L'innocente Filming Locations

Van Luin is the owner of a large factory and takes a personal interest in all his employees. Upon going his usual rounds, he comes upon Jose Diaz, a workman, infringing a strict rule of the works by smoking during working hours. Although a valued workman, Jose is at once dismissed from his employment, and in leaving, in his rage he swears to be revenged upon his employer. Jaime Huelva, who is manager of the factory, leading a double life, and besides being hopelessly in debt, he is in love with a woman who goads him to madness by taunting him with his poverty, declaring that she could never marry a poor man. In the counting house with his employer, the handling of a large sum of money that his employer is taking home with him, rouses his cupidity, and he at once schemes to become possessed of it. The unfortunate Jose, owing to his dismissal from the factory, gives way to drink, and on his way home in a hopeless condition, he stumbles on the road and picks up a whip which he carries triumphantly home with him. His wife is horrified to find him covered with blood, and he throws himself upon the couch and sinks into a drunken sleep. The next morning the papers are full of an account of the murder of the factory owner. The police investigate the case and at once suspect Jose owing to his threats against his employer the previous day. They enter his house and find him still asleep, with the marks of blood dried upon his clothes. They wake him up, but he cannot give a satisfactory account of his movements upon the previous night, and is at once arrested. The whip proves to have been used in committing the murder, traces of blood being found upon the butt end. No one has seen the murder committed, and Jose is condemned upon the circumstantial evidence against him. A barrister, named Maryston, takes a strong interest in the case and firmly believes in the innocence of Jose. He is appointed a magistrate and at once sets to work to unravel the mystery. He visits the post office to send away a telegram when Huelva enters to write a letter, the impression of which he leaves on the blotting pad. Maryston reads the message which is to Huelva's sweetheart, telling her that he has at last come into money and can marry her, asking her to come and see him. Maryston knows Huelva is employed at the factory, and determines to watch him. He traces him to his flat, and then watches him come out with a bundle under his arm, which he is evidently intent upon secretly disposing of. Huelva enters a car and places his bundle on a chair. Maryston follows him and at once makes off with the bundle with Huelva after him. Maryston finds the bundle to contain blood-stained clothing, which at once confirms his opinion that Huelva is the murderer. He goes to the scene of the crime and finds traces of a larger boot than that worn by Jose, and takes a sketch of it. His next move is to measure the boot worn by Huelva. This he does by disguising himself as a bootblack and following Huelva to a low public house, where he meets with boon companions. Maryston is allowed to clean Huelva's boots and contrives to take a measurement, but does it so clumsily that Huelva suspects him, and with the help of his companions they overpower Maryston, tear off his disguise, and then carry him bound, into the cellar, where they set fire to a quantity of hay and rubbish and leave the unfortunate Maryston to burn to death. Two detectives have arranged to meet Maryston at the inn, and arrive just as Huelva and his companions have left Maryston to his fate. They trace him to the cellar, and release him from his perilous position, and then the three plan to capture Huelva and charge him with the murder of the factory owner. Then follows a determined hunting down of the suspected murderer, who, knowing the detectives are on his track, resorts to various clever disguises to escape his pursuers. He receives a note purporting to be from his fiancée making an appointment. He suspects it to be a trap, but keeps the appointment in disguise, and finds the detectives waiting for him. He secures a light for his cigarette from one of them, and drops a note on the table before he moves leisurely away. Maryston arrives, discovers the note and is chagrined to find that Huelva has discovered the trap laid for him. They make after Huelva, and a motor chase ends in Huelva leaving his car and endeavoring to escape down a railway embankment. The detectives intercept him and after a determined struggle Huelva is captured and carried before the magistrates, where he confesses to being the murderer. Jose is liberated and restored to his family, while Huelva pays the penalty for his crime.