''After Business Hours'' is a 1925 American silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Malcolm St. Clair and starring

Elaine Hammerstein Elaine Hammerstein (June 16, 1894 – August 13, 1948) was an American silent film and stage actress. Early life Elaine Hammerstein was born on June 16, 1894 in Manhattan, the daughter of Jean Allison Hammerstein and opera producer Arthur Ham ...

Lou Tellegen Lou Tellegen (born Isidor Louis Bernard Edmon van Dommelen;"Lou Tellegen, Idol of Stage and Silent Screen, Stabs Himself Seven Times." Spartanburg (SC) Herald, October 30, 1934, pp. 1-2. November 26, 1881 or 1883 – October 29, 1934) was a ...

, and

Phyllis Haver Phyllis Maude Haver (January 6, 1899 – November 19, 1960) was an American actress of the silent film era. Early life Haver was born in Douglass, Kansas to James Hiram Haver (1872–1936) and Minnie Shanks Malone (1879–1949). When sh ...

Plot

As described in a film magazine review, John King enters married life with the plan of allowing his wife June no money except a few dollars a week. She gambles, loses, and is ashamed to ask her husband for enough to pay her losses. In an effort to repay her losses, she goes into gambling more heavily until her debts increase to a large sum. She gives her pearls as

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

. Her chauffeur blackmails her for money. To supply him with money, she takes a pin, which her friend Sylvia had dropped at her home, to a

pawnbroker A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. The items having been ''pawned'' to the broker are themselves called ''pledges'' or ...

, forging Sylvia's signature. The pawnbroker, who had been turned down for membership in John's club, is ambitious to become a member. To force his way into the club, he threatens to disclose the forgery, causing the arrest of June. John fights him and obtains the pin. Returning home, his wife tells him the truth about the pin. He forgives her, taking the blame himself.

Cast

Preservation

A nitrate master of ''After Business Hours'' that is missing one of its five reels is in the collections of

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

References

Bibliography

* Munden, Kenneth White. ''The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1''. University of California Press, 1997.

External links

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Lobby card
at www.gettyimages.com 1925 films 1925 drama films Silent American drama films Films directed by Malcolm St. Clair American silent feature films 1920s English-language films Columbia Pictures films American black-and-white films 1920s American films {{1920s-silent-drama-film-stub