AFI CATALOG OF FEATURE FILMS

THE FIRST 100 YEARS 1893–1993

Movie Title

Capital Punishment (1925)

Melodrama | 1 January 1925

Cast:

Eddie Phillips, Alec B. Francis, Edith Yorke [ More ]

Director:

James Hogan

Writers:

John Goodrich, B. P. Schulberg

Cinematographer:

Joseph Goodrich

Production Company:

B. P. Schulberg Productions
Full page view
SOURCE CITATIONS
SOURCE
DATE
PAGE
Exhibitors Trade Review
21 Jan 1925
p. 51
Film Daily
18 Jan 1925
---
New York Times
5 Feb 1925
p. 23
Variety
4 Feb 1925
p. 33
DETAILS
Release Date:
1 January 1925
Production Date:

Physical Properties:
Silent
Black and White
Length(in feet):
5,950
Length(in reels):
6
Country:
United States
Language:
English
SYNOPSIS

After a vain attempt to save an innocent man from execution, welfare worker Gordon Harrington arranges with Dan O'Connor for Dan to be framed for a murder that will never occur, telling Dan that, at the appropriate moment, the hoax will be disclosed and capital punishment will thereby be discredited. Harrington arranges for his friend, Harry Phillips, to go on an extended sea voyage on his yacht and then makes it appear that O'Connor has murdered Phillips. O'Connor is convicted and sentenced to death. Phillips returns home unexpectedly from his cruise, and, in an argument, Harrington inadvertently kills him. Mona Caldwell, Harrington's fiancée, persuades him not to report the murder to the police, allowing O'Connor to go to his doom. O'Connor protests his innocence but Harrington disavows all knowledge of a frameup. O'Connor is about to be executed when Mona has a change of heart and tells the police that Harrington is the man who murdered ...

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After a vain attempt to save an innocent man from execution, welfare worker Gordon Harrington arranges with Dan O'Connor for Dan to be framed for a murder that will never occur, telling Dan that, at the appropriate moment, the hoax will be disclosed and capital punishment will thereby be discredited. Harrington arranges for his friend, Harry Phillips, to go on an extended sea voyage on his yacht and then makes it appear that O'Connor has murdered Phillips. O'Connor is convicted and sentenced to death. Phillips returns home unexpectedly from his cruise, and, in an argument, Harrington inadvertently kills him. Mona Caldwell, Harrington's fiancée, persuades him not to report the murder to the police, allowing O'Connor to go to his doom. O'Connor protests his innocence but Harrington disavows all knowledge of a frameup. O'Connor is about to be executed when Mona has a change of heart and tells the police that Harrington is the man who murdered Phillips.

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KEEP EXPLORING
Hoaxes, Yachts and yachting, Capital punishment, Murder, Injustice, Frame-ups, Social workers
The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.