The House of Lies is a 1916 American silent film drama directed by William Desmond Taylor and written by L. V. Jefferson. The film stars Edna Goodrich, Juan de la Cruz, Kathleen Kirkham, Lucille Ward, Harold Holland and Herbert Standing. The film was released on September 14, 1916, by Paramount Pictures.
As Mrs. Coleman's husband's inherited fortune begins to dwindle, she schemes to secure wealthy husbands for her daughter Dorothy and stepdaughter Edna. Edna, however, refuses to sell her beauty for wealth and pretends to disfigure herself with acid.
While the family marginalizes Edna, Dorothy and her mother attempt to marry her off to the wealthy poet, Marcus Auriel. Edna, who has long admired Marcus's work, is hired by him as a secretary and reveals her stepmother's scheme. Despite the scars on Edna's face, Marcus proposes marriage. Edna accepts and later discloses that her scars, like the acid, were fake, and what truly disfigured her was merely greasepaint.