AllMovie

This first screen version of Mrs. Elizabeth Craik's novel John Halifax, Gentleman stars Fred Paul in the title role. Set in the late 18th century, this is the story of a vagabond who rises to the top of the financial world through a combination of hard work and unswerving honesty. Never turning his back on his fellow "underdogs," John Halifax is even willing to risk ostracization from society when he marries disowned heiress Ursula March Peggy Hyland. "Class consciousness" was far more prevalent in 1915 than it is today, thus John Halifax, Gentleman was considered quite progressive when it first came out. The property was remade in 1938, with John Warwick in the lead.