Grace Henderson
Although she is engaged to the wealthy Freddy Ruyter, Barbara Wright prefers her father's handsome Irish chauffeur, Dan Murray, and marries him. The newlyweds struggle to survive on Dan's meager income, but Barbara's father, furious with them both, nearly destroys their happiness by securing Dan's dismissal from several jobs. ...
After learning that her stepfather, John Braun, is a spy, Ruth leaves him and starts out upon a cross-country journey. In her travels, she sees a plane crash to earth and rushes to assist its pilot, John Barker. The two fall in love and are married. In the midst of their honeymoon, war breaks out and John is called to his post, leaving Ruth alone with only the servants to protect her. In John's absence, the enemy invades the countryside, commandeers the Barker house and imprisons Ruth in her room. Meanwhile, John takes leave to search for his wife. Managing to get through the enemy line, he arrives just as Ruth, enraged at the action of the invaders, dynamites the cellar of the house. As the building explodes, Ruth and John escape in his plane.
Princess Sylvia refuses to marry the Emperor Maximilian of Rhaetia because his proposal has been offered for diplomatic rather than romantic reasons. Learning that Maximilian is traveling to a hunting lodge in a small village, Sylvia follows him, disguised as an untitled English girl, and the emperor immediately falls in love with her.
A lost film. A successful stage actress with a hidden past as a criminal is kept on the path of righteousness by a benefactor.
An elderly actor who lives with his wife and daughter is dismissed from his acting job because he is considered too old. On his way home from the theatre he panics at the thought of telling his family the bad news and decides to disguise himself as a beggar. His daughter's beau accidentally gives him a five dollar gold piece, thinking that it was a smaller coin. A chase ensues with a policeman, the daughter, and her beau in hot pursuit. When caught he is recognized by his shocked daughter, but is quickly forgiven by all. Meanwhile the actor hired to replace him has already been fired and a messenger is dispatched to rehire the Old Actor to the delight of his wife, daughter, and fellow actors.
The physician's death orphans his two adolescent daughters. Their older brother is able to convert some of the doctor's small estate to cash. But it is late in the day, and with the banks closed he stores the money in his father's household safe. The slatternly housekeeper, aware of the money, enlists a criminal acquaintance to crack the safe. She attempts to get into the adjacent room where the sisters tremble in fear, but finds that the door is locked. The drunken housekeeper menaces them by brandishing a gun through a hole in the wall.
A first-born baby girl, is sent away and placed in the care of Gretchen, a trusted peasant woman, who is the widowed mother of a child about the same age. The two children grow up as sisters. Later, upon her deathbed, the noble lady repents and sends for her child to reinstate her. Gretchen takes this opportunity to make a great lady of her own daughter Lena, the goose girl, by sending her to court instead of the real heiress. Hence Lena is taken before the noble lady as she breathes her last, happy in the belief that she has made reparation. Lena is now a great lady, but the title does not fit well. She longs to be back with Gretchen and her "geeses".
When the suitor of the daughter of an apparently wealthy widow finds out that the oil stocks, in which her late husband's fortune is invested, are worthless, he finds the daughter less attractive. The widow's broker has a wealthy friend, who becomes very interested in the girl, although he is twice her age. He proposes marriage, believing that he can win her love through kindness. The girl, for her mother' sake accepts and they are married. Despite his great love he is unable to overcome the great difference in their ages, so he buys the worthless oil stock so that she may be independent, and he then leaves her to go back to his oil fields. His sacrifice arouses the girl's love and she follows him to tell him of her awakening.
A man loses his business and his fiancée, and drifts into the saloons. There he meets a similarly-downtrodden young woman. She works behind the scenes to help him recover his life, and eventually he realizes how steadfast she is.
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.
