A Man Must Live (1925)

"BROKE, starving, desperate- was jungle law- kill or be killed- justified? You see few pictures with the mighty heart-punch of this one"

Jeff Farnell, forced by circumstances to take a job on a New York scandal sheet while he awaits the settlement of his claim against a steel company. Job Hardcastle, the hardened city editor of the paper, sends Jeff to get a story on "Mops" Collins, a society divorcée who has been reduced to dancing in a cabaret. Jeff takes pity on Mops, who is dying of consumption, and takes her into his apartment, telling Hardcastle that he could not find her. Afraid of losing his job, Jeff hunts for a big story, finding it when he discovers that Clive Ross-Fayne, a friend he thought lost in the war, has been arraigned on charges of narcotics peddling. (Pamela Short)