The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.
Five men have to prove their innocence when a blackmailer is murdered.
A vicious crime lord decides that he has had enough and much to the shock of his colleagues decides to give the business to his second in command and retire to Florida after marrying his moll. Unfortunately, he has no idea that she and the man are lovers.
When Count Peter Turgeneff, his daughter, Nadia, and Paul, his generous-hearted son, came to live in the Governor's palace in the Russian province of Valogda, there was rejoicing among the oppressed race whose home was in the Ghetto.
A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.
Searching for headlines at any cost, an unscrupulous newspaper owner forces his editor to print a serial based on a past murder, tormenting a woman involved.
An ex-gang member tries to resist his old cohorts' criminal influence after he suddenly becomes a Hollywood movie star.
After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.
A cabbie and petty thief dreams of the big heist that will end his thieving ways.
Happiness Ahead is a persumed lost 1928 silent film drama directed by William A. Seiter and starring Colleen Moore and then husband and wife Edmund Lowe and Lilyan Tashman.
Detective Chick Carter (Lyle Talbot)finds himself on his most exciting case when Sherry Martin (Julie Gibson), a singer at the Century Club, reports the robbery of the famous Blue Diamond, owned by Joe Carney (Charles King), the owner of the nightclub.
Dora Perkins is a country girl who runs away to New York City. She gets work as a nurse and marries Dr. Howard Fleming, a famed brain surgeon. Supposedly she dies in a fire, and some time later Fleming takes a vacation in the country, where by some odd coincidence he winds up meeting Dolly, Dora's sister. Without realizing her relationship to Dora, he marries her. Soon Dolly is expecting, and not long after, Dora pops up -- she survived the fire, but has been left hopelessly insane.
Suave private detective Simon "The Saint" Templar arrives in San Francisco and meets Val, a woman whose police inspector father killed himself after being accused of corruption and dismissed from the force. Convinced of the man's innocence, Templar takes it upon himself to vindicate the memory of Val's father. To do so he must take on the city's most dangerous criminal gang, while also battling hostile members of the police department.
World War I veteran Tom Holmes is marked by the unbearable suffering caused by his battle wounds. Over the years, he comes to experience both the pain of misfortune and a love for other human beings.
When a woman discovers that her husband has been unfaithful, she decides to pay him back in kind.
Hoppy finds a wounded girl and later finds Judge Morton who claims the girl is his daughter and he is looking for her. But Hoppy soon learns the girl is looking for stolen gold she wants to return and the Judge in not her father but only wants the gold. Hoppy and the girl find the gold but the Judge and his men find Hoppy and the boys and trap them in a cabin.
"Buttsy" Gallagher is a harmless young product of the slums. In all his life he has never been of the slightest importance. His spirit is so submerged that he has almost forgotten how to get angry. One night the gaiety going on in Judge Winters' home attracts him, and he crouches on the fire-escape to watch it. He becomes interested in the Judge, in his pretty daughter Peggy, in her cousin Flo, in Flo's admirer, the Count, and in Bob Ewing, a struggling young lawyer.
Driven to desperation by his young and extravagant wife, alienist Dr. Emil Brandt has arranged a perfect crime; now he begs the police to lock him up before he can commit it.
A bootlegger on the run from the law hides out on a college campus. He disguises himself as a student and soon becomes the school's star athlete and the most popular man on campus.
An inveterate gambler is charged with killing a card sharp.
Wealthy Mr. Kennedy shoots his secretary, Channing, during a parlor game, but it turns out the gun was loaded with real bullets. Luckily, criminologist Phillip Montrose is on hand to help the police. When Kennedy quickly ends up dead as well, the police think it's a tidy murder-suicide, but the family lawyer knows of a letter that voiced Kennedy's suspicions about someone who was out to get him. Soon, the cops are on the trail of a ruthless and clever killer who is one step ahead of even Montrose.
Mr. and Mrs. Warner Bros. Pictures and their precocious offspring, Little Miss Vitaphone, host a dinner in honor of Warner Bros. Silver Jubilee, attended by most of the major players and song writers under contract to WB at that time.
