The Witness for the Defense (1919)

• 81%
• 1919
• Drama
• George Fitzmaurice
• Elsie Ferguson
• Vernon Steele
• Warner Oland

Stella Derrick and Dick Hazelwood love each other, but their families want them to make better financial matches. Stella leaves England for India to care for her invalid father, who coerces her into marrying wealthy Captain Ballantyne so that he will have money in his declining years. Stella soon learns that Ballantyne is a brutal drunkard suffering from delirium. Henry Thresk, a visiting big game hunter, witnesses Ballantyne's brutality, and tries to get Stella to leave with him, but she refuses. The Ballantynes leaves on a safari, where in a drunken fit Ballantyne kills Stella's pet bird. Her threat of revenge is overheard by a servant, and after Ballantyne is found dead, Stella is arrested and tried. Although Thresk's unexpected testimony about native threats to Ballantyne result in Stella's acquittal, she refuses Thresk's demand for "payment," and returns to England. She marries Dick, now in Parliament, after confessing that she killed Ballantyne in self-defense.