Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.
Thwarted by his despotic uncle from continuing his love affair, a young man's thoughts turn dark as he dwells on ways to deal with his uncle. Becoming convinced that murder is merely a natural part of life, he kills his uncle and hides the body. However, the man's conscience awakens; paranoia sets in and nightmarish visions begin to haunt him.
A parody of D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation", "I Am Not a Racist" rearranges the scenes of the classic movie and recreates its dialogues to criticize the racism in it and also in the world today. Freemenville is a little city somewhere in the USA. A city ashamed because of its past of slavery, but proud of being the first in the country to end it. There is an annual ball to celebrate this fact. And this year's ball may be the biggest ever, because of the possible presence of a big celebrity, who is coming to town to see the premiere of a play. However, the play happens to be D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation", a racist work that starts a series of events exposing the racism that still exists in the city, culminating in the recreation of the KKK.
Her strict upbringing is driving Genevra French (Dorothy Phillips) crazy, so when she gets her hand on a book called "How to Attract the Opposite Sex," she takes its advice to heart. She uses her newly found wiles on Lawrence Tabor (William Stowell) and gets him to marry her. Only after the wedding does she tell him she married him just to get away from her family, and that she intends to do exactly as she pleases.
Hoping to impress a pretty girl he's after, a playboy poses as a newspaperman and goes after a big story.
A dramatic comparison between the mating habits of animals and the way humans choose their own partners. The film is now considered to be a lost film.
Jones played Tom McKenna, a disgraced Royal Canadian Mountie who turns highway robber to pay off his gambling debt. He joins a gang of outlaws led by Morgan (Niles Welch) and to prove his loyalty is assigned to rob a safe belonging to the father (Ralph Lewis) of his former girlfriend, Shirley (Greta Grandstedt).
Stratton's café is a popular place with the people of Cottonia, a wealthy cotton town on the banks of the Mississippi, installs flood-proof doors as a safeguard against an overflow of the river; when a flood comes, it appears that the entire town will be submerged. Trapped in Stratton's cafe, amongst others, are Billy Bear, a young broker, and Poppy, a chorus girl with whom he has been in love.
Playboy Teddy Ward wants to marry Jeannie King, an artist, but his father wants him to marry Loris Lane, but tells Teddy he can marry whom he pleases if he will make the Mountain Inn a profitable operation. Teddy agrees, and with the support of his friends arranges an ice-boat race with a $10,000 prize to the winner. A problem arises when his father refuses to pay such an amount. Teddy thinks one of his friends will win the race and refuse the prize, but champion racer "Duke" Slade shows up and Teddy knows he will take the money. Some movie stars show up and, while using their own names, are definitely not playing "Self" in this fictional film.
After suffering a fall during a race, rider Jimmy Burke loses his nerve. But with the help of his girlfriend Molly Gibson, Jimmy regains his confidence just in time to achieve victory during the Big Race.
Robert Castleback is in possession of secret papers which could bring a certain prince to power under conditions which would make Castleback a ruling force in Europe. Master crook Arsene Lupin becomes aware of Castleback's bid for power and, in the interests of France, begins a search for the plans.
An evil scientist invents a earthquake machine and plots to take over the world from his base in Africa.
Blanche Henry, a vivacious young woman, finds what she believes is true love with a handsome young man, but then learns that he has designs on her younger sister.
World War I veteran Jack Dunbar who, like a lot of veterans then and now, is finding it hard to land a job. When he fixes the broken down auto of the newly rich Nicholas Small, he finally runs into some luck. The blustery Small explains that the way to get ahead is to blow your own horn, and then he takes Dunbar to an estate, where he is introduced as a millionaire.
A young woman, confronted by four options for proceeding in her life, is granted the ability to see what results would come from her choice of of the options. After she sees her future along three of the roads, she makes her choice.
John Craig is a struggling young contractor who falls into a crooked business scheme. A trio of unsavory partners on the verge of dissolving their company have hired him for a job, assuming that he will fail.
The will of old Dr. Andrews left the bulk of his property to his niece, Mary, who was an orphan living in a distant mining town. The small balance of his wealth went to a married nephew, John, who had been practicing medicine with him and was now made the executor of his estate, but who felt that he should have been made the sole heir.
