The New Commandment (1925)
Directed by Howard Higgin
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Synopsis by Janiss Garza
Seven years after its end, there was a resurgence of films about World War I. This one, based on the novel Invisible Wounds by Colonel Frederick Palmer was pretty good, but a couple of weeks later, The Big Parade would come out and trounce every other World War film that was in distribution. Billy Morrow (Ben Lyon), who comes from a wealthy family, is sailing to Europe with his father (Holbrook Blinn) on their yacht. Along for the ride is Mrs. Parr (Claire Eames) and her stepdaughter. Near the French coast, Billy discovers that Mrs. Parr wants to arrange a marriage between him and the girl, so he escapes and takes a lifeboat ashore. He makes it to Paris, where he meets Rene Darcourt (Blanche Sweet), an American girl who is temporarily working as a model for Picard (Pedro de Cordoba), an artist. Billy and Rene fall in love, but he suspects she is having an affair with Picard, so he enlists when war breaks out. He is wounded in the fighting and taken to a chateau, where he finds Rene working as a nurse. They are united, and Billy learns a new commandment: thou shalt not doubt.
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Keywords
war, artist, boating, conflict, consciousness, fear, foreign-legion, Germany, love, love-conquers-all, marriage, marriage-arranged, modeling, painting, romance, sailing, self-sacrifice, socialite, stepdaughter, volunteer, wound [injury]