Love Is an Awful Thing (1922)

Anthony Churchill, about to marry Helen Griggs, is on six months' probation imposed upon him by Helen's father, who knows Anthony has been wild in his earlier days. Marion, a forgotten flame, turns up with incriminating love letters which Anthony has written and threatens a breach of promise suit. Anthony represents himself as already married, using the janitor's wife and some hired children as his supposed family. Marion seems convinced, but Helen is heartbroken when she discovers what she considers the proof of Anthony's perfidy. Anthony and his chum try to steal the incriminating love letters from Marion's room and are caught in the act. At the psychological moment Marion and her attorneys are identified as a couple of blackmailers engaging in a plan to mulct Anthony and the Griggs family of some of their money.