Grinde is a junior partner of a pottery firm. An old chemist, Benjamin Lord, discovers a formula for glazing pottery that is designed to revolutionize the industry. The chemist's grandson, David, takes a sample of the new process to Grinde, who says he will give it consideration. He delegates his foreman, Mole, to steal the formula.
A poor widow dies, leaving her two young children, Bob and Mabel, in the care of a poor neighbor, who later is forced by circumstances to give them to an asylum. Twenty years pass and Jack, who has been adopted by a good family, has now gone into business for himself and is a rising young broker. He has been searching the detective agencies for his sister, without success, for some years. Mabel ran away from the asylum and has been brought up by a poor family, is without education and is now employed as a servant, and on a certain day is hanging clothes on a roof nearby a large office building, in which Bob has his office, and a small boy is flying his kite from the same rooftop.
Helen and Joe are in love. He receives a letter from his uncle offering him a good position in his law office. He shows Helen the letter and she shows him one from the Standard, also a check for a short story. They have a quarrel over a slight thing and he leaves for his uncle's place. Six years go by and Helen is now a very successful writer on a large daily.
When World War I comes to an end, three pilots find themselves on hard times. They wind up in Hollywood, where they work as stunt fliers for a sadistic director.
Shakespeare's tragedy of the Scots nobleman whose ambition leads him to betrayal, murder, and damnation.
Gretchen Van Houck is just arriving in the USA, on a ship from Holland. She joins her father, who has already spent several years in America, where he owns an engraving business. In the tenement community where the Van Houcks live, there are residents of many nationalities. Gretchen soon becomes close friends with Pietro, a popular resident, and she also takes an interest in the widow Garrity and her children. Another resident, Rogers, is more mysterious. One day Rogers tells Mr. Van Houck that he could help him get a job printing money for the government. Van Houck eagerly agrees to try, but when he finds out what Rogers is really doing, he is placed in a painful dilemma.
A spoiled young rich girl is forced by misfortune to fight for survival in the slums and alleys, where she becomes involved with all manner of unpleasantness.
Silent Madden and his daughter Molly have left the criminal underworld of San Francisco thanks to the wise teachings of Chang Low, a Confucian master. But the evil Black Mike Sylva is determined to frame Madden to avenge a mistake from the past…
The constant battling over the same woman gets two detectives demoted to what's considered the toughest job in the Police Department--the Riot Squad.
A phony spiritualist hypnotizes the daughter of a wealthy banker in a scheme to swindle the banker out of his money. A reporter investigating the swami discovers the plot, determines to expose it.
Grant hides stolen money in the luggage of Bonnie Shea who is moving west. Later when he and his men arrive to retrieve the money, they also kidnap Bonnie. This sends Reasonin' Bates and his cowhands on their horses after the gangsters in their cars.
The tactics of a vicious slumlord and greedy businessman finally drive a distraught man to commit suicide. The businessman is tried for murder and executed, and is afterward taken by demons to the Hell where he will spend the rest of eternity. .
Good-natured troublemaker "Cyclone" Tom Saunders is hired by a ranchers' association manager to investigate recent cattle rustling at one of their ranches and to see if a pair of nesters have anything to do with it. After discovering the nesters, pretty Betty Powell and her rickety old father, are incapable of rustling, Tom instead turns his attention to the huge, swaggering bully of a foreman, Nate Lenox.
Dr. Socrates gave up his brilliant career as surgeon in a prominent hospital because his betrothed died under his knife. He is now a struggling doctor in a small town that has a gangster's hideout.
Joe Ryan, a veteran train engineer, is demoted to a flagman position after a disastrous crash-- one caused by his cowardly and opportunistic partner. Though Ryan's failing eyesight is named as the cause of the crash, he's undeterred as he designs an automatic braking invention.
A twenty-year veteran of the printing room of The San Francisco Chronicle is passed up for a promotion at the same time his son is accused of graft and involved in scandal. The historical landmarks of old San Francisco are present: The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Building, City Hall and the Pickwick Hotel-- but they don't distract from the dramatic and emotional perforamces at the film's center.
