The Drop Kick

Handsome student athlete Jack Hamill is the star of the football team at Shoreham College, and the apple of his proud mother's eye. His best friend, coach Brad Hathaway, has recently married Eunice, Jack's former girlfriend. Refusing to let marriage slow her down, Eunice spends the coach's money frivolously, running up huge debts, while continuing to throw herself at Jack. A college audit shows that the coach has embezzled over ten thousand dollars from the football fund, and before the scandal goes public, he commits suicide. Eunice uses a fake letter from her deceased husband to blackmail Jack into marrying her. When he dumps his sweetheart Cecily and announces his engagement to Eunice, Jack's mother realizes something is terribly amiss, and vows to investigate.

Famed Russian actress Alla Nazimova, a family friend, helped Richard Barthelmess break into motion pictures, when he co-starred with her in War Brides (1916) and came to the attention of D.W. Griffith. In 1919 he rose to fame starring in the classic Broken Blossoms and again in 1920's Way Down East, which features the iconic Hollywood scene where he leaps over ice floes to save the heroine from the falls. In 1921 he achieved wide-spread success with Tol'able David, starring in a role many critics consider his best. Barthelmess would deliver powerful performances in The Patent Leather Kid (1927), The Noose (1928), The Dawn Patrol (1930) and Only Angels Have Wings (1939) before retiring to live off of the proceeds of his successful real estate investments. The Drop Kick features a fine supporting turn by Hedda Hopper, who would go on to fame as Hollywood's leading gossip columnist.

• silent