Game of Wits (1917)

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Synopsis by Janiss Garza

Henry King was relatively new to directing, and Lew Cody -- still being billed as Louis J. Cody -- had not yet earned his reputation as a he-vamp when they worked on this comedy, which starred Gail Kane. Jeanette Browning (Kane) finds out that her father (George Periolat) is being threatened with financial ruin by Wall Street shark Silas Stone (Spottiswoode Aitken). To save her father's reputation she agrees to wed Stone, but she has a plan. Pretending to be blithely unaware of their age difference, Jeanette takes the gray-haired Stone to the mountains and exhausts him with her youthful energy. Then she introduces Larry Caldwell (Cody) as her twin brother who has been disowned by her family. Larry, apparently, has been responsible for some horrendous escapades, all of which Jeanette paints in glowing terms. She then confesses to Stone that she believes she has inherited Larry's unfortunate character traits but she has been able to keep them at bay -- at least, until now. Stone decides he wants out of the bargain, but Jeanette refuses to let him go. Under threat of a "breach of promise" lawsuit, he coughs up ten thousand dollars. Jeanette gives the money to her father, and reveals Larry as her sweetheart.