Prohibition (1915)

Lemuel Larkin, a breeder of race horses, is addicted to the drink habit. His first child, a son named Richard, inherits his father's appetite for drink, while his brother Ben, born a year later, takes after the mother and escapes the inherited curse. The boys grow up to love Hattie Holmes, a neighbor girl, raised by a Puritanical aunt, who abhors drink. Hattie tells Dick, whom she chooses in preference to Ben, that she will break their engagement if he ever takes a drink. Ben, who overhears her remark, becomes mad with jealousy and begins to tempt his brother, and in various ways to feed Dick's natural appetite for alcohol. Dick, realizing the fact that if he is to win the hand of Hattie, obtains a prescription from his doctor which he thinks will cure him of the desire for drink. Ben persuades his brother to allow him to take his (Dick's) medicine home and after pouring out part of it he fills up the bottle with whiskey. Dick is about to call on his fiancée when he is reminded by his brother to take his medicine. The result is that the girl smells whiskey on his breath and a quarrel starts. Not being able to win his point, Ben seeks to harm his brother physically by preparing the sulky for a breakdown which Dick is to drive. In this he partly succeeds. Ben is discovered by Hattie attempting to force Dick to drink while semi-conscious from the fall. Hattie starts to fight with Ben. The noise brings the whole household to her assistance. Fearing he is to lose the hand of Hattie, whom he is making a fiendish struggle to win, Ben connives to get Dick intoxicated again. He transfers their father's wallet from the latter's pocket to Dick's. It is found there by the father, with Ben's assistance, and Dick is sharply reprimanded by his parent. Ben lures Dick to a cabin in the woods, where he immediately begins to get him drunk with whiskey. Suddenly Dick realizes the fiendish treatment he has been subjected to by his brother and becomes angry. A fight starts in which Ben is nearly killed, and Dick is tried for attempted manslaughter. Dick is successfully defended by Lawyer William Irving, who becomes a victim of drink and sinks to the depths of degradation. Later he reforms and again is a successful lawyer. He becomes a congressman and teaches the lesson of the benefits of sobriety. Despite the seemingly superhuman efforts of Ben to separate Hattie and Dick, they are eventually married, but that doesn't stop Ben. Ben is finally chased from the house when his diary is found explaining his numerous attempts to have the happy couple divorced. Hattie is about to become a mother, and believing in prenatal influence, determines that her offspring shall not inherit the family curse, so she spends several hours each day looking at and handling pure clear water, thus succeeding in her heart's desire. The octopus of alcohol; the birth of the Saviour, and the multitude of events coherently successive in this photoplay, are too numerous to mention in a synopsis.