The story of a man who was robbed of his greatest love and the South Seas wildflower who found it for him, in the land of pawn trees where men of all nations gather; some seeking vengeance and some forgiveness.
Judge Robert Appleton (Winter Hall) has led an exemplary life. His four children, however, fell short once they grew up and had to fend for themselves. When Appleton dies, his widow (Lydia Knott) explains that his last request was that each child spend one hour of contemplation with his body. The first is the youngest daughter, Daisy (Rosemary Theby), an artist of note who was betrayed and left with a son to raise out of wedlock. Next is Luke (Milton Sills), a wild young man who ran away at 19, and even though he is now married and a father, he still can't quite settle down. The eldest son, Bob (Wilfred Lucas), is next -- he wed a wealthy woman, but the marriage has no love.
Clara Kimball Young stars as Mary Saurin, a British gentlewoman who journeys to South Africa to visit her district-commissioner brother Dick (Henry Woodward). Upon arriving, she is introduced to Major Anthony "Kim" Kinsella (Milton Sills), the most important and influential Army officer in the region. Falling in love with Kinsella, Mary agrees to marry him, but he is apparently killed in a native uprising.
Mary Mac Neill (Katherine MacDonald), whose father (Theodore Roberts) marries her off to Lord Raa (Jack Holt) in order to satisfy an old grudge. But Mary wants nothing to do with the dissolute Lord and tells him so on their wedding night. So he takes his mistress, Alma Lier (Fritzi Brunette), to India and passes her off as Lady Raa, while Mary disappears to a French village, where she spends time with the man she loved all along, explorer Martin Conrad (Milton Sills).
Steve Cline returns to the U.S. after earning his fortune in South America. He reads in the paper that his brother Tom was arrested for safecracking. Tom escapes and runs to the home of Sadie McCall, whose father Reever heads a forgery ring. Steve rushes to meet his brother, but Tom is killed in a police raid. Reever gets away and Steve falls for Sadie, but Steve takes the blame for the murder and faces death by hanging. Reported by some to be Gary Cooper's first film as an extra. However this is not confirmed in any way.
First National gala celebrity banquet with stars.
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.
The adventures of Oliver Tressilian, who goes from English gentry to galley slave to captain of a Moorish fighting ship.
A documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life, and his premature death.
A successful carnival barker deals with the arrival of his eager son, who he'd hoped would stay far from the carnival world, his son's entanglement with a showgirl, and his own jealous mistress.
Margaret Jarnette discovers that her husband Victor has been cheating on her and confronts him. Outraged, Victor has his lawyer rewrite his will so that in the event of his death, his brother Richard will get custody of his daughter Muriel, and his wife won't. When Victor dies shortly afterward, Richard suspects that Margaret had murdered him and takes custody of Muriel. However, he soon begins to suspect that things may not be quite as cut-and-dried as he thought they were.
Calvin Gray, a former soldier, is hired to manage the wealth of the Briskow family in a Texas oil town. As he defends them from a corrupt banker and a cunning con artist, he forms a deep connection with the Briskows' daughter, Allegheny, leading to unexpected changes in his life.
Lelia Crofton, a Louisiana belle of the 1860s, loves Burleigh Mavor. By chance, she sees one of her father's black stablemen making love to a neighbor's maid, whom she supposed was white. The incident shocks Lelia and leaves a great impression upon her. When she rejects suitor Steve Daubeney, he threatens to expose a damaging secret about her mother, whom she has never met. Remembering the incident with the neighbor's maid, Lelia worries that her mother might be black, and when Daubeney learns of her fears, he leads her to believe that they are well-founded.
A traveling preacher has, through his faith, the power to heal, but loses it when he falls in love. Considered lost.
Documentary short film depicting the filmmaking activity at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, featuring dozens of stars captured candidly and at work.
