The Breathless Moment

The Breathless Moment is a 1924 American silent comedy drama film directed by Robert F. Hill and starring William Desmond, Charlotte Merriam, and Alfred Fisher.

Plot
As described in a film magazine review, Billy Carson and Dan Cassidy, pals and crooks, are contrasting types, with Carson a cheerful individual who loves a joke and turns a sunny gaze upon the world, while his partner Cassidy a pronounced pessimist with an ingrowing grouch against everyone and everything with the exception of his pal. They visit the home of a millionaire while he is in Europe and, when Detective Quinn arrives at the mansion, Carson poses as the millionaire as he removes a number of priceless paintings. Quinn is put on their trail. After a variety of complications, by chance it happens that Carson saves the wife of Quinn and is slightly injured in the process. Quinn, feeling an obligation towards the criminal, offers Carson the alternatives of settling down and living quietly in a small village or going to jail. Carson and his pal go to a village, and the former falls in love when he discovers the fascinations of a young woman of the village, going straight and finding happiness.