The Old Man is a 1914 film short
English sleuths Grace Burton and Stephen Pryde are in love, but when Stephen inherits wealth and a title, he does not tell Grace, fearing that she will stop loving him. Grace provides support for her sister Stella Ford, whose husband is frequently away on business trips, so Stephen, hoping to alleviate Grace's financial burden, pays all of Stella's debts and provides her with an allowance. When Grace learns of the arrangement, she is hurt that he did not confide in her. Stella lives in a building occupied by a wild crowd. In the flat above her lives Netta, who has numerous boyfriends, including Jerome, an older man, and Bartlett, a young fop. One evening, the rivals mistakenly enter Stella's apartment and in an ensuing fight, Jerome kills Bartlett.
Francelia Billington and Dorothy Gish battle outlaw Ralph Lewis out on the range with assistance from ranch foreman Donald Crisp.
In a primitive log cabin buried among the rugged pines deep in the California mountains lives the Mountain Girl with her grandfather, a man of hoary age.
Hattie, a moonshiner's daughter, plays with her weird dog, Fanny, and rules her father with a rod of iron. To their mountain cabin comes Neighbor Dawson, another moonshiner, and arranges with Hattie's father to marry her. This does not agree with Hattie's ideas at all.
A bandit reforms himself and gives up his baby into better hands. Years later, he attempts to reunite with his daughter without revealing who he is.
Biff Dugan, the eldest son of a poor family living in a tenement on the squalid East Side of New York, leads a gang of hoodlums, among whose members is his brother Porky. Their sister Jess is a consumptive whose health was ruined in a sweatshop. During a melee in a mission run by reformer Henry Davis, the Dugan gang encounters Billy Drew and his sister Cora, newcomers to the city. Porky saves Cora from the unwelcome attentions of Biff's rival, Spike Golden, and the two fall in love. Later, when Spike is killed in a gang war, Biff is wrongfully convicted of the murder and executed in the electric chair. Porky, who served a short term in prison for his part in the crime, comes back to the city to find that Jess has died and Cora has returned to the country.
A man and his wife both have criminal pasts, but have quit crime and are now respectable citizens. One day a member of their old gang shows up and threatens to expose them if they don't help him pull a heist.
Short, silent movie about a female journalist who does a sensational article for the newspaper investigation opium smuggling.
Easterner Alva Leigh arrives in the mining town of Magnet just after her fiancé, Donald Jaffray, has been murdered. Because Alva has sworn vengeance, "Sudden" Duncan, the real murderer, accuses Donald's partner, Dick Randall, of the crime. Knowing that Dick is planning a journey across the desert, Duncan fills his canteen with poison, but Alva, who also is determined to kill Dick, drills a hole in the canteen so that the water will drain out. After Dick's departure, Alva learns from "Tiger Lil'," who is jealous of Duncan's attention to the Eastern newcomer, that it was Duncan who killed Donald. Frantic, Alva immediately mounts a horse and rides into the desert to save the man she now recognizes as her true love. Tiger Lil' shoots Duncan in a dance hall quarrel, and Alva marries Dick.
A French orphan girl is adopted into the home of wealthy Americans. There she becomes romantically involved with a farm worker and at the same time entangled in the deteriorating marriage of the American couple who rescued her.
A ranch hand sets out to prove his father is innocent of murder in this B-movie Western starring cowboy hero Tom Tyler. Disguised as an outlaw, Tom Lansing (Tyler) takes up with a motley crew hiding out in a ghost town to catch the true killer. This 1934 classic co-stars Frank Rice as Lansing's sidekick, Banty, and Roberta Gale as Bess, a beautiful young captive of the outlaw gang who is in desperate need of a hero.
Because Dan McDowell is unable to operate the new mechanized fire equipment, he is retired with a small pension; his son, Johnny, quits school to work in the fire department; and his old horse, Bullet, is sold to a dirt-hauler. Dan is charged with stealing Bullet and is jailed, but he is cleared in time to give valuable aid in a fire that traps Johnny's sweetheart, June Rutherford.
Diamond thieves have infiltrated the staff of O'Day Jewelry. The Los Angeles Police Dept. employs their newest weapon, an airplane, to help smash the diamond theft ring.
