Blanche Sweet
A documentary overview of silent cinema pioneer Edwin S. Porter.
This short celebrates the 20th anniversary of MGM. Segments are shown from several early hits, then from a number of 1944 releases.
Broadway actress leaves New York to become a star in Hollywood, and succeeds despite sleazy directors and her own ego.
During a raid, a cop lets a pretty speakeasy employee escape and later begins dating her. Although she loves him, his salary and dull life leave her wanting.
The wife and secretary of a mine operator attempt to conceal their romantic affair.
Following a promise she made to her father on his deathbed, Laura Fairlie go to Scotland with Sir Percival Glyde to his mysterious mansion to be married. Once there, many strange and disturbing things happen. She meets a girl who has been a victim of Sir Percival's scheming in order to get her fortune.
Hollywood actresses including Jeanette Loff and Raquel Torres modeling Spring fashions in color.
Bank clerk John Hart is about to marry Mary Kelly, but she insists that before that happens he must grow a mustache. The idea of that shakes him up so much that he gets distracted at work, comes up short in his accounts and gets fired. Unable to find another job, he begins to work as an extra at a nearby film studio to earn money. One day the leading man of a picture John is working on gets into an argument with the director and storms off the set. Angered, the director sees John and, deciding that he'll show his arrogant star that he can make a movie idol out of just about anybody, picks John to replace him. As it turns out, John has a real talent for acting and before he knows it he becomes a star. Unfortunately, "stardom" isn't what John thought it would be.
Familiar story of spoiled heiress, Blanche Sweet, who dabbles in romance with commoner Ronald Colman. They roam the highlands together hunting since this is Sweet's "sport." They seem to have an idyllic affair going when into the mix comes an impoverished prince (Lew Cody). He determines to steal away the heiress and pay off his creditors. Indeed, this is the plan he shares with them.
Billy Morrow (Ben Lyon), who comes from a wealthy family, is sailing to Europe with his father (Holbrook Blinn) on their yacht. Along for the ride is Mrs. Parr (Claire Eames) and her stepdaughter. Near the French coast, Billy discovers that Mrs. Parr wants to arrange a marriage between him and the girl, so he escapes and takes a lifeboat ashore.
A federal agent assigned to stop a bootlegging gang joins forces with the gang leader's wife and the sister of one of the ring's truck drivers to break up the gang.
A young girl is seduced and raped by an older middle class man in Victorian England. After moving on with her path, she gets married. All is well until her husband discovers her past. Leading her on a life of wandering, murder, and execution.
A troubled young woman comes to live with her estranged father on the New York waterfront. A tough sailor falls in love with her, sparking conflict between her father and her suitor. What neither knows is that she has a secret that could cause her to lose both of them.
Quincy Adams Sawyer is a young attorney who one day meets a girl in the park and is immediately smitten with her.
As summarized in a film publication, Montana Rivers (Sweet) finally escapes her father who had forced her to wear men's clothing and help in robbing and cheating. She is taken in by friendly Indians and stays at their camp. Later, Akkomi (Edler), chief of the tribe, asks his friend Dan Overton to take the girl as it is not good for her to remain in the camp. Dan provides for "Tana" and falls in love with her but, because of her past, she keeps him at a distance. Jim Harris comes by and recognizes Tana as the boy robber, but when he attempts to blacken her past, Dan gives him a beating which paralyzes him. Jim then stays on with Dan, who regrets his hastiness. Eventually Tana's father appears and demands that Tana go away with him. She refuses but also does not tell Dan of this trouble.
The Deadlier Sex features Blanche Sweet playing the daughter of a railroad magnate (Winter Hall) who has to take charge when her father unexpectedly dies. She uses her outdoor survival skills to kidnap a business rival to save the company from a stock market struggle.
In this farce, Mavis Jerome, is an actress who has just broken up with her fiancé, Homer Owen. She goes to her brother-in-law's island retreat, but her stay is interrupted by one of his pals, John Jordan. Her rest is further disturbed when Owen shows up on her doorstep during a storm.
