Salvation Nell on AllMovie

Nell Sanders (Pauline Starke) has grown up on New York's Lower East Side. While working in a sweatshop she becomes involved with Jim Platt (Joseph King), who is a hopeless alcoholic . She loses her job and is forced to scrub floors at a saloon owned by Sid McGovern (Charles McDonald). Sid's brother Al (Matthew Betz) makes advances towards Nell, which infuriates Platt. The two men come to blows and Al is killed. Platt goes to prison for seven years and Nell is left alone to bear his child. A Salvation Army worker, Hallelujah Maggie (Evelyn C. Carrington), saves Nell from the streets and she begins a new life. By the time Platt is discharged from prison, Nell has become one of the Salvation Army's most valuable members. He wants to be with her, but she hesitates because she does not want to be drawn back into the old life. Another Army member, Major Williams (Edward Langford), wants to marry Nell, but she still loves Platt, even though she resists his overtures. Finally her goodness regenerates her wayward lover, and he is able to marry her and pursue an honest life. Edward Sheldon's original stage play starred Minnie Maddern Fiske and was made into a film three times -- twice in the silent era and once more in sound. This is the second silent version.