Lois Wilson (as Lulu) is the spinsterish member of the Deacon family: "The family beast of burden, whose timid soul has failed to break the bonds of family servitude." Her brother-in-law is patriarchal Theodore Roberts (as Dwight Deacon); running the house with an iron fist, he is both a dentist and a Justice of the Peace. As the latter, he accidentally marries Ms. Wilson to his visiting brother Clarence Burton (as Ninian Deacon) while they are out for dinner. Schoolteacher Milton Sills (as Neil Cornish) is also interested in Wilson...
Footage from the premiere of Charlie Chaplin's 1928 film 'The Circus'.
A hard-boiled nightclub owner saves a beautiful young girl from drowning. He promptly falls in love with her, but she prefers a younger, more-genteel lover.
Cabaret dancer Anna Janssen kills her sugardaddy and escapes to a South Seas island on the yacht of a wealthy admirer. Stolid, conscientious Tom McCarthy, a New York detective, is sent after Anna and arrests her, chartering a steamer to bring her back to the United States. The steamer sinks, and Anna and Tom are stranded on a small island. They fall in love, and Tom's influence brings about a benign change in Anna's character. They are rescued, however, and Anna is placed on trial for her life. Tom takes the stand in her defense and informs the judge of Anna's conversion in the solitude of the island. The judge instructs Tom to marry Anna and then sentences them to life--on the island where they found happiness together.
Pancha O'Brien, the beautiful and spirited daughter of an Irish ranch owner, is loved by two men, Sheriff Jack Webb, whom she loves, and outlaw Jim Dyke, whose attentions she repeatedly rebuffs. Jim and his men attack Pancha's ranch, burning it to the ground and killing her father. The outlaw carries her to his cabin, where Wan-o-mee, his jealous squaw, tries to stab the girl....
During the Easter Carnival, Dolores de Cordova flirts with Juan Estudillo, not knowing that he is a member of the family with whom her ancestors have long feuded. Dolores' cousin, Pedro Toral, jealous of her attentions to Juan, kills her brother that night and after leaving Juan's handkerchief by the body, makes Dolores swear to avenge the death with her own hands....
Nicola Riccobini, a puppet master in New York's Italian quarter, is an energetic and domineering man in the family, in contrast to his dreamy, poetic cousin Bruno.
After a daredevil demonstration of aviator stunts, Anthony Fortescue-Stirling, more familiarly known as Tony, is cast adrift by his father. He meets Chrissie, of vaudeville fame, at a fancy-dress ball and falls in love with her.
Julian Ramos is a fisherman in the Canary Islands. As the guardian of his hotheaded younger brother Charles, Julian regards it as his duty to protect the boy from women -- and vice versa. When Charles begins pitching woo at aristocratic Amy, Julian runs interference by pretending to be in love with the girl himself. As time passes, of course, he stops pretending.
Wrongfully court martialed from the French Army Captain Hilaire heads to Brazil. Upon arrival he is hired as a foreman in a Diamond mine eventually falling in love with the boss’s daughter, Diane. Remsen who wants both Hilaire’s job and Diane frames him for stealing from the company while Hilarie is away. Convicted, he is sent to a Devil's Island-like prison camp. Eventually, Remson, too is sent there, where he confesses on his death bed, freeing Hilaire.
Lost 1928 film by Benjamin Benjamin Christensen
A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.
After bringing down yet another German pilot and escaping uninjured from his burning aircraft, Haggerty (Milton Sills) and his buddy, aircraft machinist Klaxon (Arthur Stone), head for Paris, albeit without an official leave of absence. In escaping from M.P.'s, Haggerty takes refuge in a room occupied by Germaine Benoit (Molly O'Day). Love soon springs up, and Haggerty decides to reform, returning to Major Cotton (Mitchell Lewis) with this resolution. He is unprepared, however, to be awarded a medal for his actions as a fighter pilot. - From Wikipedia
Michael Ramsay only has time for gathering his fortune in wheat. His wife seeks comfort elsewhere and, to avoid a scandal, her daughter Matilda assumes her mother's guilt. Ramsay nearly goes broke but gets rich again; his wife returns.