Jimmy, a young boy, idolizes famed train engineer Casey Jones and is devastated when his hero is killed in a train wreck. The boy grows up to be a railroad engineer, too, but one day the train he is piloting loses its brakes and wrecks. Jimmy tries to fix it but has to jump off at the last minute. Unfortunately, stories begin to circulate that he turned coward and jumped off the train first, letting it be destroyed rather than try to save it. He sets out to clear his name.
A tough District Attorney goes after a murderous crime gang, only to find that his witnesses, an innocent family, have clammed up in fear of reprisals.
Eve Leslie and Adam Moore become interested in the stock market. Eve decides to try to add to her fortunes by plunging. Tempted by the sin of greed, Eve becomes reckless. At first she wins, then she begins to lose, and desperately tries to recover her losses.
After committing a murder, Kay assumes a new identity and boards a ship. But, Kay is unaware that Sam, a skirt chasing detective, is following her and must outwit him to escape imprisonment.
Eddie is conned into fronting a speakeasy for a local gangster who intends to frame him for the murder of a cop.
Mrs. Balfame is a 1917 Mystery Drama
Kathleen O'Connor, fresh off the boat from Ireland, must decide between the two men who love her - a poor plumber and a wealthy politician.
Underworld king Lee Lother has been killed aboard a ocean liner, several people could have been the murderer. There is his mistress Anya Roysen, a married woman, who was jealous of his flirtations with his old moll, night club singer Sally Marsh, who had agreed for one last night with Lother, to get her younger brother Ned out of the Lother's clutches because he has faked Lother's name on a check to pay his gambling debts. Then there is Sally's new flame Jimmy Brett, a con man and gentlemen thief, who has out-tricked Lother in a fixed poker game, and is, together with shorty, after the ladies jewels. Inspector McKinney suspects Joe Saunders, a recently released convict, who was arrested due to some tips by Lother, but Ned and Sally insist that they committed the crime alone.
Part of a gold shipment has been stolen and the Sergeant suspects Louis LeBey. When Louis is attracted to newly arrived Nedra Ruskin, Woolie-Woolie becomes jealous and tells the Sergeant where Louis hid the gold. First Louis rescues the Sergeant whose dog team crashes chasing him and then he saves Nedra from an avalanche. When he returns the injured Nedra to the settlement, the Sergeant takes him prisoner.
The wife of a businessman and his secretary attempt to trick her husband's double into impersonating him so they can get their hands on what remains of his wealth.
Eddie Burke is a wise-guy pugilist whose talent is unevenly matched by his ego. Despite his character flaws, Eddie knows the meaning of loyalty. When his manager Doc Williams is offered the opportunity to stage a match at Madison Square Garden, but only if he gets rid of his stable of fighters, Eddie fabricates an alibi and stages a walkout on Doc.
A notorious Mexican bandit goes all soft and mushy when he falls for a beautiful senorita. Warner Bros.' Captain Thunder contains some of the darndest Mexican accents you've ever heard in your life. The star is Hungarian-born Victor Varconi, portraying a legendary south of the border outlaw who tries to force Canadian senorita Fay Wray to marry a rival rustler whom she despises. She pleads with the bandito so pathetically that he is moved to grant her a single wish. Without hesitation she chooses her poor but true love. The bandit king, being a somewhat honorable fellow grants the wish and without a twitch, guns down the wicked cattle thief. Fortunately the film was played for comedy, a wise decision since it probably would have garnered laughs as a straight drama anyway.
European peasants Albert & Louise are separated by war with Albert only able to return once during the conflict. While he is away the enemy’s captain seizes their home as his headquarters and forces himself on Louise. When the war ends shortly afterwards Albert is overjoyed at the news of a birth of a son but begins to question when he finds that Louise has rejected the child. Forcing a confession from her about her molestation he reacts with vengeance towards the child but Louise realizing the boy is blameless acts to protect him and the three form a family.
Doris Parker, the daughter of an American Marine Officer, becomes Harry Townsend's pen pal. Harry is a young American soldier with no family who has gone to fight in France. As they exchange letters, Doris falls for Harry, despite advances made by Jack Tims, a captain of the Royal Navy training with the American Marines. On the front in France, Harry's face is wounded. Overwhelmed by the news, Doris asks Jack Tims to take Harry onboard a ship he is taking to France. During the voyage, Jack foils an attack from an enemy submarine but is wounded in the battle and dies.