A woman decides to take money from her wealthy mother to pay her gambling debts, but discovers that the contents of her mother's safe has already been stolen.
Melaine is captured by a northern soldier while she is carrying secret southern messages. She falls into the hands of her father's former superior who attempts to compromise her. She is saved by a successful Confederate attack.
In planning to break into the house of the wealthy Bob Van Dyke, Jenny's stepfather decides that his stepdaughter should do most of the dirty work, and Jenny, not wanting to disappoint him, grudgingly agrees. As soon as she enters the house, Bob catches her, but then goes back to his bedroom after making her give her word not to take anything. Jenny breaks her promise...
Russian brothers Count Boris and Alexis Rabourdin obtain a Japanese coastline defense map and plan to sell it to German agents in London. In America, Alexis schemes to marry wealthy Eve Bertram, who loves him. Boris, meanwhile, falls in love with Christine Lesley, Eve's neighbor whom Eve's brother Guy, an amateur inventor experimenting with explosives, also loves.
When a young girl is placed under hypnotism, it's discovered that she has a split personality.
As the Civil War begins Ned Burton leaves his Southern love Agatha Warren and joins the Union army. He is later protected and saved from death by Agatha in spite of her loyalty to the South.
Cecil B. DeMille’s thought-to-be-lost 1915 silent film The Captive, is a found treasure. Set during the Balkan Wars, The Captive tells the story of Sonia (Blanche Sweet, The Woman in White), a young woman living in Montenegro and left to care for her younger brother Milos (Gerald Ward, The Warrens of Virginia) and the family farm when older brother Marko (Page Peters, Davy Crockett) goes off to battle. Unable to handle the day-to-day tasks following her brother’s tragic death, help comes in the form of Mahmud Hassan (House Peters, Prisoners of the Storm) a captured Turk nobleman now a prisoner of war. Tasked with helping Sonia, their initial frosty relationship soon melts into love. As the war rages on Sonia, Mahmud and Milos will face near-insurmountable obstacles in their quest for a better life amidst the hell of war.
Country girl May loses at cards and must borrow $250 from Captain Stiles, but the wealthy roué's loan does not come without an expectation of repayment.
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.
Bert Stafford, who is in love with Sylvia Randolph, his mother's ward, despises Duncan Irving, a poor boy who is the object of Sylvia's affections.
STRONGHEART (1914) is a rare Native American Indian drama that was produced by the Biograph Company in New York City. Based on a famous play of the time, the film features an all-star cast: Henry B. Walthall (later of BIRTH OF A NATION), Blanche Sweet, Antonio Moreno, Lionel Barrymore, and Alan Hale (father of "Gilligan's Island" skipper). Originally five reels, the film was reissued at three reels in 1916.
Jess, a country girl, leaves home when her sister tries to boss her. Later she secures employment in a department store in the city. There she meets Jake, a good-for-nothing, who promises to marry her. Jane, Jess's elder sister, follows her to the city and secures employment in the same store. Jane soon learns that Jake does not intend to marry her sister, and, pretending to be infatuated with him herself, decides to give her sister proof of her supposed sweetheart's true character. Jess hides in Jake's rooms and Jane enters with the ne'er-do-well. Jake attempts to force Jane to his will with a revolver. Jane promises to be his sweetheart, provided he signs a note, presumably to Jess, saying, "I am tired of this life," etc. Jake signs the note, and when Jane fails to keep her promise there is a struggle for possession of the weapon. In the confusion the revolver is accidentally discharged and Jake is killed.
Griffith adapts the story of the Apocryphal Book of Judith to the screen. During the siege of the Jewish city of Bethulia by the Assyrian tyrant Holofernes, a widow named Judith forms a plan to stop the war as her people suffer in starvation, nearly ready to surrender.
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.
May and Annie work in a fashionable millinery store, where the buyer, struck by May's beauty, advances her to a position among the models. She gets a little money, but finds that she is obliged to wear better clothes, which she has a hard time getting.
Mabel Mack's mother is deserted by her father and the mother dies. All that Mabel retains of her family history is a group photograph of her father, mother and herself, in a locket which she always wears.
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.