Spies from Japan conspire to steal the Channing "preparedness" fortune and invade the United States, beginning in New York, then allying themselves with Mexicans across the border. They are stopped by the efforts of munitions factory heiress Patria Channing and U.S. Secret Service agent Donald Parr.
Bryce Cardigan struggles to protect his Redwood inheritance from a railroad-owner, who is also the guardian of the woman Bryce loves.
Betty has a rich inheritance, but she can't find it. She is engaged to Detective Duffer. One day. "The Flea" comes to rob her, bringing his accomplice, the ape.
When Mona Frentiss dies, she has her confidante "Doctor Bobs" watch over her family, especially her youngest daughter Patricia. The family has been raised in a most unconventional manner, with Mona having a much younger lover and the father Ralph keeping his own lover on the side. As Patricia grows older, she attracts the attention of her mother's former lover, the much older (than Patricia, who in the book is in her early to mid teens) Carey Scott. Patricia tempts fate with her wild ways, nearly loses her virtue to a musician aboard an ocean-going boat, and is saved in time by Carey. Realizing that he is the man for her, she settles down into an experimental marriage.
Directed by Wallace Worsley.
Jan Bokak is a self-educated steelworker who finds himself in the middle of a romantic triangle. Two different girls -- wealthy socialite Claire Pitt and blue-collar worker Mary Berwick -- simultaneously fall for Bokak. It later develops that Claire and Mary are actually sisters, the first of a series of surprising plot twists leading to Bokak being accused of a murder he didn't commit.
A potentially lost film, this film tells the story of a man is convicted unjustly of a crime and then subjected to inhumane torment in a prison run by corrupt administrators.
A likely lost film. The passengers on an ocean steamer guided by a strict captain are shipwrecked. He gives the main woman in the group 24 hours to choose her mate from among the motley community.
A man faces being hanged for a crime he didn't commit
The Crash (1928)
Clorinda Wildairs breaks off an affair with the unscrupulous Sir John Ozen to become engaged to a rich nobleman, Mertoun, the Duke of Osmonde. Clorinda accidentally kills Sir John when he, infuriated by her forthcoming marriage, threatens to blackmail her. She buries the body in the cellar and admits her act to the forgiving Osmonde before marrying him.
George, Ruth and Humphrey go for a boat ride with Wolf Larsen.
The plot concerns a war hero who returns home determined to give up his old ways as a crook. Bud Doyle (Milton Sills) is still being hounded by the cops, and both his wife (Marcia Nanon) and a former associate, a dishonest politician, want to do him in.
This dramatic adventure finds the flirtatious Cherry O'Day as the daughter of the Shanghai saloon keeper Terrence. She works in the dive and entertains the patrons, sending them away after they cease to amuse her. Cherry falls for Gordon Deane, the American writer and adventurer who barely notices her.
Elam "Burning Daylight" Harnish is a prospector who makes a million dollars in the Dawson, Alaska gold rush and loses the million dollars in Dawson. He journeys to San Francisco, makes three million dollars and loses it in San Francisco. He returns to Alaska and eventually finds his treasure.
Based on the novel The Spoilers by Rex Beach.
An outcast who runs a road house of ill repute leads his mother to believe him dead. His only friend, a doctor, falls for a married woman.
The dissolute Count Pierre Tornai, having dissipated his fortune in Paris, embezzles embassy funds while intoxicated; and after spending his last penny on a dancer, he contemplates suicide but is persuaded to enlist in the Foreign Legion. Based on the 1922 play Der Legionër by Lajos Biró.
A famous Venetian opera singer marries a rich, but very jealous man. After moving to London with him, she misses the opera and all the attention she used to get. Once back in Venice, an old lover shows up causing trouble.
Folly Vallance marries millionaire Anthony Bond for his money, but he insists on a marriage in name only. Entering the social scene she befriends Bond's close friend Keene Mordaunt. When Count Svensen tries to extort Folly into running away with him, Keene pursues them to a country house where they meet Anthony, who accuses his friend of treachery. Folly finally recognizes her love for her husband and explains the cause of her actions; Bond forgives her leading to their reconciliation.