Although young and beautiful, schoolteacher Anne Gladden fears a dull future. She finally decides to take a walk on the wild side, splurging on some fashionable new clothes and setting off to find adventure. Her new confidence inspires her to flirt with complete strangers. When a gangster pays unwanted attention to her, she ditches him and flees in his car, unaware that there's a corpse in the trunk. Determined to recover his stolen vehicle and its incriminating cargo the thug begins a desperate search. The oblivious Anne, comes to the aid of a handsome young man stranded alongside the road. Romance blooms, but after the shocking discovery of a body in the trunk, the duo decide they have to return the car. The bickering lovebirds head back to the city, trailed by both the angry gangster and the cops, who suspect the young couple of murder.
Ruth Hamilton, from a wealthy aristocratic family, cares little for society or its conventions and refuses the proposal of William Barton, a socialite of her parents' choice. While giving some poor children an outing on a beach, Ruth meets John Martin (Miles?), a young nouveau riche with no social standing who is snubbed by the aristocratic circles, and begins to visit him secretly. When Ruth visits John to show off a new costume, her father arrives to seek his financial aid. Ruth escapes, but she is observed by Barton, who informs her father. Hamilton insists that Martin marry his daughter, but Ruth refuses to be compromised by her father. Later, however, she consents to marry John, discovering that he really loves her.
Shot on location in Paris, Monte Carlo and the Riviera with both American and French actors. When Matthew Versigny discovers that the jewels his diamond company has been buying are fake, he travels to Europe to track down the counterfeiter. With him are his sister, Marguerite and her sweetheart, Paul Bernac, who is an agent in the French Secret Service.
A couple struggle to find happiness after a whirlwind courtship.
A criminal known as Thunderbolt is imprisoned and facing execution. Into the next cell is placed Bob Moran, an innocent man who has been framed and who is in love with Thunderbolt's girl, without knowing of their relationship. Thunderbolt hopes to stave off the execution long enough to kill young Moran for romancing his girl.
This MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short features a big city crime boss's attempt to use his crime "machine" to fraudulently win reelection for the current corrupt mayor. By using several illegal tactics, and aided by voter apathy, the crime boss nearly continues his control of the city.
A young woman and her doctor husband are victims of a blackmail scheme when it is discovered that she was born in prison.
Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a 1940 biographical film which tells the story of the life of Abraham Lincoln from his departure from Kentucky until his election as President of the United States.
A businesslike syndicate runs all the gambling joints in town; least profitable is honest Mike Lee's. Under pressure to allow cheating, Mike "walks out," leaving tough-minded daughter Lady Lee to earn a living the only way she knows. She soon becomes a success gambling among the rich, but, falling out with the syndicate, she considers the marriage proposal of blueblood Garry Madison. Can such a match work despite snobbery and old associations?
Theda Bara plays Princess Zara, who lives on a South Sea Island. A handsome young missionary (William B. Davidson) arrives and there is a romance, which is hindered by various complications including a typhoon.
A young girl falls in love with a member of a gang of crooks. She determines to bring the rest of the gang to justice so she can save the man she loves.
In the American oilfields, a fugitive from justice's destiny is intertwined with the fortunes and the misfortunes of a small oil company that hires him as a roughneck.
Dying Joan Ames meets criminal Dan Hardesty on a luxury liner as he is being transported back to America by policeman Steve Burke to face execution. Joan and Dan fall in love, their fates unbeknownst to one another.
After intrepid working girl Mary Carter becomes the new owner of a reputedly haunted mansion located off the Cuban coast, a stranger phones warning her to stay away from the castle. Undaunted, Mary sets sail for Cuba with a stowaway in her trunk—wise-cracking Larry Lawrence, a radio announcer who helps Mary get to the bottom of the voodoo magic, zombies and ghosts that supposedly curse the spooky estate.
Bobby Jones teaches a group of truant businessman how to improve their chip shots.
