A Daughter of Luxury

Mary Fenton is a wealthy woman whose life is upended when a lawsuit costs her fortune. To keep up appearances she assumes the identity of another woman, Mary Cosgrove, stepping into a role that brings her into new social circles and unexpected complications. Her plan begins to unravel when the real Cosgrove shows up and insists the impostor be turned over to the authorities, creating a tense clash between reputation, law, and morality. The film follows Mary as the situation grows more dangerous, balancing deception with the social pressures of the era, without revealing how the conflict is ultimately resolved.

Released in 1922, the picture was directed by Paul Powell. Story and writing credits include Beulah Marie Dix, Leonard Merrick, and Michael Morton, and the cast features Agnes Ayres as Mary Fenton, with Tom Gallery, Edith Yorke, Howard Ralston, and Edward Martindel in supporting roles.

Box office records for many silent era films are incomplete, and there’s no reliable documentation of this title’s commercial performance, so its theatrical earnings and distribution reach remain unclear.

Critical material from the period is scarce, but the movie centers on themes of identity, class distinction, and the social consequences of legal troubles. It uses mistaken identity and social masquerade to raise questions about how reputation shapes opportunity, and the film’s melodramatic moments reflect common storytelling patterns of early 1920s drama.

Today the film is mainly of interest to silent film enthusiasts and historians, partly because of Agnes Ayres presence and its production pedigree. It hasn’t maintained a large popular profile, yet it offers a compact example of postwar social melodrama and the kinds of moral dilemmas that attracted audiences during the silent era.