Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
to
to
Exclude
Only includes titles with the selected topics
to
In minutes
to
1-36 of 36
- Truck driver searches for his brother, who has disappeared in a town run by a corrupt judge.
- A Chinese-American cop, skilled in martial arts, battles the most powerful criminal gang in San Francisco that is responsible for the death of his partner.
- Two over-the-top eccentric fugitives become roommates in Miami to avoid the law, while one dresses as the other's aunt in drag, leading to deception and murder.
- An evil Oriental Dragon Lady injects three martial arts fighters with a serum that turns them into zombie-like assassins, and she sends them out against her enemies.
- The story of the training of a racehorse, the Whip, of the amnesiac nobleman who loves the horse, and of the villains who attempt to keep it from racing.
- Jackie Chan is a true icon of Asian and Chinese culture. Over a 45-year-long career, he has carved a niche for himself as an actor, stuntman, director, and screenwriter, but also singer and formidable businessman. After starring in almost 200 films, Chan has reconciled fans of genre film and Hollywood blockbusters, whilst bridging the gap between Asian and Western cinema. Through film excerpts, archive footage and images, and an offbeat approach inspired by the visual codes of the golden age of kung fu films, this documentary will take a look back at the creation of a popular hero who has come to be an icon for China, and the entire Asian continent.
- A restless young girl yearns to leave her rural environment and "get away from it all." One day she stumbles upon a film crew shooting a Western near her home. She makes friends with the film's leading man, who encourages her to try her luck as an actress, so she leaves her small town and goes to the big city to break into the picture business. However, things don't turn out quite the way she planned.
- Dr. Hugh Annersley, assisted by Dr. Appledan, has succeeded in finding a cure for cancer. Julia, Dr. Annersley's sister, comes home with Griswold, a former client of the doctor, and to whom he still owes money. Griswold did not enter the house, Annersley saying to Appledan that if Griswold would pay him what he owes, he could then continue his work with the medical discovery. Griswold, now being attended by Appledan, Annersley decides to write him a letter, in which he states that unless he is paid within twenty-four hours, that he will go to Griswold's apartment to collect the account himself. Appledan takes the letter to Griswold himself. In giving medicine to Griswold, Appledan gives him an overdose, resulting in his sudden death. To ward off suspicion, Appledan places Annersley's letter threatening violence to Griswold on the latter's table, and firing two shots out of a revolver, the aged doctor leaves the room. When the police investigate they find the revolver on the floor, and on it is carved Hugh Annersley's name. Circumstantial evidence in the form of the revolver and letter points to Annersley. He is placed under arrest and charged with the murder. Julia, calling upon Appledan, notices the old doctor laughing hysterically as Frank Sargeant, a well-to-do young man, leaves his office. He tells Julia that he has just warned Sargeant he could not live more than a couple of months on account of the poor condition of his heart. With this knowledge, Julia starts in search of Sargeant, and finds him in an old quarry just as he was to commit suicide. She persuades him to listen to her. She unravels to him the story of her brother's plight, and of the fact that he could save millions of lives were he able to continue with his cancer cure. That as he, Sargeant, could not live long and was on the verge of committing suicide, would assume the murder of Griswold, clear Annersley of the charge, and thereby be of some good to humanity. Sargeant agrees and fabricates circumstantial evidence against himself so strongly that he is arrested and convicted of the crime. While awaiting electrocution, Sargeant learns that his heart was never affected, that old Doctor Appledan was mentally unbalanced, and then confined to an insane asylum. Upon learning this, Julia sets out to clear Sargeant and reverse the wheels of destiny against him. The old doctor confesses that he gave Griswold an overdose of medicine and to clear himself had placed Annersley's letter and pistol near him, thereby clearing Sargeant. How Julia repaid Sargeant for his great sacrifice by her love and affection brings the picture to a dramatic and happy ending.
- Orphaned Mimi (Alice Brady) is taken in by a drunken innkeeper and becomes a maid. She meets Rudolphe (Paul Capellani), heir of a upper-class family, who rescues her from the unwanted advances of a drunken hotel guest. They fall madly in love, but Rudolphe's uncle, M. Durandin, wants Rudolphe to marry a family friend, Madame De Rouvre, and writes Mimi a letter, telling her that she is ruining Rudolphe's life. Musette and Marcel, friends of Mimi, also try to break up the romance by introducing Mimi to other men, and Rudolphe becomes jealous and leaves her. Shattered, Mimi declines in health and eventually throws herself into the river but is rescued and taken to the hospital. Realizing it is only a matter of time before she dies, she drags herself back to the room where she and Rudolphe were happiest. Rudolphe is there and she dies knowing that he loves her.
- James Kestner is a government secret agent on the trail of a band of counterfeiters and particularly anxious to locate the head of the gang, Frank Lambert, who, in addition to his skill as a counterfeiter, is known to the underworld as the only man who can fill in the perforations of a used bank check. Kestner locates the band in their underground work shop near the river front. He cleverly maneuvers his way into the headquarters of the band when it is empty, but is caught in the act of searching for incriminating evidence by "Bull's Eye" Cherry, a clever girl crook, and one of the mainstays of Lambert's crowd. Lambert and his daughter, who has been educated in crime by her father, return to find Kestner held at the point of Cherry's revolver. Lambert is for killing the detective outright. Impressed by Kestner's brave demeanor, Maura intercedes in his behalf, but finding her father determined in his intention to kill the government agent, she pretends that the police are outside. The counterfeiters make their escape without settling accounts with Kestner. Kestner locates the criminals in their new quarters. One of his assistants trails "Bull's Eye," who has the new counterfeit plates in her possession, but she cleverly evades capture and returns the plates to Lambert's headquarters. Kestner forces his way into the gang's rooms, arriving just in time to witness a desperate battle between Lambert and Tony Morello, one of his accomplices, whose passion for Maura has led him to attempt to force his advances upon her. Lambert kills Morello with a knife, but before dying the man acquaints Maura with the fact that Lambert is not her real father, but that he stole her when a baby and reared her to this life of crime. Kestner places Lambert under arrest, but the crook evades capture a second time by a ruse. Kestner's assistant arrives with the police, but Kestner permits Maura to go free on account of her having saved his life on the occasion of their first meeting. Kestner is determined to capture Lambert single-handed. He trails him to a midnight rendezvous on a wharf, where he and Lambert fight it out to a finish. The revolver battle between the two men in the dark culminates in a hand-to-hand encounter in which Kestner ultimately proves victor, but has barely strength enough to handcuff himself to his unconscious opponent before collapsing. In the end Kestner induces Maura to return to the straight road, and she takes up her home with his mother. The story closes with the intimation that the romance so strangely begun will lead, as time passes, to a life of happiness for them, together.
