AllMovie

Popular early 20th century author Winston Churchill should not be confused with the English statesman of the same name. Many of Churchill's books were made into motion pictures, and this one is a fierce indictment of Christian hypocrisy. John Hodder (William P. Carleton) is the new rector at St. John's, a church in a fashionable section of town that isn't so far away from the misery of poverty-stricken Dalton Street. It doesn't take Hodder long to discover the true nature of his supposedly pious congregation. Primary among them is Eldon Parr (David Torrence), a bank president whose daughter, Alison (Edith Hallor), leaves to perform settlement work. Eldon's son, Preston (Jack Bohn), has deserted the family because of his father's treatment of the poor girl he loved, and is now living a life of degradation. Hodder is disgusted by the cruelty of Parr and others who attend St. John's, and he exposes them all from the pulpit. He refuses to resign after his tirade and goes about correcting all the wrongs perpetrated by his parishioners. This wins Alison's heart. One of Parr's disgruntled former workers shoots him and then himself. Parr survives just long enough to make amends for all he has done, and to unite his family once again.