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...
Mimi, an orphan, is taken in by a drunken innkeeper and becomes a domestic. She meets Rudolphe, scion of a well-to-do 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,...
The hypnotic Svengali controls the singing voice of a young starlet, but he cannot control her heart. This 1915 Maurice Tourneur film is a version of the famous du Maurier novel. It was later done in a more famous 1931 film named Svengali with John Barrymore. The later film obviously changed the...
Doris Matthews, a beautiful, innocent young girl, forsakes her sweetheart, Joel Barlowe, in favor of Victor Brant, a wealthy roué. On the night before they are to elope, an old sailor gives Brant a strange potion to drink and then unfolds before his eyes "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Deeply...
Jones is a traveling salesman -- or drummer, as they were known in those days -- who peddles Bibles and playing cards at a discount. Along with Professor Goodly, he goes to a prize fight which is raided by the police. The two men wind up at a boarding school for young ladies where Jones is mistaken...
In the Blue Ridge Mountains Postmaster's daughter Sally Haston loves Steve Carey, but wants him to enlist and fight the Germans during the Great War. Steve is unhappy at the training camp Steve argues with his roughneck tentmate Billy Murphy. When Steve deserts to visit Sally she takes him back to...
Giles Bateson gets expelled from college for misconduct. His angry father, the Earl, sends him a message: "Never let me see you again until you have earned a half crown and proven yourself worthy of confidence."
Ruined by Charles Wainwright, George Garrison commits suicide but begs his son Henry to avenge him before expiring. Henry goes West makes a fortune, then returns to New York. Assuming the name of Henry Thompson he becomes Wainwright's protégé and through his machinations is elected mayor of New...
A series of stories reflecting the changing position of women in the world, including the familiar tales of Adam and Eve, Messalina and Claudius, Abelard and Heloise, Cyrene and the Fisherman, as well as that of a young girl and an officer in the American Civil War.
Three men in succession propose marriage to Grace Darling; she accepts all! Since they are roommates, the three discover their problem in short order; when they return for an explanation, they're in for a surprise.
Though Mr. and Mrs. Gray are supposed to be in comfortable circumstances, the husband has met business reverses and has been declared a bankrupt. It is after the wife has just completed a lavish social that he tells her. Disgruntled, she goes with him to live at a cheap apartment house. Pearl...
Novice businessman Curtis Jadwin is introduced to the world of grain speculation by veteran broker Charles Cressler. At a performance of Faust, Curtis meets and falls in love with Laura Dearborn, the sweetheart of artist Sheldon Corthell. Curtis pursues Laura and finally convinces her to marry him,...
Pearl's father disapproves of her sweetheart, Chester, and tries to use a mind-over-matter technique to keep him away. However, Pearl discovers the secret behind Chester's strange behavior and, with her own willpower, turns the tables, ultimately leading to a change of heart.
A poor but brilliant inventor sets out to make his fortune by discovering buried treasure, with the aid of a special inverted periscope through which he can view the ocean floor.