Boy Leyton is second mate on board the Lady Spray, the ship on which his father is Captain Leyton. Boy is often chided by his father for his effeminacy and more often beaten. While in port Boy proposes to Minnie and suggests that she go to Glasgow to meet him there to be married. The ship sails and the Captain learns of his son's intention to marry. He calls him in and tells him about his mother, who deserted him, and tries to turn him away from all women, but Boy refuses to listen. The Captain is suddenly taken ill, but before he dies he makes Boy promise that he will not marry until he has found the man who wronged his mother. The Captain is buried at sea and the ship continues on its course. Upon reaching Glasgow Boy tells Minnie what happened. While at the bar, he meets an old woman who comes in begging. During the conversation he discovers that she is his mother, and he forces her to tell him who her betrayer was. A lost film.
Acting
Richard Barthelmess brings fragile intensity to Boy's torment.
Direction
Henry King crafts maritime melodrama with genuine emotional weight.
Director
Henry King
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This is a LOST FILM — no known prints survive. What exists are stills, reviews, and this plot summary from trade publications.
Dorothy Gish was already a major star; her role here as Minnie the abandoned fiancée adds meta-tragedy to a film about abandonment.
US
