The Scarlet Car on AllMovie

This drama was based on the then-popular novel by Richard Hardin Davis. Billy Winthrop (Franklyn Farnum) is the idle son of Samuel Winthrop (Al Filson). When Billy discovers that it's destroying his father financially to constantly get him out of trouble, he straightens up. Although Billy loves Beatrice Forbes (Edith Johnson), she is already engaged to marry Ernest Peabody (Sam deGrasse), the son of banker Cyrus Peabody (Howard Crampton). Billy and Beatrice plan to elope, but it isn't as easy for them to run off together as they thought it would be. They get tangled up in situations involving forgery and murder that need to be solved before they can get married. Both Peabody father and son are revealed as the crooks. Director Joseph deGrasse was the older brother of Sam deGrasse. A pre-stardom Lon Chaney has a small but intense role as Beatrice's father, Paul Revere Forbes.