John P. Brawn

A live-action film adaptation of the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. This silent short film follows the established theme: the “Rarebit Fiend” gorges himself on rarebit and thus suffers spectacular hallucinatory dreams.

Right after a husband and wife (Robert Edeson and Eulalie Jensen) arrive home from their honeymoon, the husband goes to fetch his sister from boarding school. While he is away, the wife's friend and neighbor, McGregor (Harry Morey), invites her to a party, and she accepts. On the way back home, they're involved in an accident, and McGregor takes the wife, who's unconscious, to recover at a nearby roadhouse. Unfortunately, McGregor's coke fiend brother (William R. Dunn) is there partying, and he threatens to put a seamy spin on the innocent situation and tell all.

John and Flora meet at a ball, but neither can do these modern dances, so they sit out… and run into each other later at a dance studio. Bunny exudes his usual Pickwickian charm. Miss Finch gets involved in a nice bit of physical comedy when her gawkiness makes the dance lesson less than successful.

Back in college, John Ballard saved Philip Hardin's life. Twenty years later, John is the district attorney and Philip is president of a railroad notorious for its accident record. When John brings a suit against the railroad, Philip threatens to reveal a ruinous secret about John unless he drops the case. Meanwhile, a railroad inspector discovers that the trestle over which an express train carrying Philip's daughter is about to pass is in eminent danger of collapse.