The boy, who is the idol of his widowed mother, returns from college with a collegiate record she is justly proud of. To mark the occasion his boyhood sweetheart and her mother come to spend a few days. The too-indulgent mother, however, is blind to the fact that the boy is spending most of his evenings in full dress, which should have told her that Bohemian society was engaging his attention. A showgirl, who learns that he will soon come into great wealth, determines to win him. Unsophisticated as he is, he is an easy prey. A friend of the family warns the mother of her boy's danger,
The daughter of a poor seamstress takes a package to the house of her mother’s wealthy employer and meets the lady’s son. The son requests a date and eventually proposes marriage. His mother is horrified and disowns him. After the marriage they live in an elegant flat and she meets her husband’s social set at the parties that they host. Her husband becomes preoccupied with business worries, leaving her vulnerable to the attentions of a rake. After he is ruined, they are forced to move to cheaper quarters. Her husband goes out to look for work. The rake appears and proposes that she leave with him. As she is packing her bags, she finds the wreath of orange blossoms that her husband had brought to her on her wedding day, which they had stored away together after the marriage. She orders the rake out of the house and begins to clean up. Her husband, who has found a job meanwhile, comes home to a cooked supper.
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.
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 young girl working as a waitress at a resort for the wealthy is swept off her feet by a rich young gentleman, and before she knows it, she's pregnant.
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...
During the Civil War a young soldier loses his nerve in battle and runs away to his home to hide; his sister puts on his uniform, takes her brother's place in the battle, and is killed. Their mother, not wanting the shameful truth to become known, closes all the shutters (hence the film's title) and keeps her son's presence a secret for many years, though two boyhood chums stumble upon the truth...
A wealthy, callous moneylender finds a terrifying way to learn about money's limitations.
After conducting a raid on a Rebel camp, a Czarist officer discovers that his wife has joined the revolutionaries. Out of loyalty to his wife, the officer resigns his commission and escapes with her to America. Several years later, the ex-officer is gainfully employed as a waiter in a Russian restaurant. For the sake of his grown son, who is engaged to marry a wealthy socialite, our hero pretends to be a man of great wealth and prestige. The truth is revealed in the final scene, but "Waiter Number 5" is saved from disgrace by the timely arrival of his former superior officer.
Mrs. Weston’s child dies and she mourns her loss. Meanwhile, two young girls are placed in an orphanage after their mother dies. They escape to search for her in Heaven, and arrive at Mrs. Weston’s house. She decides to adopt them.
Young Tom Powers has a wild, irresponsible lifestyle which is condemned by his father but indulged by his well-meaning mother. Tom is pressed to pay his gambling debts, but his father refuses to give him the money. Later, the father plans a business trip on which he will be carrying a large amount of cash. In desperation, Tom disguises himself and surreptitiously enters the house to steal his father’s wallet. Seeing the "burglar" but unaware of his identity, his mother removes the money from the wallet and substitutes the timetable on which Tom’s father had marked his itinerary, intending to give Tom the money and blame the theft on the "burglar". Tom is later apprehended by the police, and his father, called to the station, opens the retrieved wallet and finds the timetable inside. Instantly realizing what has happened, he allows his son to go free. Tom is sobered by the incident and goes away to make a fresh start in life.
When Mabel is requested by her mother to accompany her to the church meeting, she sends Muggsy a note asking him to meet her after the service so as to walk home with her. Muggsy is there on time, however, two spinsters, on their way to church, are accosted by a couple of burly tramps and they were afraid to make the return trip unaccompanied. So the pastor asks that some of the men escort them. Poor Muggsy gets chosen but when the trio reach the deserted part of the road the tramps again appear.
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.
Poor Hiram didn't anticipate the trouble laid out for him when he and his wife went for a stroll in the park.
Julian loves his cousin and foster sister Camilla, who is wooed and won by Lionel, his friend and rival. He is a witness to their marriage and after the ceremony he departs heartbroken to his own house. Utopian was the existence of Lionel and Camilla, until some time later Camilla is seized with a serious illness, and Lionel's grief knew no bounds when he heard "That low knell tolling his lady dead." "She had lain three days without a pulse all that look'd on her had pronounced her dead, So they bore her, for in Julian's land they never nail a dumb head up in elm, bore her free-faced to the free airs of heaven, and laid her in the vault of her own kin." Julian learns of the death of Camilla, and hastens to the house, arriving in time to see the funeral cortège moving slowly towards the sepulcher. Following in its wake he exclaims, "Now, now, will 1 go down into the grave; I will be all alone with all I love."
Edward Rose, owner of an independent sugar company, resists the "Sugar Trust". His partner, however, conspires with the Trust to force Rose into bankruptcy. Rose’s two young daughters go to Wall Street to plead with the Trust president. Unmoved by their offer to turn over their small savings, the president finally succumbs to their tears. He offers Rose a job and happiness returns to the family.
On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.
