Ports of Call (1925)

Rich clubman Kirk Rainsford attends a charity bazaar at the home of Marjorie Vail, the society girl he hopes to marry. A fire breaks out among the booths and everyone is pulled to safety except little Peggy, Marjorie's kid sister. Marjorie pleads with Kirk to save the child, but he lacks the courage, and Randolph Sherman, Kirk's rival for Marjorie's affections, plays the hero. Kirk's public display of cowardice makes his father disown him and Marjorie reject him; she soon marries Sherman. Kirk drifts to the South Seas, eventually landing in Manila, where he becomes a derelict. When fellow drifter Lillie is roughly handled in a bar, Kirk assists her and she expresses appreciation for his bravery and her faith in him effects his regeneration. Kirk and Lillie journey to the interior and obtain work on a plantation recently purchased by Randolph Sherman. During a native uprising, Sherman is killed and Kirk saves Marjorie from certain death. Marjorie still loves him and asks him to stay, but Kirk decides to go off with Lillie, whose love for him has finally made him a man.