The Utah Kid was a late entry in Monogram's "Trail Blazers" series. These low-budget westerns usually featured three cowboy stars; this time, however, there are only two, Bob Steele and Hoot Gibson. Though neither star is a spring chicken, Steele is the younger of the two, so he's the "Utah Kid" by default. The plot, involving a gang of crooks who go around fixing rodeo results, was designed to accommodate yards and yards of stock footage.
In the future (1921), an alliance of several foreign countries plot to attack the US. American officials, coming to the realisation that the country is basically defenceless, offer $1,000,000 to anyone who can come up with a weapon to defeat the invaders. Winthrop Clavering, a writer and inventor, hears of the reward and tells his friend Bartholomew Thompson, a scientist and inventor who has been working on developing flying torpedo. However, enemy agents have also heard about Thompson's project, and set out to kill him and steal his plans. This film is now considered lost.
Young playboy Charles Grandet is sent to live with his miserly uncle after his father loses his fortune. He and his cousin Eugenie fall in love, but his uncle sends him away and tries to arrange a marriage more to his liking (and profit!). Will true love triumph?
Two sisters are separated when their parents divorce.
Daniel Boone Brown is a pleasure-seeking playboy carousing around New York City without a care in the world -- that is, until he becomes the unwitting subject of a series of experiments at the hands of a sadistic psychiatrist. Through various means of control, the mad scientist drives Daniel to think he's losing his mind, but ultimately introduces him to the lovely Lucette.
Dan Bowers, embittered and disillusioned by an unhappy marriage, seeks solitude in the Maine woods, with a lame dog as his only companion. One day he meets Violet Manners who, with her invalid mother Marion, is visiting in a nearby village. Marion is haunted by memories of the past, and one day when Violet takes Dan to meet her mother, she discovers that he is the husband who deserted her years ago. The shock causes Marion's death, but before she dies, she justifies her past behavior toward Dan. -From the AFI Catalog of Feature FIlms.
A convict hiding in Chinatown assumes the identity of a cripple to track down a businessman who framed him 15 years previously. He discovers that his daughter has fallen in love with the businessman's son.
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
An elderly couple are forced to separate themselves from each other after their children refuse to take both into one house.
Mary Brophy, a young woman who is unjustly jailed by a master crook whom she refuses to wed, later meets and falls in love with James Reynolds, a young man who becomes her protector. While Mary is in jail, her father falls under the evil influence of the criminal gang leader. At a reception the young woman’s father is shot by the man she refused to wed. He is brought to justice and her romance thereafter goes smoothly. A lost film.
An Italian immigrant singer, Nino, hoping to succeed in Hollywood, falls in with a gang of crooks who use his talent to distract everyone at a party while they steal the jewels.
A loose biopic based on the life of Gilded Age tycoon "Diamond" Jim Brady.
Police try to solve a murder on board an ocean liner.
A 1916 film directed by Chester M. Franklin.
John Howard Payne leaves home and begins a career in the theater. Despite encouragement from his mother and his sweetheart, Payne begins to lead a life of dissolute habits, and this soon leads to ruin and misery. In deep despair, he thinks of better days, and writes a song that later provides inspiration to several others in their own times of need.
A pretty young cashier at a movie theater has a few problems--a local thug is interested in her and won't leave her alone, and she discovers that her uncle is stealing the box-office receipts.
Frances Farmer's second film is a typical B-programmer from the Paramount lot of 1936--up and coming stars (John Howard, Robert Cummings, Grant Withers, Farmer) in a concerning the Coast Guard and smugglers. The chief points of interest are the truly exceptional aerial sequences and Farmer's early performance.
American silent film directed by Frank O'Connor.
At the outbreak of the French Revolution, Charles Darnay goes to Paris to rescue an imprisoned former family servant. He is himself imprisoned and condemned by the revolutionary forces there. His wife, the former Lucie Manette, is secretly loved by a gentlemanly wastrel, Sydney Carton. Carton embarks on a daring plan to save the husband of the woman he loves.
A young woman agrees to marry the son of a well-known man in order to get a chance to take revenge on her new father-in-law, who she believes framed her own father who is now in prison.