- For 10 years the men of the D. and O., a short line, have been at the mercy of "B," supposedly Barker, president of the railroad. The line itself is run from the executive offices in New York, far distant, and none of the men have ever laid eyes of "B," yet the smallest transgression, accidental or otherwise, of the railroad's rigid and economical discipline results in a telegraphed order from "B," decreeing the fine, suspension or other punishment for the offender. Latterly, it has amounted to almost persecution and the men are on the verge of a strike. The climax comes when 48, the passenger train driven by Jim Lewis, goes off the rails on a soft spot and ties up the whole system for a day. When 48 finally limps into Wellsdale, the eastern terminus, "B's" decision is waiting for Lewis, two weeks' pay as a fine and six months' probation on a yard engine. The punishment starts a riot. The men agree to send Lewis to see Barker. Lewis calls on Barker. Barker receives Lewis, and instead of the hulky, brutal man he expected to find, Barker is an elderly, kind old gentleman, with a charming family. Mildred, his daughter, impresses Lewis. At last, Lewis, much bewildered, accepts an invitation to dinner with the family. In the morning Lewis learns that "B" is Brown, the manager. With a card from Barker he seeks an interview, but learns the manager has decamped, taking all the negotiable funds of the road. Lewis, thinking of the girl he met the night before, asks for and gets the job of running down "B." After considerable detective work he locates a man he has reason to believe is his quarry. With the aid of a bellboy, he gets a tip on the departure of the suspect and as the fleeing man enters a machine Lewis grabs him. There is a fight, which ends in Lewis's victory. Jim Lewis returns in triumph to New York with the stolen goods licked in a brand-new bag, and reaches Barker's house in the early evening, just as a group of D. and O. magnates are deciding that the road is gone and done for. Jim is the sort of stuff the road needs in its executive offices, and barker states that he is to come in to New York to be trained. Jim parts with Mildred on his way out, but to their mutual satisfaction it is only "au revoir." The future is rosy for Jim Lewis, and the boys of the road have gained more than they hoped when they sent him to see "B."
- David Garth, a country physician, earns only enough for a bare existence. His daughter, Winifred, takes care of their home. The doctor distrusts modern medical science and refuses to have anything to do with it. He is, naturally, infuriated when he learns that Kent, a young surgeon, has come to the village. The old man is further incensed when he learns that Winifred has taken a liking to Kent and refuses to meet him. Despite her father's prejudice Winifred and Kent become infatuated with each other and hold clandestine meetings. Dr. Garth falls into the snares of Shrubbs, a money lender. Shrubbs has a note of the doctor's and threatens to foreclose on the cottage. Tom, a servant of Garth's, steals the note from Shrubbs' office. Kent, in response to a letter from Winifred, leaves his office while Tom is committing the theft. The next morning the theft is discovered and Shrubbs offers $500 reward for anyone who will identify the thief. One of the townsfolk volunteers the information that Kent left the building late in the evening and the doctor corroborates the statement. Meanwhile Tom offers the note to Winifred and she tells him to return it. He leaves town at the same time Kent is accused of the robbery. Tom rushes back to Winifred and tells her of the arrest. They go to town to vindicate Kent. Tom declares his guilt and demands the $500 as a reward for finding the thief, himself. Shrubbs is compelled to pay and Kent makes him promise not to prosecute Tom. The doctor consents to the marriage of Kent and Winifred.
- "Walter Hanford advertises for a companion for his invalid mother. Arnold Roberts, an adventurer, sees the advertisement and, being slightly acquainted with Walter, asks that the position be given a friend of his who is in need of work. Walter goes and Belle Thorne, an accomplice of Arnold's is given the position. Later, when Arnold plans to enter Walter's home and secure the Hanford jewels, he tells Belle that he will require her assistance. Belle, however, has fallen in love with Walter and refuses to aid in the robbery. Arnold then threatens to tell Walter that Belle was his mistress unless she obeys him. Rather than have this happen. Belle admits Arnold into the home at the appointed time. Walter discovers Arnold at the robbery, while Belle watches outside. A struggle follows, during which the mask is torn from Arnold's face. He recognizes Arnold just before he receives a blow which knocks him senseless and Arnold escapes with the jewels. Outside, he tells Belle that Walter has been killed, and she flees with him. Walter recovers, but to save Belle, gives a different account of the robbery to the newspapers, stating that Belle came to his aid, but was carried away by his assailants. Meanwhile, Arnold and Belle, to escape from recognition, go to the seashore, steal a boat, change their clothes and land at a point on the coast, where they allow themselves to be rescued and tell their rescuer that they are the sole survivors of a shipwreck. Old Ben, their rescuer, takes them to his home and accepts their story. Later, however, a copy of the newspaper giving an account of the robbery falls into his hands. Belle's picture identifies her, and he immediately writes to Walter that both Belle and Arnold are in the village with him. Walter comes to the village but does not make his presence known. Instead, he shadows Belle and Arnold and overhears enough of Belle's talk with Arnold, when she refuses to marry him, to know that she has been forced into the course she follows. Arnold threatens Belle who leaves him. Walter, hiding behind the rocks on the cliff, calls to Arnold and accuses him of the murder. Frightened as Walter appears and, believing him to be a ghost of his victim. Arnold backs over the edge of the cliff and falls into the sea below. Walter returns to Old Ben's cottage, where he finds Belle, who has gone to Old Ben to make a confession and ask his aid. He and Belle are reunited and together return to the city to Walter's mother.
