Henry B. Walthall takes the rap when his wife kills a cad. He is sentenced to prison for "the rest of his natural life," which begs the question, what happens if his life becomes unnatural? He is paroled after 15 years and, oddly, has more hair than when he was first incarcerated. Apparently, you can join the Hair Club for Men while you're in stir.
Walthall returns home, where he meets his grown-up daughter, who believes he was killed in World War I. He pretends he is a friend of her mother's. The daughter is engaged to Ricardo Cortez, but the mother disapproves because she wants her daughter to marry a Marquis. Then the judge who sentenced Walthall is murdered, Cortez is implicated, and Walthall is about to take the rap again (idiot) when the real killer is nabbed.
Terrible acting by the female leads. Grace Valentine, as the mother, is as horrible as they come in the acting department. No, wait a minute, that's not true. Her daughter, played by Nancy Welford, is as horrible as they come in that department. She made five films. Here, she sings "You'll Never Be Forgotten." Yes you will.
The Marquis is played by Rolfe Sedan, whom I instantly recognized, being a fan of "The Adventures of Superman." Almost thirty years later, he would play a scientist who would freeze the Man of Steel.
Walthall is adequate, but this ain't "The Birth of a Nation;" it's more like "The Death of a Career."