The Pace That Thrills (1925)

Paula, a chorus girl married to an aristocratic dipsomaniac, tries to protect her infant son from a drunken prank and inadvertently causes the death of her husband. She is accused of murder and sentenced to life in prison on circumstantial evidence; her son, Danny, is put in an orphanage. Years later Danny becomes a movie star and spends every cent he earns in an effort to prove his mother's innocence, refusing, therefore, to take any chances with his own life. He is accused of cowardice by the newspapers and finally agrees to enter an automobile race. Danny loses the race but proves himself to be a man; his mother is released from jail.