- Cowboy Mark West lives with his sister Mary, who suffers from a serious spinal disorder. While on vacation at the West's ranch, Violet Ridgeway, an Eastern socialite, toys with Mark's affections and then promptly forgets him. After Violet leaves, Mark works hard and earns the money to pay for an operation for his sister, which Doctor Welsh and Doctor Boyd agree to perform even though they know that it will probably result in her death. As expected, Mary dies, and Mark receives a letter detailing the doctor's risk-taking. A vengeful Mark kills Dr. Boyd, but Welsh, who is engaged to Violet, flees to safety. Mark goes to prison, but later Violet marries him in order to satisfy a stipulation in her late aunt's will. On his way back to jail, Mark escapes, and when Welsh and Violet reunite, they travel past Mark's hideout, and he captures them. Peblo, an evil Indian who is infatuated with Violet, kidnaps her, but Mark kills him. During the fight, Welsh behaves like a coward, and an enlightened Violet escapes to freedom across the Canadian border with Mark.
- Mary Dexter comes to Washington with her husband, Phillip, to get his invention, an appliance for battleships, adopted. He runs against graft and influence on all sides and finally realizes he can do nothing without money and "pull." Unknown to Phillip, Mary goes to Senator Barring and by her beauty and charm so interests him that he promises to help her husband. When she rushes to tell the good news to Phillip, she is horrified to find him dead by his own hands. Senator Barring recognizes in Mary a clever tool and under the guise of friendship and kindliness wins her to his side. He and his wife take her into their home, help and comfort her, and when she asks to be allowed to repay them, he enlists her assistance for some of his measures. She falls in with his plans and is successful in winning to her side the vote of various members of Congress. Clifford Drake, a young. clean-cut congressman, despite bribes and threats, refuses to side with the interests. Barring persuades Mary to use her influence. She lures Drake on and finally on a vague promise of marriage induces him to forsake his principles and vote with the interests. His infatuation costs him his seat in Congress; his party is disgusted with his deflection and turn from him, electing in his stead, Moorehead, a strong, capable, honest westerner. Drake, maddened with love for Mary, begs her to marry him despite his defeat, but she laughs his proposal to scorn and he goes, threatening revenge for his blighted career. Mary is attracted to Moorehead and succeeds in meeting him and winning his interest. Like all other men, he falls for her charms, but despite his infatuation, he will not yield his principles and refuses to vote against the Child Labor Bill at Mary's request. Finally, however, on her urgent plea, he promises her that he will be absent when the vote is called. When Mary reports this to Barring, he is furious; they must have Moorehead's help in defeating the bill. Mary realizes at last how infamous has been her part in the political game. Love for Moorehead has awakened her true nature, and she determines to undo part of her work. The Child Labor Bill is up for discussion. Madly Mary pursues Moorehead, who, true to his promise, has remained away from the House. Finally, she comes upon him and begs him to return and cast his vote for the bill. Believing she is trying to "use" him further, he breaks away from her, but at last she convinces him that through him she has come to see things in their true light and is anxious to fight with him for the right. Moorehead rushes to the House and delivers an impassioned address in favor of the Child Labor Bill. His strong arguments carry the day and the bill is passed. Congratulations are showered on him. Mary in the gallery, rejoices in his victory when suddenly a shot rings out and Mary falls wounded. Drake, drunk and half crazed in his desire for revenge, followed Mary and fired with intent to kill. The House is in an uproar. Drake is seized by angered members and hurled from the gallery. Moorhead rushes up to Mary and is overjoyed to find that her wound is only slight and together they rejoice over his victory and her narrow escape.
- Henry Ross, a retired banker, is found murdered in his home. Leo Hill, a young man in love with Marjorie, his daughter, is arrested and accused of the crime. The night Ross was killed, Stanley was heard fighting with him and therefore, is under suspicion. After some time William, the butler in Rosa's home, tells his story, which clears Stanley. He tells how ever since Marjorie's mother's death he and his wife had taken the girl into their hearts and that she came to them with all of her happiness and all of her unhappiness. Bob had fallen in love with the girl and after a long courtship they were secretly married and he was the only one told.
- Rodney Lane and Evelyn Gilbert are engaged to be married, but their happiness is blasted by a quarrel between their fathers, who take opposite views on a certain political question. In an outburst of temper, Sir Arthur Gilbert orders his one-time friend, Humphrey Lane and his son from his house forever. Evelyn is heartbroken at being separated from her lover, and soon succumbs to a serious illness. Unable to keep away from Evelyn, Rodney decides to shoulder his father's burden and try to patch matters between Sir Arthur and his father. On the day he calls to do so, Evelyn dies. Rodney denounces Sir Arthur for the narrow and bigoted way in which he sacrificed his daughter's happiness and life. Sir Arthur, in full realization of what his obstinacy has caused, sets down the whole occurrence on paper. He conceals the document in a secret niche in the great fireplace in the hall and then shoots himself. Years pass by and another generation of Gilberts inhabit the hall. Sir Henry Gilbert is arranging the marriage of his daughter, Edythe, to William Hammond, a man of wealth and political promise. Edythe refuses to accept Hammond's attentions, saying she will marry Wilfred Arnold, whom she loves. Her father is furious and insists that she marry the man of his choice. Edythe and Wilfred plan to elope but they are frustrated by Hammond and Sir Henry, who force the girl to return home. Wilfred, in anger rushes into the room and confronts Sir Henry for desiring to force his daughter into a distasteful marriage and Sir Henry, speechless with rage, is about to rise and pronounce a curse on his daughter and Wilfred, when suddenly the old grandfather's clock strikes the hour of midnight. Spell-bound for an unaccountable reason, they silently watch the clock and from its body slowly emerges a vision of Sir Arthur Gilbert, his hand upraised in a stern rebuke. Slowly the vision moves toward the fireplace, taps on the cover of the niche, and gradually dissolves. Sir Henry discovers the hidden parchment, while Edythe and Wilfred eagerly lean over him, and read the story of the unhappy Evelyn and at the end, Sir Arthur's admonition: "The curse of the Gilberts is their temper and unforgiving pride. To him who can overcome, there is happiness assured." In his face a new light, in his eyes the request for forgiveness, Sir Henry gathers his daughter to him, while Wilfred grasps his outstretched hand, as a mutual understanding passes between them.
