The Lesser Evil (1912)

Synopsis (spoilers herein): A young woman lives near the seaside and has a sweetheart that works as a fisherman. One day, she meets him and sets to meet him again later at a set time. When the meeting time arrives she goes to the place where she was supposed to meet him, but he is not there, because his watch broke and he missed the meeting hour. The meeting place is right beside a shed and she figures that he might be inside. She opens the door and comes upon a gang of smugglers doing their shady business. They capture the woman and decide to kidnap her to their boat (why exactly, it is not explained; I figure it is to prevent her from denouncing them). The boyfriend arrives on the beach just in time to see her off to the smugglers' boat. He runs to call the police to rescue her. Aboard the boat, the captain puts the woman in his cabin. The crew is planning to rape the woman, but, as the captain decides to protect her, they organize a mutiny. The captain sets guard at his cabin's door, shooting anyone who will come near. As he runs short on ammunition, however, he decides to get in the cabin. There, he tells the woman that there is only one bullet left in his revolver and, if she agrees to it, he will shoot her so that she escapes being raped ("the lesser evil" that the title refers to). She agrees to it. Before he pulls the trigger, however, the rescue party arrives. The captain intents to shoot himself but is talked out of it by the woman. He then hides from the rescue team, jumps to the water and swims to the shore. The woman doesn't tell on him and after a while she looks through a binocular to see if he has made it safely to the shore.