
- Drama, Crime
- Runtime
- 60 min
- Status
- Released
- Directed / written by
- Burton L. King, Fred Rath
Cast
- Frank Keenan as Robert Murdock
- Alma Hanlon as Mary Reed
- Robert Edeson as Arthur Nelson
- John St. Polis as David Moulton
- Florence Short as Rose Moulton
- Louis Stern as Leslie Morrison
- Tex La Grove as Walter Holmes
- Harry Kingsley as Arthur Stevens
- Helen Conwell as 'Queenie' La Mar
- James E. Sullivan as Father O'Malley
- F.A. Cronin as James Whalon
- John O'Keefe as John Hartley