After buying the filly Dixie following a strong finish Southern horse breeder John Porter discovers she has been doped for the contest. When he is paralyzed from a fall from Dixie his son, Alan, embezzles money from the bank to save the family finances. Because of his love for Alan's sister Alis, George Mortimer takes the blame for the crime, losing his job. Disguised as a boy, Alis enters Dixie in a race and rides the horse to victory and all ends happily.
In this melodrama, a dancer works in a sleazy Marseilles portside dive that is really the front for a bordello. While dancing one night she meets a sailor and agrees to be his bride. Unfortunately, one of her former suitors suddenly shows up and a terrible fight ensues.
A comedy short directed by character Slim Summerville.
Victoria marries David, the man of her dreams. After a number of years and two children, the marriage turns out not to be what she had expected. Then she discovers her faith, and everything turns out for the best. In several scenes Victoria has visions of love and marriage throughout history: she appears in the Stone Age, with a tribe of Amazonians, in the Middle Ages and in the Roman era.
When a movie actor is shot and killed during production, the true feelings about the actor begin to surface. As the studio heads worry about negative publicity, one of the writers tags along as the killing is investigated and clues begin to surface.
A rancher, frustrated with constant cattle rustling and the inability of the local sheriff to stop it, is accused of murder when the sheriff is found dead.
John Bishop discovers a plot to rob a silver mine belonging to his girlfriend Mary's father and, to foil the evildoers, he joins them.
A proud, pro-capital punishment district attorney with a 90% execution rate, finds himself wrongly convicted of murdering his estranged wife and sentenced to die. The woman he loves and his investigator rival for her affections rally to find the real killer, while he is confronted by the misery of life on death row.
Complications ensue after a radio producer insults a sponsor.
Lucille, a beautiful and romantic young woman, marries John Linforth, a wealthy businessman, who is twice her age, and too distracted by his business affairs to give her the attention she craves.
Rival logging companies battle for the Valley of the Giants (redwood trees) when a young engineer returns home to help his father by building a new rail line to transport the logs to the sawmill. A romance between the engineer and the rival's niece complicates the situations.
When Rosamond, a convent girl, discovers that her mother is Baby Brabant, a notorious queen of Petworth's gambling house, her ideals are shattered and she denounces her mother's life.
The spoiled, arrogant and slow-witted son of a wealthy businessman falls in love with the daughter of his father's business manager.
A biopic dramatizing Abraham Lincoln's life through a series of vignettes depicting its defining chapters: his romance with Ann Rutledge; his early years as a country lawyer; his marriage to Mary Todd; his debates with Stephen A. Douglas; the election of 1860; his presidency during the Civil War; and his assassination in Ford’s Theater in 1865.
In this propaganda film, a courageous group of Chinese children risk their lives to assist downed American pilots escape the ruthless Japanese oppressors.
The tale of Bonnie Day, a rambunctious young lady who is rankled when she is expelled from college for serving tea in her room. She goes on to open up a tearoom in a fancy hotel, saving all the profits to pay the legal fees for her father who has been unjustly jailed. Mr. Day's rival has embroiled him in a crooked stock deal and made him appear to be the guilty party. Meanwhile, Bonnie is in the midst of a romantic dilemma; her Aunt Pearl wants her to wed Napoleon Dobbings, but Bonnie much prefers helpful young lawyer Art Binger.
A young woman and her five little brothers and sisters are left orphans by the murder of their father over gold found on his ranch. Together the seven offspring fight against their greedy neighbors to keep what is rightfully theirs.
Henry Potter is the irresponsible playboy son of a New York millionaire. Fearing he will disgrace the family name if he stays in New York, the father sends him to San Francisco to work in the family shipyards and, to make a man out of him, he is told he will have to start at the bottom and work his way up. Henry decides this is not a good idea and resents it to the point he will indeed start at the bottom but will work his way down from there, and disgrace the family name in San Francisco.
Nathan Forge, romantic son of a cruel businessman, publishes in a local newspaper a poem about a girl who once befriended him. The girl, a student in a nearby school, reads the poem and recognizes herself. Years pass, and Nathan goes through various hardships, including an unhappy marriage, imprisonment, and the war. Then in Siberia, working for the International Red Cross, he meets the girl who is the subject of his poem and thus achieves happiness. A lost film.