A policeman falls for a teacher, and befriends her students. A gang of bootleggers threatens his newfound joys.
A Lambert Hillyer silent romantic love triangle boxing sports lumberjack logging melodrama about a world champion boxer who must retire due to an arm injury. He becomes a lumberjack, and becomes involved with the daughter of the owner, but rivals sabotage their operation, and the boxer has to return to the ring to save the owner from bankruptcy and win the hand of the daughter.
Rev. John Morton, who is determined to follow as closely as possible the teachings of Jesus, inherits a considerable fortune when his uncle dies. Shortly thereafter he succumbs to the wiles of Mary Carlson and marries her. To Mary's dismay, John uses his money for charitable work. When John learns that not only has Mary been unfaithful to him but she was also his uncle's mistress and became Mrs. Morton in order to share the inheritance she believed to be rightfully hers, he sends her away with his secretary.
Famous playwright Paul Worden decamps to a country bungalow to work on a new play, rehearsing with his leading lady, Marjorie Sinclair, who is staying nearby. Going riding one day to relax, Paul rescues his neighbor, teenager Diana Ardway when her horse runs wild. The pair clash initially, as she does with Marjorie, but after a series of misunderstandings true love triumphs.
Anna Mirrel, a young Jewish girl in Czarist Russia, is forced to degrade herself in order to visit her father, whom she believes to be ill. She obtains a yellow passport, signifying that she is a prostitute.
Sir Edward Pelham, married to a Romani Russian, fears that his daughter will follow in her mother's footsteps and arranges a marriage with her cousin, whom she does not love. During a trip to Nevada with her father, she meets engineer Bayard Delavel, who saves her life when she is bitten by a snake; when her father finds her with Bayard in his cabin, he forces them to marry. Believing that Nadine does not love him, Delavel leaves her and prepares to sue for divorce. A lost film.
After a stirring performance, Cleo Martell, a renowned stage actress, is visited in her dressing room by Gordon Trent, a too ardent admirer. When Cleo's husband enters, a fight ensues, and Trent kills his rival in the struggle. Jack Stanley arrives on the scene to help but is accused of the murder by Cleo and is sent off to prison. The opportunistic Trent marries Jack's rich fiancée Helen Forde, who believes that her former lover is guilty of unfaithfulness. Jealous of the arrangement, Cleo eventually tells Helen the truth about the killing, causing Betty, Helen's daughter, to cry over her mother's unhappiness. Moved by the girl's tears, Cleo joins forces with Helen against Trent, and the two women go West where Jack, escaped from prison, works as a cowboy.
A novelist's success causes a rift between her and her rancher husband.
Perpetua is a rich little orphan with a kind but absent-minded dreamer of a guardian, Thaddeus, who is very much older than herself. Perpetua wants to live in Thaddeus's house but instead is sent to her eccentric animal loving Aunt's, Miss Majerdie. Unhappy Perpetua runs away to Thaddeus’s. He endures her for a time and finally ships her back to his Aunt Majerdie's. Pursued by several suitors whose ardor cools when the rumor goes round that she is penniless. Her wealth having intimidated him before Thaddeus steps in now and declares his love for her.
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, but soon after their wedding, he neglects her for his business. In her loneliness, Laura renews her relationship with Sheldon and the lovers plan to elope. When Curtis is ruined on the market, however, Laura rejects her lover and comforts her husband.
Robert Worthing marries his sweetheart, Madeline Francis, but the wedding is ruined by his mother, who announces that because she and her parents are insane, he possesses tainted genes. Fearing that he will pass the disease on to his children, the bridegroom avoids his new wife and locks the door between their rooms. Deeply in love with Madeline, whom he is forced to love only as a sister, Robert considers suicide, but all ends well when the young man learns that he was adopted.
Comic short reworking of "The Taming of the Shrew".
A kindly old sheik is being deceived by his villainous son, who seeks to destroy his father by uniting with the enemy tribe. However, the plan is foiled by a young English philosopher who lives alone at the oasis. In the ensuing battle the villain is killed, leaving the way clear for the happy marriage of the philosopher and the young woman he loves. A lost film.
