The Washington Masquerade

Perhaps most noteworthy for the first onscreen performance by future Academy Award winner Hattie McDaniel, this politcal melodrama from director Charles Brabin stars Lionel Barrymore as Jefferson Keane, a widowed US Senator who suddenly finds himself sought after by Consuela, a beautiful young woman played by Karen Morley. Smitten by her, Keane marries Consuela, unaware of the fact that she is in cahoots with a powerful lobbyist and is only pretending to be in love. After Consuela persuades Keane to take a bride for his vote on a water-rights bill, he suddenly finds himself embroiled in a scandal that he cannot escape. The aforementioned McDaniel plays a maid.