Owen Moore
Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well, nothing. This eye-opening documentary examines the rampant sexuality of early Hollywood through movie clips and reminiscences by stars of the era. Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and others relate tales of the artistic freedom that led to the draconian Production Code, which governed content from 1934 to 1968. Diane Lane narrates.
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
Esther Blodgett is just another starry-eyed farm kid trying to break into the movies. Waitressing at a Hollywood party, she catches the eye of her idol Norman Maine, is sent for a screen test, and before long attains stardom as newly minted Vicki Lester. She and Norman marry, though his career soon dwindles to nothing due to his chronic alcoholism.
New York singer and nightclub owner Lady Lou has more men friends than you can imagine. One of them is a vicious criminal who’s escaped and is on the way to see “his” girl, not realising she hasn’t exactly been faithful in his absence. Help is at hand in the form of young Captain Cummings, a local temperance league leader.
A man and woman fall in love at first sight, but everyone in their universe tries to keep them apart except one old fool with a sentimental heart.
Bar entertainer Zara is a discontented alcoholic who is pursued by many men but lives with novelist Carl Salter. One day, Tony shows up on Salter's estate claiming that Zara is actually Maria, the wife of his close friend Bruno, claiming that her memory was destroyed during World War I. Zara doesn't remember but leaves with Tony to Salter's dismay. Bruno, now an officer in the Italian Army, tries to coax Maria's memory back on his large estate. No one is really sure if Zara is Maria, and when Salter shows up with a mental case from Trieste that he claims is the real Maria, everyone on Bruno's estate is desperately searching for the truth.
Hush Money is a 1931 American Pre-Code comedy-drama film featuring Joan Bennett, Hardie Albright, Owen Moore, Myrna Loy, and George Raft. The movie was directed by Sidney Lanfield.
A young woman's elderly husband dies and leaves her $5 million. She travels to Paris and becomes part of the "Continental" set and is pursued by a rich playboy and a lawyer who works for her.
Fingers is planning a half-million-dollar bank robbery in gang boss Cobra Collins' territory. Fingers' moll Connie tries to bluff Cobra into thinking the hit won't be for another week when the call comes through saying it's now.
Alice Kendall is the darling of her social set, the sons and daughters of millionaires, although Alice's mother has impoverished herself to provide Alice with the luxuries she expects as her right. Mom blows what's left of her fortune to provide the best trousseau that money can buy when Alice marries Fred Garlan, and then wishes Fred lots of luck. Now, Alice is trying to coax Fred into buying her a new sable coat while Fred is busily trying to borrow enough money to keep his business afloat.
Three New York Irish brothers cross paths as policeman, doctor and bootlegger.
A busload of passengers gets stranded in a snowstorm and take refuge in an abandoned church, where they run into a mysterious man who may be on the run from the law.
The story of a girl whose past casts a shadow over her future happiness with the man who loves her. How much of her past must a girl tell the man she wants to marry?
A servant girl plays matchmaker for the local burgomaster's daughter while setting her own sights on a visiting Irishman.
The handsome Dr. John Waller specializes in the ailments of women, or more specifically, wealthy widows.
A young woman can't marry a millionaire because she was born illegitimately.
Joe, a former sea captain whose wife died during the birth of their child at sea, is now a pockmarked, disreputable divekeeper in Singapore where he indulges in shady operations with Herrick, known as The Admiral. They ship for Mandalay, where Joe's daughter lives with a priest, Father James, and tends a curio shop, unaware that her father regularly sends money to Father James for her support. Although his daughter clearly finds him abhorrent, Joe determines to take her away until he learns that The Admiral has fallen in love with her and plans to marry her. He persuades Father James (actually his brother) not to perform the ceremony, and The Admiral is shanghaied by Joe's men. The girl, suspecting Joe, goes to his brothel in Singapore and is about to be assaulted by Charlie, a lecherous Chinaman, when Joe intervenes and is stabbed. The Admiral comes to her rescue and escapes with her on a boat.
