The Voice of Conscience

Lucky Francis X. Bushman has young ward Florence LaBadie lusting after him while the rather lovely Martha Russell is also proving to be more than receptive to his advances. Unfortunately, when Florence spots a murderous opportunity to get rid of her rival she's unable to resist the temptation. Quite a nifty little drama from Thanhouser that is ultimately let down by a weak ending. LaBadie is good, but far too old for her part.

A study in morbid psychology. In it, a physician, whose duty it was to heal and cure, plays the part of a deceiver in order to work on a weak woman's conscience with a view to a future repentance brought about by remorse. The woman was a patient in his hospital; was already somewhat morbid in her jealousy and showed a mind greatly in need of careful scientific treatment. She attempted to murder the woman in the next cot, her rival in love. The doctor saved the other patient, but let the guilty one think that she had accomplished her insane desire. Not every spectator will like the Doctor's method. The story has an unconvincing climax. The acting sets, photography and all mechanical work are good. - The Moving Picture World, September 14, 1912

Just ordinary, natural happenings are shown as giving "the third degree" to a manslaughterer. Not daring to confess, he lets an innocent man (played by Francis Bushman) be suspected. The trial lasts three days and he (Harry Mainhall) looks on in torments that finally make him confess. Such a situation is perennially fresh and Mr. Mainhall's interpretation of it here makes a good offering. His acting shows a good measure of restrained imagination until the last few feet where the action becomes a little hysterical. One of the lesser roles, that of the conscience-stricken man's friend, weakened the effect somewhat by being too much like Mephistopheles, too much like a conscious torturer. He was made to appear to us more, as he must have appeared to his friend, and should have been more objective. In the last scene all the actors forgot art for a moment and began to feel the action as themselves, lost all objectivity. It is a very interesting picture as a whole and one worthwhile. - The Moving Picture World, October 12, 1912

"The Voice of Conscience" is a very strange film. It has some neat story elements and some that didn't quite work for me. But, regardless, it IS a pretty amazing movie and it's shocking so much plot was somehow shoved into such a short film.

The film begins with the death of a father. As he's dying, he asks his friend to be his daughter's godfather and look after her (though to me she looks to be at least 25--a bit too old for the part). The godfather takes the 'girl' to live with his mother and time passes. During this time, the girl has fallen in love with her godfather but he doesn't know this. Instead, he's fallen for some other woman.

A bit later, there is an auto accident and both these women are taken to the hospital. The godfather's girlfriend is worse off and the doctor has prescribed a strong heart stimulant. However, the other lady's jealousy is so great that she pours ALL of the bottle into the girlfriend's glass--hoping to give her an overdose! What happens next is really weird and the end a bit on the preachy side. But, it's also very memorable!! Worth seeing.