TANGLED HEARTS

Released 4/02/16 by Universal/Bluebird Photoplays; Director: Joseph De Grasse; Screenplay: Ida May Park; 5 reels; Print Source: a small fragment survives in a private collection

CAST: Louise Lovely (Vera Lane), Agnes Vernon (Lucille Seaton), Marjorie Ellison (Enid Hammond), Georgia French (Child), Hayward Mack (Montgomery Seaton), Lon Chaney (John Hammond), Jay Belasco (Ernest Courtney), Bud Chase (John Dalton)

SYNOPSIS: Montgomery Seaton is a rich social parasite who neglects his wife. Ernest Courtney is in love with the rich widow Vera Lane, but is too shy to let her know his feelings. Enid Hammond tells Seaton that years before she left home with John Dalton, only to discover that he was married. She left him and returned home to marry John Hammond, but while he was away on business she gave birth to a child that resulted from her affair with Dalton. The child had been cared for by a nurse who recently died, and she must now find a home for her. Seaton fabricates a story for Hammond that he has an illegitimate child, and Mrs. Hammond convinces her husband that they should adopt the child. Now having custody of her own child, Mrs. Hammond writes Seaton to say that the child has arrived safely, but Mr. Hammond accidentally receives the note and assumes Seaton to be the father and his wife the mother of the child. That night at a reception, Hammond sees Seaton and his wife in confidential conversation and he draws his gun, but Mrs. Hammond throws herself in front of Seaton and is hit. Mrs. Seaton has also seen her husband bringing the child to Mrs. Hammond and suspects the worst. Vera is a friend to all parties and, understanding everything that has happened, takes it upon herself to straighten out all the entanglements. Mrs. Hammond relates the truth to her forgiving husband, and the Seatons are reunited.

"Stronger pictures with more interesting, if not more intricate, plots have appeared on this program, but to compensate for any weaknesses in the story there is this most engaging triple alliance. While the three actresses dominate the production, the performances of Lon Chaney and Hayward Mack are not wanting in force." ---Moving Picture World

"If the author had not been carried away with the dramatic possibilities of the theme, TANGLED HEARTS would have worked itself into a very good comedy. The possibilities in this direction were entirely overlooked." ---Variety

NOTES: The film earned $18,714.

Return to Filmography