Laura Bell runs away from her country home to the city, where she becomes a clerk in a department store. Her brother, Frank, follows her to New York, but is unable to place her. He becomes interested in a settlement house and obtains a position in social service work. Mary Ashton, daughter of the proprietor of the store where Laura works, is shocked to find that her father pays his clerks starvation wages.
Robert Stevens robs the bank where he is employed, and through the efforts of Calvin Stedman, the prosecuting attorney, he is sentenced to six years' imprisonment. While in jail his wife dies and his little daughter, Agnes, is placed in a convent.
In the apartment hotel lived the aspiring maid, whose solicitude maintained order in the bachelor's apartment. He was her ideal, and the all-adoring bell-boy was firmly but gently given to understand that maids who read "Heliotrope Glendening's Advice to Young Ladies" look higher than ice-water toters. A compromising complication, however, with an unexpected visit from a beautiful lady, quite convinces the aspiring one that wealthy young bachelors may be the grandest men ever, but their aspirations, when it comes to the crucial test, are not for chambermaids. Science influences his actions so much that he gets into trouble with the police.
A stage dancer (Sweet) and a serious-type homebody (Walthall) discover, after marriage, that their individual styles don't mesh. The movie includes elaborate dance sequences.
Two business partners pursue the same woman. She accepts the marriage proposal of the irresponsible partner, much to her later regret. He squanders money on gambling, as his interest in her gradually wanes. One day after losing the company money in a card game, he decides to commit suicide. He telephones his wife from the office, as he puts a revolver near his head. The wife tries to keep him talking while the reliable business partner races to the office in an attempt to save his old friend. Will he make it in time?
Caroline Spankhurst and her suffragette brigade conclude to stop at nothing, so in their dauntless enthusiasm they forget their babies peacefully reposing on the sidewalk. The babies fall into the hands of the traffic squad, ordered to keep clear streets. A small-sized riot is taking place, but every mother's a suffragette so why cry "Help?"
It was on the night of the Italian ball when Maria, to tease her sweetheart, Tony, indulged in a mild flirtation with Joe, his enemy. At first Tony's jealousy was aroused, but reasoning that it was no time nor place for anything but enjoyment, he smothered the feeling. However, Maria carried the flirtation too far and a tragedy was imminent. This tragedy, though, was averted through a small boy's daring, the girl fully realizing what might have been the result of her thoughtlessness.
This is the story of Gato, an Italian immigrant, who lives with his wife, Marie, and his younger brother, Giuseppe, on a small truck farm in the west. Gato becomes so intent on his work that he neglects to show his wife the little attentions she demands. A foppish wandering Italian, Sandro, sees in this an opportunity to work his ends, but is prevented by the timely interference of Giuseppe.
In this story the young wife concerned is called upon to solve a rather momentous question. After separating from her husband, whom she has discovered to be a brute and a criminal, she is about to give herself to another man, believing her husband dead, when he appears before her fleeing from justice. Shall she deliver him to the law or surrender to his claims? She yields in one instance, but not in the other. Then justice intervenes.
The jealous husband saw a flirtation; the Raffles, a necklace. The husband's suspicions were further confirmed when the Raffles came out of his hiding. The Raffles permitted the deception, until his manhood came to the surface. He realized how his own happiness might have been so jeopardized, and the little wife concerned was restored to her own.
Elusive as is the pursuit of pirate gold it is found in this picture and brought to the ship by the very mutineers themselves. Here fate intervenes with justice and the miscreant mate after a series of exciting adventures is outwitted through his own weakness.
A careless nurse girl allowing the child to wander away, made the mother realize the poignancy of the little verse: "If we knew the baby's fingers / Pressed against the window pane / Would be cold and stiff tomorrow, / Never trouble us again, / Would the bright eyes of our darling / catch the frown upon our brow, / Would the prints of rosy fingers, / Vex us then as they do now?" But a higher destiny watched the child and saw it safely home.
