The central character in this Edison melodrama is a condemned prisoner, sentenced to hang at 11 p.m.. One hour before the execution, the governor receives word that the doomed man is his own son. This puts the governor in a prickly moral dilemma: Should he honor the letter of the law, or should he move heaven and earth to save the life of his own flesh and blood? The audience is never apprised of his decision, since he collapses into a faint as the clock strikes 11. In a cop-out finale, it turns out that the condemned man wasn't the governor's kid after all.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide