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British actor George Arliss spent the bulk of his movie career in adaptations of his stage successes. Based on a play by John Galsworthy, Old English stars Arliss as an aging shipbuilder, who dotes on the children of his deceased son. Arliss' sister (Ethyl Gryffies) disapproves because the old man's son was illegitimate, but Arliss pays her no heed. He secures the financial future of his grandchildren by entering into a shady business deal that is sure to bring him disgrace and ruin. To escape the wrath of his enemies, Arliss commits an elegant suicide by defying his doctor's orders and eating a sumptuous gourmet mea -- a wistful finale later reworked into the 1935 biopic Diamond Jim.