Sam Starling (Owen Moore) is deep in debt, his wife Phoebe (Claire Windsor) is leaving him and still he is confident. When Phoebe boards a luxury yacht and is wooed by the captain, Sam comes aboard as a woman and tries to seduce the captain (in fact, a liquor smuggler), away from his wife.
Two thieves, the Blackbird and West End Bertie, fall in love with the same girl, a French nightclub performer named Fifi. Each man tries to outdo the other to win her heart.
In the prologue Sharon Kimm and Mickey Reid are childhood friends in a tenement neighborhood but are separated when Sharon is placed in an orphanage. In the story we see Sharon as a young Hollywood star whose quick rise to fame leaves her self-centered, superficial, and a spendthrift. Ironically, the film that skyrocketed her to fame was written by Mickey. But her success is brief; and when it comes crashing to earth, Mickey is there to pick up the pieces.
Gilda is a crook who wants to go straight, but her pals keep holding her back. She moves to Hollywood to begin anew but the old gang follows behind. Can she stop them from ruining her new life?
Squire Peachem (Ford Sterling) wants to marry the innkeeper's daughter (Normand). Since Peachem has a hefty mortgage on the inn, he thinks he can use it to effect a union, but the girl is not interested in him. She already has a sweetheart, handsome Randolph Roanoke (Owen Moore). Peachem and his dumb-as-dirt assistant, Blaa Blaa (Sennett), try to keep Roanoke and Mabel apart. Their feeble attempts are in vain, and Mabel easily manages to outwit them and win the man she loves. - Janiss Garza
Henry Baird, a young newspaperman with a second-hand car but little money, decides to raffle off the car at a county picnic, so that he can take out his sweetheart, Mabel Darrow, the daughter of a wealthy businessman. However, as soon as Henry gets the money, his tailor demands that he pay off his debt. Also, youngsters set the car on fire before he can give to the winner, Joseph Plant, whose wife Evelyn was formerly Henry's sweetheart.
When newlywed Robert Ellis suspects that his missing wife is having a clandestine affair, he appeals to his friend, Pat Murphy, to find her. Pat's search leads him to the Waldorf-Astoria where he finds a woman named Edna Ellis and, assuming that she is Ellis' errant wife, kidnaps her and returns her to Ellis. Complications arise when the real Mrs. Ellis arrives home and discovers another woman. After several comic incidents, Pat falls in love with Edna and Ellis learns that his wife's secret rendezvous was with her sister.
Wastrel New York millionaire Roland Van Dam travels to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, looking for adventure and romance. Because the costume he is wearing includes a red gardenia, he is mistaken for escaped prisoner Emile Le Duc by a woman (who turns out to be a long-lost cousin) who was to meet Le Duc, who was to be wearing a red gardenia. It turns out that Le Duc is the head of a vicious gang of counterfeiters, and Roland winds up getting in more adventures than he had hoped for.
Nell Gordon's father was once a burglar, but he has turned over a new leaf. When he falls ill, however, the burglar's old cronies persuade Nell to help them in a bank robbery, supposedly to raise funds for their sick friend. Nell gets a job in the bank, and learns how to open the safe, but then she falls in love with Jim Brooks, another bank employee, and decides not to help with the robbery after all. The crooks try to force her father to insist, and when he refuses, they shoot him. Seeing their true colors, Nell forms a plan. She agrees to help with the robbery, but in the middle of the heist she calls the sheriff. Of course the story ends with the crooks in jail, and Nell and Jim in love.
When Pete Milholland (Owen Moore) goes on a drunken spree, his fiancee, Alice Gardner (Eva Francis), gives him back his ring. Still woozy, he stumbles out of his home to leave for Europe and winds up at Coney Island. There he meets a pretty dancer, Tessie (Irene Fenwick), and decides she can heal his broken heart. Tessie and her father view him dubiously, and her sweetheart, Jan the boatman (William Bailey), is furious. But Pete insists on bringing Tessie and her father into his social circle.