The young authoress had come to the edge of the desert for her mother's sake. There she met the two young prospectors and a romance began. But the men were about to go across the desert, where they had heard rumors of gold. They decided to play square and before going determined to let the coin decide who should ask the young authoress the all-important question. The flip of the coin decided the older should try his luck first. He learned the girl did not love him. But the other she promised to marry when he should return from the gold lands, and the care of her sick mother, who would then be restored to health, should no longer interfere with her happiness. The young partners soon reached the other side of the desert, where success came to them far beyond their expectations.
In her youth the mother was saved from the fatal mistake by an accident, but it caused her years of separation from child and husband. It had occurred primarily through her self-righteous sister-in-law's domination and interference. A like fate and downfall threatened the daughter, now reaching maturity. The mother's insistence separated the child from her environment. Love and understanding did the rest.
A Mexican is thrown out of a bar by a young prospector and swears to get even. Later he kidnaps the prospector's wife. In the meantime a group of drunkards shoot and kill an old Indian man. His son (Robert Harron) vows revenge and asks the tribal chief for help. The chief, however, knows better and tells him that revenge is useless. Robert Harron disobeys and mobilizes all young warriors for battle. The plot thickens. The prospector and the Mexican, who holds his wife captive, start shooting each other. However, when the Indians attack, these two make a temporary truce and join forces against the common enemy.
A country girl is persuaded to elope with the minister's nephew but she discovers that he is worthless. After he is killed in a brawl, her former sweetheart takes her back to her home.
Joe, "The Bad Man of San Fernand," is one tough customer. He sets his sights on a lovely young lady who spurns his advances and elopes with a fresh-faced young cowpoke. An angry Joe eventually gets his revenge.
A young woman’s peaceful existence is shattered when she is abducted by the crew of a boat of smugglers, who then also turn against their captain.
Griffith intercuts between the lives of two couples married on the same day. One couple is rich, the other is poor. Time passes, and in desperation over joblessness, the poor husband attempts to burgle a home, only to be captured a gunpoint by the mistress of the house. It is the home of the rich couple. While holding the poor intruder at gunpoint, the rich wife accidently discovers evidence implicating her own husband in a bribery scheme . . .
A father, anxious for his son's financial well being, develops a special soda pop called Dopokoke which is laced with cocaine. Dopokoke is advertised as relief "for that tired feeling." The drink is a success, but the son becomes addicted to it, much to his father's regret. Loosely based on the allegations that the Coca-Cola company and other soft drink manufacturers laced their soda with dope.
John and Mary divorce their spouses to marry each other. Mary dies after giving birth and the baby is taken in by John's first wife, Martha. She refuses all contact with John until many years later when he becomes ill and she finally forgives him for deserting her.
The woman of the camp implores her lover to marry her, and he promises to do so, but goes away and does not return. Target of the camp's jeers, she lives alone until her child is born dead. The doctor fears for her reason if she discovers that all her shame and anguish have been in vain. He has another maternity case on the outskirts of the camp, where the Saint, as the trapper's wife is known, dies in giving birth to a child...
A discouraged prospector is about to give up his search when he hears his two little children praying, "Please, God, help papa find gold." Their faith gives him new hope and their prayer is efficacious, for he does find it and so stakes the claim, intending to register it at his earliest opportunity. Meanwhile "Faro Kate" and her gambler husband ride by the claim and jump it, the husband urging Kate to go to the Claim Office and register it. When the prospector returns to his "diggings" he finds the gambler in possession and in a struggle the prospector falls and is hurt. The prospector's wife, arriving at the claim, realizes she must win the race to the Claim Office.
A lonely young woman lives with her strict father who forbids her to wear make-up. One day at an ice cream social, she meets a young man you seems interested in her. However, unknown to her, he is a burglar who is only interested in breaking into her father's house. One night she is awakened by a noise.
Mike breaks into an apartment to steal an old man's money, not realizing it's his girlfriend's father. When he discovers whose apartment it is, he begs her for forgiveness.
The Goddess, the prettiest and best natured girl that ever graced that little mining town, meets the tenderfoot prospector and leaves him another worshiper of her. His chances, however, are slim for Blue-grass Pete has won her affections, he having at an opportune moment saved her from the fangs of a snake which was about to attack her.