Gregory is a phony government agent issuing worthless checks. To keep from being exposed he has his men dress as Indians and attack anything bringing mail. This leads to an Indian war. White Eagle, a pony express rider, exchanges his buckskins for his native Indian garb, and sets out to end the war.
A young Iowa woman inherits her late estranged father's New York business, but the dead man's crooked associates think they can outwit the naive heir and seize control.
When a gangster's speakeasy is raided by the police, one of the people picked up is the gangster's pretty young girlfriend. A kind-hearted cop takes pity on her and helps her get out of that life. While waitressing to earn money for college, she meets a wealthy and handsome young man and they fall in love--but he doesn't know about her somewhat shady past and her relationship with the gangster.
When a middle aged woman accepts a job at a day care center she comes across the child she gave up early in life.
Edward Campbell, known as Checkers, is a racetrack tout. Determined to reform himself, he foreswears gambling, but must take it up once more in order to save someone he loves from disaster.
In World War I China, Princess Tsu, who leads a secret group dedicated to eradicating German influence in China, learns that the Chinese viceroy, in order to further his own ambitions, has organized an army to help Germany win Russia. She steals their written agreement and smuggles it to American agent Robert Kenyon, with whom she has fallen in love. The princess' jealous fiancé, Prince Kang, tells her that Robert is betrothed to an American girl and, bent on revenge, she informs German agent Von Richtman that Robert possesses the secret papers. In Washington, Von Richtman sends his henchmen to apprehend Robert before he can reach the Secretary of State, but Princess Tsu, whose love of country has triumphed over her personal concerns, foils the plot. Aware of her great love for Prince Kang, she returns to China and marries him.
This short traces the history of sound in the movies, beginning with French scientist Leon Scott's experiments in 1857. Featured are snippets from early sound pictures.
Lee is a fresh young kid from the South when he gets a job with The Press. His first assignment on gangsters gets his name in the paper, the police on a raid and Lee in the hospital.
Michael Lanyard, a reformed cracks-man, adopts Adrienne, the daughter of an old friend, and goes to Southampton to attend a party celebrating her engagement to Bobby Crenshaw, the son of a wealthy society couple. The Count and Countess Polinac, international jewel thieves, also attend the party, and Count Polinac forces Lanyard to open the safe containing the jewelry of the guests by threatening to expose Lanyard's criminal past. Lanyard forestalls the count, however, and protects the valuables. The count and countess are arrested, and Michael's secret is kept safe.
Countess Margherita is a Sicilian girl who is about to be married, but Caesar Maruffi, the head of a criminal syndicate, wants her for himself. He arranges to have the bridegroom assassinated, and Norvin Blake, a young American (Robert Elliott), almost loses his life in his attempt to save him.
A gangster is unable to go straight after returning home from prison.
Esther Clay, wife of District Attorney John Clay and mother of attorney Bob Clay, is having an affair with Jack Keene. Scorned by him Esther kills Jack. Bob comes to her defense and confesses to the shooting. The father prosecutes the son who receives a life imprisonment sentence. Jack Keene's butler Druggett knows the truth and blackmails Esther. Bob's girlfriend Peg Harper summons John Clay to the scene...
Miss Petticoats stops a runaway horse, saves a wealthy woman from death, is rewarded with position as a private secretary. Society shuns her. She goes abroad; then see how she becomes the acknowledged daughter of a French Count and falls heir to a title.
A bank robber and his boy make a run for it during winter in a bus full of children.
Joan, an earnest little orphan who lives in an asylum near the World War I training camp at Plattsburg, reads the story of "Joan of Arc" and soon imagines that she is the reincarnation of the peasant-soldier. As she sits in the cellar reading, she hears voices plotting against the government. She thinks the voices are from another world but they actually belong to a group of German spies. The agents plan to acquire the important invention of a young man named Ingleton, who is staying at the camp under the guardianship of Captain Lane. Joan relates this information to the captain, with whom she is in love, but he at first refuses to believe her. Later, however, he learns that the plot is real, and with Joan's help, he captures the spies.
A cub reporter rashly makes a promise to solve a murder mystery within 24 hours, then must make good on his boast.