- Richard Talbot, gentlemen crook, is nearly trapped by a plain clothes man. but for a ruse of Marjorie Cross, who takes pity on him and passes him off to her father as a friend of her brother. Talbot, thinking of his narrow escape, resolves to reform. Henry Randall, president of the Third National Bank, has been rejected by Marjorie. Randall makes her father a loan on a call note and watches for a chance to force Marjorie to marry him. Cross gives Richard a position. Coming home one evening Richard meets Randall and Marjorie. Randall is forcing his attentions on Marjorie, when Richard interferes. Randall, infuriated, demands that Marjorie's father pay the note at once. Cross asks for a few days in which to obtain the money. Randall refuses, and demands the money at once. Richard decides to do one more job and that evening breaks into Randall's bank and secures the note. Cross pays the note and Richard mails the now paid note back to Randall. Marjorie promises to marry Richard at his promise never to steal again. The father consents to their marriage.
- Unknown to John Anderson, wealthy land owner, Jane Warren and her invalid mother are threatened with eviction from their humble cottage by Anderson's agent. Later, Jane almost forced to beggary in an effort to secure supplies and medicines, meets Harry Anderson, John's younger son, also personally unknown to her, and in pity for her destitute condition, he gives temporary aid. Jane hastens home with the supplies only to find the house in the hands of Anderson's agents and her mother in a dying condition. Walter Anderson, the elder son, dissipated and an habitué of gambling clubs, loses heavily and forges a note in his father's name. Harry learns of the note but shields his brother in the hope that some way of meeting the note before it is due may relieve Walter of the stigma of forgery. Meanwhile, Jane, embittered and hateful of the upper classes generally, has found temporary shelter in the tenements where she has met and becomes associated with a band of anarchists. During a slumming expedition, Walter sees and is enamored of Jane. Fearing arrest, he dons old clothes and takes rooms in the neighborhood. He meets Jane and eventually learns of her connection with the band, for which he professes sympathy. Later just before the maturity of the note, he returns to his father and asks for money with which to meet it. Angered, Anderson, Sr., refuses the advance and tells Walter that he must raise the money himself within twenty-four hours or else be disinherited. Walter returns to his rooms in the slums. A meeting of the anarchist band takes place that night at which chance is to determine which member of the association is to be chosen to put out of the way some wealthy oppressor of the masses. Walter takes the opportunity to stop the wheel of chance by trick opposite Jane's number. According to the law of the band, the loser is permitted to choose the victim and Walter suggests to Jane that the man who had them evicted from their home be made to pay. Later, she leaves for Anderson's home to carry out her mission. Walter accompanies her to Anderson's home ostensibly to aid and keep watch for her while she is within the house. Anderson, Sr., about to retire, is suddenly aware of someone present in the room. He glances up to find himself looking in the muzzle of Jane's revolver. Behind the curtains, eagerly watching is Walter. Jane tells Anderson of what his grinding, money grabbing policies have brought upon her. Looking over Jane's shoulder, he suddenly calls behind her. She turns for a fraction of a moment and he seizes the hand holding the revolver. They struggle. Walter emerges slightly from behind the curtains, half inclined to join in the fight, when suddenly the revolver explodes and he receives the bullet meant for his father. Harry, entering the front door, comes upon the scene. Jane, appalled at what she has done and horror-struck at the broken figure of the old man before her. She recognizes Harry as being the one of all who has aided her. In a few words the situation is explained; Jane tells them of Walter's part in the plot against his father and the old man, realizing the enormity of the hardships the girl has had to bear, forgives her. As a further appreciation of the conditions she has related, Anderson, Sr., endows an institution for the investigation and alleviation of such cases as hers and places Jane at the head of it. Later she and Harry become engaged and take up their new work together.
- Thanya is a woman around whose presence there revolves an atmosphere of mystery. She is located in the Russian Capital, where she meets Vance Holden, an American artist. Although deeply in love with him, she is coquettish, and he, believing she is trifling with him, leaves her. Alexander Bagroff, Grand Duke of Russia, sees Thanya pass in her carriage and desires to know her. He arranges with a mutual friend to go to her apartment. He becomes infatuated with her but she dislikes him, not only because he is a man long past the prime of life, but for other and more important reasons. At midnight, after her guests depart, Thanya, in disguise, steals out to a small tavern where she meets Boris, her brother, leader of a club of social revolutionists. The gang is just about to choose a marked coin which will brand one as the man chosen to carry the next mission of death to a ruling power, in this case the most hated man in Russia, Bagroff. Boris draws the marked coin. Thanya falls in a swoon. In an agony of fear, she asks Boris to forsake his society. When he tells her it will be his pleasure to strike at the most hated man in Russia, the Grand Duke, Thanya is startled. Telling Boris of Bagroff's infatuation for her, she promises to assist him in his mission. Thanya is invited to attend a ball given by Bagroff. She notifies Boris to strike that night at twelve. Boris gains admittance into the grounds, but is discovered near the house. A shot is fired, the guests are terrified. Thanya surmises the cause, she controls herself. Boris, cornered, attempts to gain admittance into the house and lose himself among the guests. As he enters he is shot. Bagroff, believing someone among his guests has betrayed him, orders his soldiers to tie Boris to a pillar, strip him to the waist and lash him with the Russian pronged whip. As the blood streams down Boris' back, Thanya rushes to him, informing Bagroff that she is the traitor. They are both placed in a cell, where Bagroff offers Thanya her liberty if she will but become his mistress. He is rebuked, and both are sent with a train load of other prisoners to an exile in Siberia. During a storm, they escape and go to Paris. Vance, after leaving Russia, comes to Paris and here he and Thanya are brought together again, reconciled and married. Boris leaves for America. Vance encounters difficulties in selling his paintings. The following winter Bagroff comes to Paris. A Parisian doctor attending Vance, tells Thanya that he can bring her a client for Vance's pictures. He brings Bagroff, who tells Thanya that through the Prince Kenla he can make all the people of Paris patronize Vance, providing she pay the price herself. Desperate to obtain the welfare of her husband, Thanya resolves to give herself to Bagroff for a night. The Princess sits for Vance. He becomes popular as if overnight. The Princess, going to a week-end party to the country, implores Vance to accompany her. Thanya remains alone in the city and unbeknown to Vance, prepares herself for the terrible ordeal with the Grand Duke. The appointment is made. Bagroff dismisses his servants, Thanya comes, disrobes. As he looks upon his prey with the lustiness he has nourished for years, he is suddenly seized by Boris, who, upon returning from America, learns of Bagroff's presence there, and seeing his servants leave together, enters through a window in time to save Thanya. Pulling out his revolver, Boris makes short work of Bagroff, and immediately sets sail for America. The news of Bagroff's mysterious death causes the Princess to hurry back to Paris, and Vance returns with her. He finds Thanya in his den, prostrated. He raises her up, but, as she had promised Boris, she tells him nothing of her night's experience. Thanya and Vance open the window, and the sunlight pours into the room, an omen which prophesies a life of uninterrupted happiness for both of them in the future.