The plot, old-hat though it is, does provide an opportunity for that wonderfully seedy villain, David Dirby, to do his dirty work and more importantly, to tie all the thrillingly on-the-spot railroad footage together. Railroad buffs will enjoy all the atmospheric detail director Johnson has obtained by filming in real freight yards and inside and alongside real steam engines and rolling stock.
A high-spirited and short-tempered Texan woman storms her way through life until her luck runs out, forcing her to learn the error of her ways.
After her father's death, little Briar Rose is taken in by the men at a lumber camp. The girl shows a definite preference for one of the lumberjacks, "Hell-to-Pay" Austin, so he becomes her new "father." Just as much as Hell-to-Pay takes care of Briar, she watches over him, and it is largely through her influence that he gives up hard drinking and needless fighting. Then, when Briar is old enough, she goes away to school and quickly falls in with the wrong crowd. Hell-to-Pay comes after her and takes her away from Doris Valentine, an adventuress who had been teaching Briar the tricks of the trade. When they are reunited, Hell-to-Pay and Briar realize that they are in love, so they decide to change their relationship from guardian and ward to husband and wife.
When brilliant lawyer Harry Sevier, an alcoholic, cannot cope with the prosecution's tactics, his innocent client Paddy the Brick goes to prison. After Harry's sweetheart Echo Allen, the daughter of Judge Beverly Allen, breaks their engagement, Harry leaves to combat his problem. Meanwhile, Cameron Craig, whose interest in a distilling corporation is threatened when a suit is brought before Judge Allen, steals incriminating love letters written by the Judge years earlier. Echo boards a train to offer to marry Craig for returning the letters. Harry, on the same train, and now beardless, follows Echo to Craig's home, where a burglary occurs. After Harry, not recognized by Echo, gives her the letters, Craig is shot, and Harry, along with Paddy--now a burglar--is sent to prison. Harry escapes and finds himself nominated to run for governor on the "dry" ticket. After Echo confirms that he was innocent of shooting Craig, Harry wins the election and her love.
Swifty is framed for the murder of Alec MeNiel by the Lawyer Cheevers and the stepson Price. Then they incite the locals to form a lynch mob, but Swifty has an unexpected ally in the Sheriff who knows Price was after his stepfather's land.
Dottie gets a job in a small show as "side kick" of a famous knife thrower. The "Angel" is a nice boy who is backing the show, and who is too modest to declare his love to Dottie. She can see no one save the great, handsome "Strong Man." The knife thrower gets drunk, and the "Angel" forbids Dottie to do her act. The "Strong Man," however, locks up the "Angel" and bids the knife thrower go on with the show. Dottie, terrified but helpless, has risked her life a half dozen times from the carelessly thrown knives, when the "Angel," bursting out of his prison, rushes into the ring and flings himself between her and the weapons. He is seriously injured. At the hospital, Dottie and the "Angel" pledge their troth.
Socially-conscious banker Thomas Dickson faces a crisis when his protégé is wrongly accused of robbing the bank, gossip of the robbery starts a bank run, and evidence suggests Dickson's wife had an affair... all in the same day.
Jack exchanges his cow for some magic beans. The beans grow overnight into a beanstalk, which Jack climbs, arriving at a castle that is his. Jack sets a deal with the giant in exchange for their fortune.
Who Cares is a 1925 silent film produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures and starring Dorothy Devore. It is preserved in the Library of Congress's collection. It is based upon a novel by Cosmo Hamilton which had been previously filmed in 1919 as Who Cares? Real-life husband and wife, actors Vera and Ralph Lewis, play grandparents.
Melodrama of circus tightrope troupe.
At his father’s insistence Billy Drake heads to the family’s South American ammunition company as an emissary. Before leaving, however, the movie-struck Billy spots a beautiful woman standing in front of a theater and imagines that she is a film star. To his delight, he finds the woman on board his ship, as well as political agitator Count Von Nuttenburg who has stolen a movie camera, thinking that it is a new brand of machine gun. Von Nuttenburg shows the camera to Billy. Thinking the Count is a director, and the ship a set for a movie melodrama when the boat lands at a port torn by revolution, Billy insists that the guns and soldiers are part of the show. Not until he and the girl are seized by the rebels and threatened with death, does he admit his error. By a clever ruse, he escapes from his captors and with the help of Federal troops defeats the Count and wins the heart of his pretty shipmate.
