The Adventurer (1917)

Charlie is an escaped convict, eluding his pursuers along the rocky sea coast. He dodges back and forth, and is driven into the sea, where he swims alongside a boat in which a bather is struggling to shed his sweater. Charlie steals his bathing suit and emerges, garbed as a bather, just as Edna's mamma is struggling in the water near the pier.

"Big Eric, " boastful of his strength, has been debating the advisability of attempting mother's rescue when Edna jumps in. Charlie saves them both and Eric pushes the rescuer back into the water. Charlie is rescued and taken to Edna's home, where he dons an oversized evening suit and takes part in social events. It develops that Edna's dad is the judge who sentenced Charlie, but he bluffs his way through this obstacle. Eric finds a newspaper announcing Charlie's escape and carrying his picture. Charlie fools the rest of the family by making whiskers on the picture but Eric calls the prison warden and Charlie is pursued from one part of the house to the other until he lands in the grasp of a big guard. Edna comes onto the scene as the guard grips Charlie's shoulder. The prisoner introduces the guard to the fair miss, and as his captor reaches to take the girl's hand, Charlie slips away.