A Noise in Newboro on AllMovie

Viola Dana stars in this rags-to-riches comedy-drama. She plays Martha Mason, who is such an underdog in her little home town that when she graduates from school, she doesn't get a diploma because there aren't enough to go around. Having inherited 2,000 dollars, Martha convinces her father (Bert Woodruff) to let her study art in New York City. Seven years pass, in which time she becomes a huge success and is surrounded by loads of admirers. One young man in particular wants to marry her, but her only thought is of going back home, to show up all the naysayers and to reunite with her childhood sweetheart, Ben Colwell (David Butler). She returns, only to find the place as dreary as before, and Colwell -- who has never taken her seriously -- engaged to Anne Paisley (Eva Novak), daughter of the town's most wealthy citizen (Alfred Allen). Colwell has become a lawyer playing dirty politics, and Martha hands this information over to a dying local newspaper in need of a scoop. This creates the "noise" referred to in the film's title, and Colwell is chased out of town. Martha, redeemed, returns to New York to accept the proposal of the city guy she left hanging.