When Iris Champneys’ marriage to the Earl of Lemister ends in divorce she moves to Africa to operate a tavern. Seven years later she becomes reacquainted with Clement Gaunt, formerly employed by Lemister and secretly in love with Iris, who is on the run after being falsely accused of the murder of the owner of the ranch where he was once foreman. The real culprit, the rancher’s wife Hannah, accused Clem when he refused to run away with her. Iris, learning of his predicament, rides to Hannah Schriemann, telling her that Clem has been executed for her crime. When the police bring Clem to the house, Hannah--frightened by his "ghost"--confesses, and Iris and Clem find a way to happiness.
A kindly old woman named Mrs. Rand takes in wayward girl and petty crook Molly O'Hara, known as "Angel Face" to her gang. Mrs. Rand eventually gets Molly to see the error of her ways and she reforms. However, it her son John that has strayed from the straight and narrow and is part of a big money bunco. It's Molly's turn to help out the old woman, by reforming John as he falls in love with her.
Ruth Holt, owner of a boardinghouse in a small college town, lives with her pretty niece "Sweet Lavender," who believes that Ruth is her mother. When boarder Clem Hale, president of the freshman class, is the victim of a prank played by several of his classmates, Lavender rescues him and the two fall in love. Clem's guardian, Horace Weatherburn, becomes concerned about his ward's adoration for a "commoner" and arrives to break up their romance. Ruth, who recognizes Washburn as Lavender's real father and the man who brought her sister grief, strongly opposes the match and sends Lavender off to boarding school. Upon learning that Clem is seriously ill, Lavender runs away to comfort her sweetheart and, in her plight, faints by the side of the road. Weatherburn finds her and is so touched by her concern, that he relents his previous disapproval. Ruth then reveals Lavender's parentage to her father who offers his blessing to the couple.
Renee wanders Africa. Explorer Jean mistakes her for Queen of Sheba, taking her to Paris to make his ex jealous. Renee goes back to Africa, Jean follows. She reveals herself as Menelek's Prince, reuniting them after bowing to Jean.
As her first wedding anniversary approaches, a young wife begins to believe that her husband doesn't love her anymore, and she turns to a former suitor for comfort. Soon she makes up her mind to leave her husband, but when he is seriously injured she must decide if she really wants to end her marriage.
Bryce Gilbert convinces his daughter, Virginia, that she should not elope with a casual boyfriend and sends her to Italy to stay with his fiancée, Duchess Bianca.
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.
Because Amy Fortesque's dying grandfather advises her to get all the joys out of life, she marries Dick Gaylord because he is funny, rather than Walter Melrose, a staid young lawyer who loves her.
In Canada, a young woman of Indian blood marries an Englishman who sends her back to England to humiliate his family and the woman who once spurned him. But the man's brother shows her the ways of English civilization, and a great surprise awaits her husband when he returns to his homeland.
When his honeymoon is over, Knox Randall shifts his attention from his wife Ailsa to his business. Feeling neglected, Ailsa accepts her sister-in-law Clarissa's advice that a little jealousy might re-ignite her husband's interest. Undertaking a harmless flirtation with playboy Porter Maddox, Ailsa discovers that Clarissa has fallen madly in love with Maddox, who is using her to accumulate confidential information regarding Wall Street secrets. When Ailsa overhears Clarissa making plans to elope with Maddox, she hurries to save her sister-in-law.
When noted scientist John Vandam dies in the Orient, he leaves the guardianship of his eighteen-year-old daughter to his old friend Sandy Verrall. Sandy believes that Eliza is a little girl and so prepares for the arrival of a child. Displeased with the situation, Eliza decides to dress and act like a kid so that Sandy will tire of her and send her away.
Richard Forrest's philosophy of marital relations is that it is not up to the husband to hold his wife's love but that she should "hold it herself." His theories are put to a practical test when his best friend, a young author, comes to the Big House. The friend falls in love with the wife and frankly tells her husband of the fact, saying that it is best that he go away.