It Is the Law(Movie, 1924)

It Is the Law is a 1924 American silent mystery film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Arthur Hohl, Herbert Heyes, and Mona Palma. It is a film adaptation of the 1922 Broadway play of the same name by Elmer Rice, itself based on a novel by Hayden Talbot. The film depicts the story of Ruth Allen (Palma), who marries Justin Victor (Heyes) over competing suitor Albert Woodruff (Hohl). Seeking revenge for this slight, Woodruff fakes his own death by killing a drifter who resembles him, and frames Victor for the murder. Woodruff attempts to renew his courtship of Allen by using an assumed identity, but she sees through his disguise. Once Victor is freed from prison, he kills Woodruff and goes free because a conviction would constitute double jeopardy. This was the final film for director Edwards, who died the following year, and was one of the last produced at Fox Film's New York studio. Contemporary reviews were generally positive. Like many of Fox's early works, it was likely lost in the 1937 Fox vault fire. ()