- Kraus' little jewelry shop on the east side of New York is typical of that locality thirty years ago, and while his competitors advance with the times, he stands still in the simplicity of his kindly old soul, and devotes more time to his domestic affairs than to his business. In the rear of his small shop are the few immaculate rooms presided over by Katie, his motherly old housekeeper for many years, who also fills the vacancy of mother for Marie, the daughter of Kraus. Kraus' most intimate friend and neighbor is Spiegel, a kindred soul, and the father of Fred. Both parents have planned for years the ultimate union of their children. Marie, however, has other ideas on the subject, and has given her heart to Frank MacPherson, a worthless young "sport" and the son of her father's keenest competitor. From time to time a pinochle game at the home of one or the other is arranged by the two old Germans, as a pretext to throw Marie and Fred in each other's company. Fred's attentions to Marie on these occasions mislead the old folks, who do not see that Fred's sincerity is not returned. Marie's eighteenth birthday arrives, and in honor of the event, Kraus closes up shop, and with Marie, Katie and the Spiegels, journeys to the Jersey shore for a picnic in the woods. Frank follows them, and in the midst of their gaiety calls Marie to him. She slips away unseen, and tells him of the predicament that her blind love for him has placed her in. Unsympathetic, he speaks of her delicate condition as his "rotten luck." His craven mind plans further deception, and she becomes the victim of a mock marriage. Before leaving with Frank she sends a boy back to the picnic with a note to her father, telling of her intention. Old Kraus' grief upon its receipt is pitiful, and the holiday's joy is turned to sorrow. No word comes from Marie and Kraus broods over his loss until poverty and want confront him. He is at last compelled to accept a position in the store of his former salesman and a home with the Spiegels. Meanwhile, Marie and Frank have traveled down a parallel scale until he leaves her with her baby and goes away. Without support she is eventually dispossessed from her squalid room, and going she knows not where, encounters Fred, her father's choice. He persuades her to come home with him, where his sister Alice makes her comfortable. The Spiegels now plan a reconciliation, and by shrewd means bring father and daughter back to each other's arms. MacPherson has turned against his son Frank, and is the means of bringing him to an accounting. With his grandchild in his arms, Kraus' anger melts, and the glances he detects between Fred and Marie make him believe that his fondest hopes may yet be realized.
- Dane Ashley, a successful young author, is informed that he has inherited an old estate in a small village, and being tired of his work and life in the city, he decides to go down and stay on the place for a brief rest. One day Dane is amazed to find a crowd of boys and girls pelting a young girl. He rescues the girl and would punish her tormentors, but she begs him to let the matter drop and hurriedly disappears through the door in the stone wall which separates his house from the one next to it. Much impressed with his young neighbor, Dane makes inquiries about her and learns that she is a Miss Virginia Carlton and that nothing is known concerning her except that she is crazy. Disbelieving the rumors as to Virginia's insanity, Dane uses clever little ruses to further his acquaintance, and the friendship so strangely begun, soon develops into love. Although Virginia cannot conceal her love for him, she tells him their friendship must cease, that there is a wall of shame and misery between them which prevents their ever being anything to each other. Dane thinks he has guessed her secret when he hears a baby at play on her side of the wall; he believes she has been the victim of an unwise and too-great love, but when he is with Virginia her purity and innocence totally contradict this theory. One night he is startled to see a face, which he is sure is Virginia, which is lit is lit up by a wild and impish gleam, peering in at his window. When he reaches the window he sees the girl fleeing over the high stone wall. A few nights later he meets her on the road. She gives no sign of recognition, but leads him on. Dane cannot understand; his heart sick at the thought that the pure-souled Virginia, whom he loves could act thus wantonly, but the next day, when he meets Virginia, she is again the sweet simple girl and he becomes convinced that it must be during moments of temporary insanity that she makes her nocturnal excursions. Nightly the girl is seen in the village, a beautiful evil spirit luring men from their firesides, to render them mad with strange passions and unfulfilled desires, for she always escapes from her victims. At last Virginia can restrain her feelings no longer and she tells Dane that she wants him to hear her story and to help her. Two years before, her twin sister, Helen, had fallen in love with a young naval surgeon. When their father had sternly forbidden her ever to see him again, the impulsive girl left home and went to the surgeon's hotel. There she lived with him as his wife for two weeks, until he was suddenly called away to foreign waters. Returning to her father's home, Helen was injured in an automobile wreck and her mind shattered. The father died of the shock, and Virginia, realizing her sister's condition, had rented the house in the country. Here Helen's child was born. Dane is overwhelmed with happiness to know that the girl he loves is neither insane nor the mother of the child he had supposed hers. He tells Virginia he will locate her sister and bring her back. He sends his friend, Dr. Robert Haskell, to Virginia to aid her. Virginia denounces Dr. Haskell for his treachery to her sister, and before he can reply, Dane brings in the unconscious Helen, whom he found wandering about the streets. Doctor Haskell works over the wounded girl, and while they await anxiously the result of his operation, he explains to Virginia that she is doing both her sister and herself grave injustice. He tells the astonished girl that he and Helen were married on the day she left her father's home, and that ever since his return from the foreign parts he had been searching vainly for his wife. Gradually life and memory return to Helen and she throws her arms about her husband's neck as Virginia and Dane look on.