When the Great Chief's body is placed before the funeral pile by his mourning braves, his sacred blanket is covered over it and a sentinel left to watch that this, his last resting place, is not desecrated. The tribe has just departed for their village when a mountain outlaw appears and succeeds in stealing the blanket, having given the sentinel doctored whiskey. When the Indians discover this they exile the unfaithful sentinel until he can recover the blanket.
A young woman takes over her sick father's role as telegraph operator at a railway station, and has to deal with a team intent on train robbery.
Enoch Arden, a humble fisherman, marries Annie Lee. He signs on as a sailor to make more money to support their growing family. A storm wrecks his ship, but Enoch swims to a deserted island. Annie waits vainly for his return.
Union soldiers march off to battle amid cheering crowds. After the battle turns against the Union Army, one soldier runs away, hiding in his girlfriend's house. Ashamed of his cowardice, he finds his courage and crosses enemy lines to bring help to his trapped comrades.
Thieves decide to steal the money an old miser has hidden away. He refuses to open the safe for them, so they threaten to kill a girl who lives in his building.
Edith enters a convent after losing her fiancé to someone else. Years later, Edith finds him again, now poverty-stricken, and secretly helps his family.
A pretty mountain girl has to decide between three suitors, an upright young man from the mountains, a shiftless fiddler, and a visitor from the city.
William promises to marry his sweetheart, Mary, after completing medical school. William's father has saved enough money to set up William's medical practice. However, Mary's alcoholic father discovers the savings and steals it.
Made by D.W. Griffith as a complete story but split into 2 parts. Part I: Enoch Arden, a humble fisherman, marries Annie Lee. He signs on as a sailor to make more money to support their growing family. A storm wrecks his ship, but Enoch swims to a deserted island. Annie waits vainly for his return. Part II: Annie remains faithful to her husband, Enoch, even though he’s been lost at sea for many years. Finally her grown children convince her to marry Philip, her former suitor. Enoch is rescued from the deserted isle where he has been stranded, and returns home. He discovers Annie’s new life, and decides not to interrupt her happiness.
A young woman who is engaged to a millionaire she doesn't love meets and falls in love with a rough sailor.
A wagon train heading west across the great desert runs out of water, and is attacked by Indians. One man -- their last hope -- is sent out to find water.
Hard-working Dave loves Grace, but she rejects him for a flashier suitor. Grace is blinded in an accident, and her suitor abandons her. Meanwhile, Dave also goes blind from eye strain caused by overwork. Dave learns of Grace's misfortune and gives a doctor the money he was saving for his own operation, so her sight can be restored.
A Mack Sennett comedy for Biograph released as a split reel along with the comedy The Baron.
Schoolteacher Edith breaks off her engagement after an argument with her fiancé. She writes him a note of reconciliation but throws it away. Without her knowledge, one of her students fishes it out of the trash and sends it to her fiancé. Later, Edith is alone grading papers when a man bursts in and threatens her.
A young woman becomes infatuated with the leading man of a traveling theatrical troupe. She sneaks away to join him in the next town, but her father forces her to return home...
The hero, a young contractor, is mistaken by the heroine for a laborer, while he thinks she is the maid although she is the daughter of the manor. The hero continues to represent himself as a laborer in order to see the maid. The daughter, in order to continue her impersonation, borrows the maid's clothes. At the end the two main characters are brought together in their true light with the blessing of their respective mothers.
An experiment goes wrong and blinds a newly married chemist. The chemist's wife does not want to take on the burden of caring for the blind chemist so she has her younger sister take her place.
The evils of drink cause a man to separate from his family. In time he becomes sober and prosperous. Then he meets and falls in love with a young woman, and they become engaged. Unbeknownst to him this young woman is his own daughter.
Mr. and Mrs. Hilton throw a New Year's Eve party. They agree not to drink the punch themselves, but as guests begin to arrive their resolve weakens, and soon they are both cavorting drunkenly. Next morning Mr. Hilton, feeling very sick, is conscience-stricken over his behavior. He fears to face his wife until he discovers that she feels just as guilty herself.