John Dowling, a greedy factory owner, cuts his employees' pay while raising their food prices at the company store. The employees strike but to no avail. Mary Garvin visits Dowling to plead the laborers' cause, but because her mother had once refused his marriage proposal, he attacks Mary out of revenge. In the struggle, Dowling is shot, and Mary is tried and convicted of murder. Before the execution, foreman "Bull" Thompson boasts that his bullet killed Dowling during Mary and the factory owner's struggle, and Dowling's son Chester, who has attempted to introduce reforms into the factory, races to the governor's train to secure a pardon for Mary. After Mary's release, she and Chester are married.
To support a demanding wife, bank clerk Brian Kent embezzles a large sum of money and, overcome with remorse, attempts to commit suicide by casting himself adrift in a small boat on a rough river. The boat is caught in willows, however, and Brian meets Judy, a little maidservant who introduces him to her mistress, Auntie Sue, a schoolteacher. Under Auntie Sue's benign influence, Brian reforms and writes a book. Falling in love with Betty Jo, Brian incurs the enmity of Judy, who tells her father of Brian's unsavory past. Judy's father starts out for the bank, but Auntie Sue gets there first and persuades the bank president (a former pupil of hers) not to prosecute Brian. Brian's wife attempts to visit him and is drowned. Brian finds happiness with Betty Jo.
Purity League father can't restrain his adventurous daughter from parading around in scanty bathing suits. Willy must learn how to fight in order to win her heart.
David Barton (Malcolm McGregor) is a train engineer with big ideas who falls in love with beautiful Olive Borden.
Katy Standish is a family drudge on a New England farm. Her elder sister "enjoys" poor health and her mother sees to it that Katy not only does her own work but that of the weak or lazy elder, Priscilla. Oliver Putnam, a husky young farmer lad, comes a-courting of Katy, but her parents interfere so much that he is discouraged.
East Side boy Peter Mullaney longs to become a policeman. He goes to the training school but is turned down because he is not up to the standard of height, until he demonstrates his prowess by knocking down a big bully. The Commissioner, who has high ideas of the necessary mental equipment to improve the force, gives him a chance if he rates high in the written examination. He misses one question and is turned down, but begs permission to wear the uniform one night, in order not to disappoint his sweetheart, Judy. His chance comes when burglars invade a house and shoot his friend Officer Gaffney. Peter knocks both out but lands in a hospital himself. When he recovers, the Commissioner pins a policeman’s shield on him, and he declares his love for Judy.
Robert Ardis, a small-town youth studying for the ministry, encounters a visiting Gypsy, Marcheta, and is displeased by her pagan conduct. When she saves the life of his younger brother, however, Robert becomes fascinated with her. Though scorning his religion, Marcheta saves his life during a storm by praying for a miracle, and in rescuing him she comes to believe in God.
The rehabilitation of "Chicago Sal," a lady crook, is seemingly realized when probation officers send her to the country home of Steve MacLaren to work off money stolen from him by her partner. She falls in love with MacLaren and is accepted as a member of the household. Unable to resist the temptation, however, she leaves the farm with two former colleagues when they come to visit her. MacLaren follows her to the city. She commits a crime; he helps her escape but is himself arrested for vagrancy and sent to jail. Sal returns to the country and promises to wait for him.
Society children Madalyn Harlan and Bob Elkins separate the day they are to be married. Madalyn marries her chauffeur, Jerry, while Bob falls in love with unsophisticated Ruth Cassell and, after careful consideration, marries her. Madalyn's marriage is unhappy, ending in a double suicide after Madalyn's parents disown her and Jerry's family proves to be lower class.
Sara Langford, an American girl in Paris, is courted by Count Desanges, who loves her but is considerably older; Thomas Carlton, who is married but is out for conquest; and Julian Greer, her true love. In rescuing Greer from the sea, the count is permanently paralyzed but manages to shoot Carlton when he attacks Sara. Ultimately, the true lovers are reunited.