The Better Instinct - Production & Contact Info

The Better Instinct (1916)
Short | Short, Drama

The Better Instinct (1916)

Short | Short, Drama

Lucy, a machine girl in a sweatshop, works beside Marie, a girl whose stunted morality prompts her to take advantage of Lucy's innocence and teach her the art of income without labor. The oppression of sweatshop existence makes Lucy ...See moreLucy, a machine girl in a sweatshop, works beside Marie, a girl whose stunted morality prompts her to take advantage of Lucy's innocence and teach her the art of income without labor. The oppression of sweatshop existence makes Lucy receptive to Marie's proposal. The two girls attend a dance where they are followed by two cadets desirous of gaining the price set by Mme. Mazie, a representative of the white slave traffic. Ted Gordon, a derelict, whose addiction to drink has made him an outcast, overhears Mme. Mazie's proposition. He follows the two girls to the dance. Impressed by Lucy's innocence, he succeeds in thwarting the scheme. Mrs. Gordon, a noted philanthropist, visits the sweatshop. In reality Mrs. Gordon has adopted slum work actuated by the hope that her lost son might be found and restored to her and his father, whose iron will drove him from home on account of his drinking. At the sweatshop Mrs. Gordon is robbed of her purse by Marie, who induces Lucy to take the purse and escape. Mrs. Gordon discovers the theft and Marie throws suspicion onto Lucy. Lucy's escape is effected by disguise and by utilizing various fire escapes. She gets into a tenement room just in time to prevent Ted, who is in a semi-delirious state, from carrying out his self-destruction. With some of the stolen money, she brings a physician to Ted's room. The physician becomes conversant with part of Ted's history, and also the part relating to Lucy's timely entrance. Lucy overhears a plot and subsequently warns Ted's father in time to prevent his being held up by a couple of thugs. Ted's father has likewise relented, and spends his time in trying to discover the whereabouts of his son, hence his visit to the slum district. Ted recovers sufficiently to determine (having heard the doctor's story of how the waif had saved him from self-destruction) to abstain from drink and to go west in an effort to make good and then to return home. Before this plan is carried out other incidents occur which alter his plan of loafing. Lucy's conscience bothers her. She takes the purse back to Mrs. Gordon, tells her story, and is forgiven. Lucy's father has meanwhile been arrested while in the act of "rolling" a victim. While Lucy and Mrs. Gordon arc conversing Mr. Gordon returns and recognizes the girl who saved him from being robbed. Lucy recognizes the photograph of Ted, their lost son, as the sick man whom she has helped. She takes her parents to the sick man's room, reconciliation follows, and the next morning the home is made happy by all determining to forget the past and live only for the future. Marie has been captured and landed in jail. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less

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Cast	+ Add Cast
6 cast members

Name	Known for
Jackie Saunders Lucy Manley Lucy Manley See fewer	Puppets of Fate (1921)
Frank Mayo Ted Gordon Ted Gordon See fewer	Souls for Sale (1923)
Lillian West Marie Higgins Marie Higgins See fewer	Girls' Dormitory (1936)
Daniel Gilfether Raymond Gordon Raymond Gordon See fewer	The Love Liar (1915)
Madeleine Woods Mrs. Gordon Mrs. Gordon See fewer	The Better Instinct (1916)
Richard Johnson Lucy's Father Lucy's Father See fewer	Neal of the Navy (1915)