The Altar Stairs


The Altar Stairs is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Lambert Hillyer and featuring Boris Karloff. It is based on the novel of the same name by G. B. Lancaster. It is not known whether the film currently survives, suggesting that it is a lost film.

Plot

Rod McLean, a South Seas trader, saves derelict Tony Heritage from some natives, and Tony repays him by stealing his money and escaping to France. There he marries Joie, the daughter of Captain Jean Malet who is soon to take a post in the South Seas. When the officer learns of Tony's record, he repudiates the marriage and takes Joie with him to the South Seas. Tony then turns up there, and Captain Malet, to keep him away from Joie, gives him a job helping Rod establish a new trading post on another island. Rod has fallen in love with Joie, but after he discovers that she is married, he rejects her as a flirt.
Back at the new post, Rod discovers that Tony has gotten the natives drunk and they are burning the island chapel. He finds out that Tony is Joie's husband, but is stopped by the minister from killing him. Tony uses Rod's boat to escape to a steamer. Rod goes after him, followed by the minister who wants to prevent any killing, while Joie awaits the film's climax on the main island.

Cast