- Sheila, daughter of a banker, refuses to marry Sam Harvey, a self-made man, because he is not of her set. At a reception Sheila is summoned home and finds her father dead. Sometime after his death Sheila, now sole heiress of her father's will, goes to a mystic and while gazing in the crystal globe learns that the banker was not her legitimate father, but that she was the daughter of a bandit and had been adopted by the banker. Sam, while looking over a diary left among the banker's papers, has known all along who Sheila was. After a very beautiful fire scene we foresee that all matters are going to run smoothly for the future of Sam and Sheila.
- While developing a powerful explosive, naval officer Paul Towne introduces his friend Richard Tracy to Judith Corbin, his friend since childhood. For years, Paul had assumed that he would marry Judith, but when Richard proposes, Judith, tired of waiting for Paul, accepts. Soon after the marriage, Richard becomes more interested in the new explosive than in his new wife, and to pay off gambling debts, he agrees to steal the formula and sell it to a foreign government. While spying at close range on a test of the explosive, however, Richard is killed, after which Judith, who has long since realized her mistake in becoming Richard's wife, accepts Paul's marriage proposal.
- George Castleman, an engineer, succeeds in securing the supervision of a big railroad in the west. He hurries home to tell the good news to Mildred, his wife. As usual she is at the Bridge Club, or other place of amusement, but being so full of his good luck he phones her to come home at once. However, she continues to play her game of bridge for another hour. An hour later she enters with excuses to George, who allows her kisses to make it all right. He eagerly tells her the news and she is delighted, but when he talks of her going with him, she says: "Surely you do not expect me to go with you?" He laughingly explains that it is not tor a few months, but for years; that it is a big railroad. But she persists in her refusal to go with him. He makes arrangements for the trip, and goes off alone to face the wilderness, with Mildred's words ringing in his ears, "When you want to see me, you can easily come home." George reaches the west and the building of the road begins in earnest, but it is slow work in the mountainous country. One day Dan Holden, while sitting in front of his hut in the mountains, with his little grandchild Zell, sees in the distance the railroad crew breaking through the forest. As they draw nearer and nearer, day by day, both are fascinated by the work, never before having seen cars, tracks or steam shovels. Zell is attracted to George and he somewhat to her. However, he explains to her that he is married but she persists in seeing him, if only to cheer him up. One day, while returning from watching the men at work, old Mr. Holden falls and seriously injures himself. George carries him to his hut but the injury is too much for the aged man to survive and he dies two days later. Lonesome, Zell shares her lonesomeness with that of the engineer. Months later, strange are the happenings in the little mountain hut and also in the beautiful home in the city. Zell is a real little mother, being called the little mother of the hills, and George is bending over, looking at their new born babe with true love and happiness. On the other hand, Mildred has met a man named Morgan, a flirtatious society man, who has designs upon her and urges her to bring divorce proceedings against her husband. Leaving the city to get evidence against George, Morgan and Mildred arrive at the little village, leaving in a coach for George's hut. The driver, a half-witted chap, driving carelessly around a curve, drove his wagon and occupants over the edge of a cliff, losing his life as well as killing both passengers. The news was a terrible shock to George, but after directing his men to give the three unfortunates as decent burial as the little mountain place could afford, he was at liberty to consider Zell's love for him in a different light with the result that after marrying the little mother of the hills, he continues his work content at last that his wife and babe are worthy of his sacrifice.
- Billy Rand, a wealthy young easterner in the west, wanders into a gambling hall and becomes entangled in the meshes of one "Bull" Dawson, owner of the place and a notorious bad man. Billy, however, proves a hard victim to handle, and a fight results, during which Pepita, Bull's girl, comes to Billy's aid and smuggles him safely out of the room. Bull and his gang pursue Billy, but a passing freight train proves his salvation. Bull returns to the dive and blames Pepita for betraying him. He casts her off, and orders her to leave him at once. Two years later, Bull has reaped a rich harvest and sells out his place. He leaves for the east with a forged letter of introduction to a prominent financier, in the hopes of interesting him in some mining schemes. The capitalist, Robert Dale, is the father of Dick Dale, Billy's classmate and chum, and of Helen Dale, Billy's sweetheart. Billy recognizes Bull when he calls on Dale, and warns Dick against him. Bull, in turn, plans to get Dick out of the way, not knowing there is anyone else in the city who knows his identity. Meanwhile Pepita, forced to earn her living, has obtained a position in the city and sees Bull shortly after he has called on Dale. She begs Bull to aid her, but he laughs at her and again casts her off. Bull returns to the Dale home that evening after the family has retired in the hopes of "getting" Dick. Billy, who has been calling, leaves the house just as Bull enters and hears the shot that Bull fires. Billy rushes back into the house in time to find Dick lying dead upon the floor, the telephone and bric-a-brac from the table lying beside him upon the floor. As he kneels over him. Dale, Sr., and Helen enter. Billy is placed in a compromising position and accused of the crime. He is placed under arrest. The next morning, Pepita buys an early edition of the paper and reads of the crime and Billy's arrest. The newspaper story clears the mystery of the night before to her. She hastens to the Dale home and convinces Dale and Helen that she can clear Billy and returns with them to the police court, where the case is to be brought to trial. There she tells her story. The picture fades back into the night before. Pepita, seated at her desk at the switchboard, hears a call; the phone has fallen from the library table at the Dale home. She listens but receives no answer for a moment, then she hears a voice accuse Bull Dawson of the crime. Her evidence exonerates Billy. Dale, in appreciation of Pepita's testimony, offers her a home with them.
