Ghosts of Yesterday (1918)

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Synopsis by Janiss Garza

When artist Howard Marston (Eugene O'Brien) spends all his money foolishly, he decides to kill himself. But he's stopped by a seamstress, Ruth Grahame (Norma Talmadge), who takes him home to live with her and her father. They marry and while he's working at an engraving plant, he invents a color making process which makes him rich. He begins to paint a portrait of Ruth, but before he can finish it she dies of consumption. The grieving widower goes to Paris where he continues to pursue art. He meets cabaret dancer Jeanne LaFleur (Talmadge again) who looks just like Ruth. He asks her to sit for the portrait so he can finish it and she agrees. They fall in love, and Jeanne strives to be as good a person as his wife was. But Marston feels he is being untrue to Ruth's memory and sends her away. He realizes he can't live without her, though, and goes after her. He finds her with an admirer, Count Pascal de Fondras (Stuart Holmes) and the two men get in a fight. The Count blinds Marston then commits suicide by jumping from a roof. Jeanne nurses Marston but he doesn't feel she deserves to be stuck with a blind man so he sends her away. When she finds out his motivation for making her go, she returns to him for good. This picture was based on a not terribly successful play, Two Women, that fell below author Rupert Hughes normal capabilities.