Katy Devoux runs a gambling-drinking joint in British Columbia. She is a fair-playing business woman, but is ashamed of the source of her income, so she has had her daughter Nona raised in the states. Jeff Bowman, an unprincipled scoundrel and business rival, arranges for her daughter to come to town in hope of bringing shame to the mother. He overplays his hand and is killed by Tim Reed, a faithful retainer of Katy's and in love with Nona. The plea is self defense.
A reception in their small village in celebration of the Count’s daughter Ann’s engagement to Baron Moreno is disrupted by the news that a mine in which the whole village has invested is worthless. Having persuaded the townspeople to invest their savings in the venture, the Count commits suicide, and the baron jilts the now-destitute Ann. Bereft Ann marries American promoter Slater, moving to the United States in hopes of earning enough to pay off her father's debts and the couple have a child. However, the baron follows Ann, raping her. Slater's jealous mother uses this opportunity to break up their marriage. Ordered from the house Ann has no option but to turn to the baron for sanctuary. Slater attempting a reconciliation for their child’s sake tracks her to the baron house where a fight occurs with both men being mortally wounded. Ann returns to her child; finds her mother-in-law repentant, and the three return to France to repay the debt.
Society girl Sybil Lawton is left penniless by her father's death, and though her mother wishes her to marry into wealth, her sole ambition is to achieve fame in the theater. Her youthful charm and talent interest producer Stewart Thrall, who finds her a position with an Omaha stock company. Under Sybil's encouragement, fellow actor Jim Roberts, disillusioned by an unhappy marriage, improves and becomes her self-appointed guardian. Sybil returns to New York and begins rehearsals for "Romeo and Juliet" with Thrall as her costar and Roberts as stage manager. Meanwhile, Thrall's unhappy wife obtains a divorce, and Roberts, recognizing her as the woman who ruined his life, blames Thrall and shoots him at a performance as he bends over "Juliet" on her bier. Thrall recovers, however, declares his love for Sybil, and looks forward to happiness with her.
A brother and sister living in the Canadian Northwest pose as husband and wife. They are suspects in the murder of a barracks inspector who was responsible for the deaths of their parents. The brother confesses to the crime to protect his sister, who he thinks actually did it--but she didn't. Complications ensue.
A reporter sets out to provide how unreliable circumstantial evidence is by faking a murder and then taking the rap for it. However, the "fake" murder victim turns out to be really dead
Dramatic adventure of the wildcat oil industry set amongst the derricks.
Pearl White is a child living alone on a South Seas island after the death of her missionary father. By a stroke of luck, she becomes an heiress, and is transplanted into modern society.
En route to the U.S., Joe Hoggart persuades several other immigrants to pool their money and purchase a tract of land, which proves to be rich in oil years later. With the assistance of his associate, Bill Shopps, Joe seeks to control the other investors' certificates. He travels to Spain, where he discovers that a partner named Garros has died. Joe kidnaps Garros' daughter, Rolande, and claims that she has also died. After Didier Bouchard, another member of the group, gathers the partners and their heirs together, Joe lures them into a building where, ostensibly, a sale of the land is to take place. Joe imprisons them, but they escape in time to attend the sale. An investor named Milo d'Espail learns that Rolande is still alive and rescues her from Joe. Bouchard marries Thérèse, another of Garros's daughters.
The townspeople of Purity despise Martin Bradley because of his heavy drinking, but he still does his best to make life better for the town. He helps to support two women who have been socially ostracized by the townspeople, and during the election campaign for mayor, exposes the corruption and dirty tricks of candidate James Durkel, resulting in the election of his opponent Chester Thorndyke. However, the voters of Purity insist that Thorndyake disavow his ties to Bradley, whom they regard as disreputable.
Alita, a child who has been left in the care of Mr. and Mrs. Putnam in a desolate swamp country, reaches the age when she is to be prepared for the world, and the Putnams send word to Judge Gates, her guardian, to come for her. Her life has been spent in the swamps with a half-witted boy, "Weird Willie," and many animals and birds of that country, as her only playmates. Judge Gates receives the letter at his bachelor apartment, which he shares with a younger friend and companion, Bob Stange. Through the accidental dropping of a marriage license the Judge discovers that Bob is about to become a benedict, despite the fact that they had a compact never to marry, on the theory that all women are deceitful.