Sun-Up (1925)

Synopsis
Just as Reginald Denny could only play an all-American boy until talkies revealed his British accent, Conrad Nagel could only have played a hillbilly with his glorious voice silenced. He's the star of this silent drama, based on the play by Lula Vollmer. Lucille LaVerne, who played Ma Cagle on stage, repeats her role here. Ma Cagle, a mountain woman of the Carolinas, has lost both her father and her husband to lawmen and, firmly believing in "an eye for an eye," waits for her son Rufe (Nagel) to reach maturity so he can exact revenge. But the World War breaks out and Rufe goes to fight in France. He is reported to be killed in action, and Ma's only comfort is a young stranger (George K. Arthur), who has deserted from a nearby training camp. Only later does she discover that the youth is the son of the man who killed her husband. Rufe, it turns out, has not been killed, but he returns home a changed man. He no longer believes in killing for revenge, and much to Ma's disgust, he refuses to shoot the stranger and lets him go free. But Rufe's ideals are put to the test when his sweetheart, Emmy Todd (Pauline Starke), is raped by Sheriff Weeks (Sam DeGrasse). He is tempted to revert to the ways of the hills, but he overcomes his baser emotions and instead marches the sheriff off to jail. This picture was Edmund Goulding's directorial debut. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide