The great thespian, Nathaniel Barry (Henry B. Walthall) goes before a judge in a Hollywood police court, charged with being a habitual drunkard. After an impassioned plea from Nat's son, the actor receives a six-month suspended sentence that requires that he stay sober. After suffering several professional setbacks, Nat loses his battle with temptation and is sent to prison to serve out his sentence. Sympathetic friends at the film studio arrange to have him released in order to appear in a film with his son. The cameras roll again for Nathaniel Barry, and he's about to deliver the performance of his life.
Veteran performer Henry B. Walthall is perfectly cast as an aging actor with a last chance at redemption. He starred in Police Court in 1932, four years before death ended an incredible film career that began in 1908 when he was cast in one of Thomas Edison's earliest film shorts, Rescued From An Eagle's Nest. He appeared in that film with another young actor named D.W. Griffith. Walthall went on to perform in over 300 films, while Griffith turned to directing. In 1915, Henry played the Little Colonel in Griffith's epic masterpiece, The Birth of a Nation.