- Bob Shaw and his wife, Kate, proprietors of a small general store in a mining town, are very much annoyed by the attentions to Kate of the "Hawk," a notorious town character. Bob ejects the Hawk from the store and earns his enmity as well as that of Steve, the Hawk's pal. However, he gains a friend in Old John, a good-natured prospector, nicknamed "The Hermit," whose only fault is an occasional spree. During a second encounter, between Bob and the Hawk wherein the Hawk comes out second best, he leaves vowing vengeance. That night Bob's store is burned to the ground. The next morning, Kate and Bob take refuge in a neighbor's house. The Hermit arrives at the camp saloon with word of his lucky strike and inquires for Bob. Learning where Bob is, he goes in search of him without giving information to anyone as to the location of the claim, explaining that he cannot act without Bob who is entitled to half-share in the find. Steve and the Hawk follow him to the cabin and see him give the diagram of the location to Bob. They withdraw and lay plans to get hold of the drawing. Meanwhile, Bob gives the diagram to Kate for safekeeping. Steve watches the cabin until the Hermit and Bob leave. The Hawk accosts Bob in the street and picks a quarrel with him. A fight ensues, and the Hawk's gun is discharged and he falls to the ground, apparently dead. Steve rushes back to the bar, tells the boys that Bob has shot and killed the Hawk while he was unarmed and gets them worked up to such a pitch that they go in search of Bob whom they capture and take away to lynch. The Hermit returns to tell Kate the news while Steve returns to the Hawk whom he takes to a safe hiding place, where he quickly "recovers." Steve then rejoins the lynching gang who have taken Bob to the woods, the Hawk following. Kate and the Hermit seek the sheriff, but he is away. Kate leaves the Hermit on guard and goes to find Bob. They are about to hang Bob when Steve suggests that they pardon him if he gives them the location of the claim. Bob denies having the diagram and is subjected to abuse and ill-treatment. On her way to the lynching scene, Kate is seen by the Hawk who tries to stop her. After a struggle, she breaks away and rushes to where Bob is. She offers the diagram which they accept and insist on taking both Bob and Kate with them to the claim. Meanwhile the sheriff has arrived and he and his deputies accompanied by the Hermit start for the mine. They meet Steve's gang with Bob and Kate captive on their way and a fight follows. The Hawk, trailing the bunch, watches the battle from the side of the road. Seeing Kate endeavoring to free Bob, he draws his gun and is about to fire, when Steve receives a mortal wound. Dropping his revolver as he falls, the gun is discharged as it strikes the ground and the Hawk receives the bullet. The sheriff's party soon rout the remainder of Steve's gang and Bob and Kate are freed. With Old John, the Hermit, they proceed to their claim.
- George Crews, struggling young architect, and Fred Stevens, a poor lawyer, have been friends since boyhood. Stevens and Grace Martin, an orphan, have been engaged for several years, but are unable to marry on account of their poverty. Grace has since ceased caring for Stevens and prefers George, but although he is deeply in love with the girl, George conceals his feelings out of friendship for Stevens. Stevens is unexpectedly left heir to $10,000 and rushes to tell his friends of his good fortune. Arriving at the Crews cottage, he finds Grace in Crew's arms. In a rage, he leaves them and on his return home, suffers a severe stroke. A doctor who is summoned gives him but a few days to live. Thereupon, Stevens conceives of a diabolic plot. In a final effort he dresses and writes a note which he places in the box where he has his money and buries it in a vacant lot. He suffers a second stroke on his return and George is sent for. He gives George a chart and tells him of the buried money, and soon after dies. On his return home, George meets Ryder, a wealthy builder, who gives him his first commission for work. George eagerly throws off his coat and enters into a discussion of the plans. His grandmother, who is knitting nearby, picks up the folded chart and uses it as a foundation to roll a ball of yarn over. Later, George searches in vain for the chart and finally gives up looking for the money. Work is commenced on the new building and a laborer, while digging, discovers the box. He opens it just as George and Ryder come over to superintend the work and an explosion occurs, wherein the laborer is killed, thus meeting the fate intended for George. A letter found among the fragments leaves Stevens' money to Grace, but it is not so necessary now, as Ryder has given George large orders and he is now in a position to marry Grace.
- As Nan Lorimer's mother lies dying, she makes Nan promise to take care of her younger sister Masie. Unfortunately, Masie falls for the shady Dr. Thornton and travels secretly around New York City to meet him. One night she is rescued during a subway accident by wealthy John Harwood, a miner, who falls in love with her and marries her. Although the two are deeply in love, John begins to neglect his wife for his mining business, and soon Masie begins to see Dr. Thornton again. Complications ensue.
- Ben Harding, mountaineer, moonshiner and head of the Harding faction, leads his men in a final battle against the Sterlings, a family feud having existed between the two clans for many years. Harding's daughter, Dot, sees Bob Sterling, now sole survivor of his clan, fall and drag himself into the bushes. She goes to him, bandages up his wounds and secretly brings him supplies until he finally is on the road to recovery. Jim Stone, a newly-appointed revenue officer, arrives for the purpose of raiding the moonshiners. To gain their confidence, he warns the mountaineers of the impending attack, arranges a fake raid, and thus gains their gratitude and is made one of them. He studies their secret hiding places and methods of work and incidentally falls in love with Harding's daughter, Dot. Bob finds a message in a stump of a tree near his retreat which Stone has placed there for his men. He reads it, and tells Dot about it, but she refuses to believe Stone guilty. Bob offers to take her to the tree and show her the note, but one of Stone's men has preceded them and when the two arrive the note is gone. Dot, thereupon, turns from Bob in scorn. She accepts Stone's attentions and Bob, following the two more or less through jealousy and suspicion, overhears them make an appointment to meet at the crossroads on the way to the village at ten o'clock. After Dot leaves, Bob shadows Stone to the place where his officers await him and overhears Stone give instructions to raid the moonshiner's cabin at nine-thirty. Bob hurries to the moonshiner's home and confronts Harding with what he has heard. At first Harding is tempted to shoot Sterling as a member of the despised clan, but his men prevail on him to wait. Stone calls and Bob is introduced to him as a visitor. At last the first shot of the revenue men is heard outside, and the next moment. Harding has fired another shot, killing Stone immediately. Together Bob and Harding fight off the revenue men, until by a desperate effort, they break through the door, get on their horses and gallop off into the darkness. At the crossroads Dot awaits Stone and only a few words to Dot are necessary to put matters straight. Bob swings her on to his saddle and over the ridge, silhouetted against the night sky, ride Harding, Dot and Bob to a new land.
