The Sphinx is a lost[1] 1916 silent film drama directed by John G. Adolfi and starring Effie Shannon and Herbert Kelcey.
After the cares of the stage are brushed aside at night, a fast-driven limousine carries her to the Lion Head Apartments, where colored servitors wait upon her and deck her with perfume and flowers, for the coming of "Jim," her lover.
Mr. Macklin is a widower, but has a son named Charles, who is studying art under the tutelage of M. Valentine, a French painter.
One day, during a class in art at M. Valentine's studio, where Charles is studying, the Sphinx calls.
The master introduces her to Charles, but does not mention the boy's name, since he has a deep affection for the strange woman himself.
When the latter arrives she begs Charles to conceal himself, but he agrees only when she promises to come to his studio the following day so that he may paint her portrait.
Heartbroken, Frances goes to Charles' father and tells him that a worthless woman whom she does not know has ensnared the boy she loves, and that it was for her that he forsook the theater party.
Macklin is roused in her defense and springs at his son and there is a fight in which the father, striking his head on the floor, is rendered unconscious.