- Alice, the daughter of Major Horning, who has come to the end of his resources, is loved by Arnold Grey, a Secret Service Agent. When the young man proposes to the girl, however, she mistakes his proposal for one of charity instead of love and so refuses him. Later the major loses the last of his money through gambling and he and Alice are forced to go to a tenement room and live. Grey loses all track of Alice, but later, through a painting that the girl has sold, he discovers and persuades her and her father to come and make their home with him.
- The story opens in an opium den in China showing a white girl and two men suffering from the effects of the soul destroying drug. The younger man suddenly rises from his hard bench. Turning to his companions he cries out, "I am through with this life: I am going back to America and decency. Come, go with me." But the other two pay no attention to his words and he leaves alone. After a hard struggle drowning a fierce desire for the drug by an over-indulgence in drink, he arrives in Cincinnati. He stumbles into a mission house and there comes to him the resolve to give up forever all drink. Unable to recall his name or anything about the past, he registers as John Smith. Realizing the havoc that "demon rum" makes of hearts and homes, John Smith devotes his life to the prohibition cause. He soon becomes a force in political affairs. Among those most interested in seeing the liquor interests win out is Senator Mallon of Ohio, who has been elected by the Whiskey Trust. Mallon's daughter, Edith, is attracted by John Smith, and she sympathizes with his fight for the right. He, in turn, is won over by her charm and he longs to declare his love, but always present with him is that doubt as to his past life, who he is and where he came from. The whiskey men finally decide to crush Smith socially. Mallon writes him a note stating that he and his daughter desire that all social relationship between them be discontinued. Smith only laughs at the note. Smith's companions in China drift to Washington. Through Simpson, the oppositions learn of Smith's life in the opium den and determine to make use of it. The woman declares that Smith is her husband and tells of incidents to prove her statement. Edith is overcome to see the man she loves claimed by this depraved creature and begs Smith to deny that this is his wife, but sadly shaking his head, he says although he doesn't remember the woman, she may be right. He may have married her in the days back of memory. The day of the great fight arrives. From all over the country comes a huge crowd summoned by Smith to plead for the prohibition cause. Through the streets of Washington they surge up the Capitol steps, into the very Senate chamber, this great army of derelicts by their very presence, an unanswerable argument against whiskey. The voters are swayed by the remarkable crowd and John Smith's fight is won. The woman, brought to a realization of the wrong she has done, rushes to Smith and confesses that she lied, that she is not his wife. She recalls to him conversation in which he told her of his mother and his early home life. Slowly Smith's memory returns, the past is recalled, and clasping Edith in his arms, he tells her that now that he can remember all; there is no longer any reason why they should remain apart.
- Aurora Fernandez, a poor Cuban girl, is persuaded against her will to become betrothed to Don Armada, a wealthy Cuban. She loves Pedro, a young fisherman, who lives with his uncle, Father Venture, and his sister Celida, who has been secretly stealing to Don Armada's villa, but is cast off by him on his engagement to Aurora. Longing for a sight of Pedro, disguised as a dancing girl, Aurora goes to an inn where Pedro comes with other fishermen for a nights revelry. He does not recognize her as his "Lady of the Lily" as he calls her, but falls a victim to the charms of the dancing girl. Celida, dying of a broken heart, confesses to Pedro and Father Venture, and Pedro, to avenge Celida, summons all the fishermen in the village and leads them against Armada in whose villa the wedding feast is being held. The guests fly in terror and Armada is wounded. Aurora alone remains undaunted, and Pedro, finding her, recognizes not only his love of the tavern, but Aurora, and that she is the wife of Armada. Notwithstanding her pleadings not to kill her husband, he is about to strike when he sees that Don Armada is blind. This awakens his pity and he leaves the house. Don Armada has an operation performed on his eyes which proves successful, but the physicians warn him that any shock may result in blindness for life. Aurora, in the meantime, has been carrying on clandestine meetings with Pedro and Armada, hoping to find out who Aurora's lover is, tells her that the operation has been a failure. He intercepts a note from Pedro and, locking Aurora in her room, stabs Pedro. He then returns to Aurora and she discovers he has tricked her. He tells her what he has done, but the shock kills him. Aurora escapes and finds Pedro still alive. She takes him home where she watches over him; and the crisis over, the lovers are reunited.
- Lionel Desmond marries against the wishes of his father and is disinherited. He sets up a law office, but makes little success. His father, feeling lonesome, sends for his young son, Donald, to come home from college. However, he is not much comfort to his father as he is inclined to wildness. Marion, Lionel's wife, plans to bring about a reconciliation. Lionel's father learns of Donald's infatuation for an actress and goes to Lionel to have him break it. Donald refuses to listen to Lionel and also refuses to reveal the woman's name. Lionel watches Donald, follows him and sees him at the theater. There Donald is joined by a woman heavily veiled. He phones to his father to join him and they both follow the couple. To Lionel's amazement the first machine goes to his own apartments. He and his father follow close behind. Lionel becomes suspicious. He is (when he finds that it is his wife with Donald) about to rush in and accuse her of unfaithfulness, when he is restrained by his father. Marion tells Donald of Lionel's grief caused by the parting with his father, and tries further to get him, Donald, to be good. He promises he will lead a better life. The father, realizing her true worth, forgives Lionel for his marriage.
- Actress Nina Seabury is only interested in her lovers' bank accounts, but in the case of Emory Townsend, she miscalculates and believes he's a bank president when he's just a cashier. Hoping to afford her tastes, he steals $12,000 in bank funds, but she still breaks up with him, and he falls in love with Mary Winslow. A few months later, however, a detective working on the bank-funds case find evidence implicating Emory. Aware that he is about to be arrested, a desperate Emory goes to Nina and begs her to give him $12,000, so he can return the money to the bank. Nina refuses, but then Mary, who is pregnant, arrives; after pulling a gun on Nina, she forces her to write a check for the whole amount, thereby saving Emory from jail.