Meena Bauer is the heroine of this romance of a Pennsylvania Dutch girl, who is loved by the son of a Mennonite family. Meena treats Jacob as a joke in spite of the arrangement their parents have made that they should wed. The Mennonite simplicity has no charms for Meena, who proceeds to fall in love with Count Fredrick von Ritz
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
Mabel has just gotten engaged during a housewarming party of which her mother is the hostess. When an annoying party guest persuades Mabel to dance with him, Mabel hurries through the dance and then goes to look for her fiancé, only to discover him caressing another woman. Her fiancé finds not only Mabel, but also her mother, very displeased, and not inclined to believe his explanation.
Nell Gwynne and King Charles II fall in love after meeting at a fox hunt. Nell soon learns the jealous Duchess of Portsmouth is a spy and conspiring with the Duke of Buckingham to place Charles at the mercy of the King of France. Nell boldly disguises herself as a fashionable young blade and wins the confidence of the Duchess. Now entrusted with the delivery of important documents, she makes sure they go to the King of England rather than the King of France.
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.
Frank Andrews is a successful businessman. He has always found pride and joy in the company of his wife, son and daughter. He suddenly finds himself enthralled by the advances of a gay young woman siren, who lives in the same apartment house as he does. So marked an influence does she have over him as time progresses that at last he quite forgets his home ties, neglects his family, and goes the way of many other men who have forgotten the meaning of paternity and blood ties. The story is advanced through many scenes enacted with the accompanying notes of New York's night life, and the denouement comes when the faithful wife discovers her husband's infidelity. At this time the mother's mind nearly loses balance, while Jane, the beautiful daughter, crazed by the grief of her mother, determines to take part in the tragedy. With revolver in hand she steals up to the apartment of the woman, but her frail nature is overcome by the temperamental anger of the woman and her mission fails.
Based on Charles Perrault's fairy tale: Cinderella is mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, but she is able to go to the Royal Ball with the help of the Fairy Godmother.
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.
The daughter of an aristocratic Southern family, proud, but impoverished, enters into a marriage of convenience with a wealthy stockbroker.
Flo is the headmistress at Dow's School for Boys (enrollment: 12). The boys get too rowdy at the dinner table, so she dismisses the popular, but permissive, assistant principal. But the boys sneak out and he teaches them outdoors, until Flo turns the garden hose on them and chases the boys into the ice-house, which she locks. After an hour, she sends a bucket of hot coffee in with the assistant principal, but she removes the ladder he uses, stranding him. After another hour, he agrees to surrender, and she releases the boys. He leaves, but love has bloomed in the interim.
Flo is not like the other girls at the Ferncliffe Seminary, in that she does not like the attention of the young men at the nearby college, and their efforts to win her affection prove disastrous to their ruffled spirits. Flo has a guardian, John Strong, who has made some unfortunate speculations and to recover his losses uses his ward's fortune, and in the end loses all. He writes to his son and tells him the truth and the only way to keep himself out of jail is a marriage between his son, Owen, and Flo, his ward. Owen arrives home and after persuasion on his father's part, agrees to help him. Flo is invited down for a visit.
A matchmaking wife brings suspicion upon herself when she tries to reunite a young couple.
When a minister tries to clean up Riverton, he finds an unexpected ally in the barkeeper's daughter.
An unattractive girl endeavors to make herself attractive to an artist, but he sees only the artificial beauty of a model.
A foolish suitor gains favor in a girl's eyes when he pretends to have saved her life. When the truth is known, she rejects him for the real hero.
A country suitor's jealousy of his rival for his sweetheart's hand culminates in fisticuffs.
Dr. Jane Bixby, a new doctor in a rural town, solves the mystery of the moonshiner's still.
Little Flo is the daughter of a blind musician and the pair live by means of the few pennies tossed to them on the street, the father playing the violin and Flo dancing and singing to his accompaniment. Death overtakes the old man in front of the country residence of an eccentric novelist named Roland. Roland and his sister take Flo into their home and, becoming much attached to her, they virtually adopt her.
Two actors, trying to soak up local color for an upcoming play, fall in love with the same girl.
A lost film. Left motherless at seventeen, Mary Fuller stepped into her mother's place as not only the head, but support of the family. Her father married beneath him and had been disowned by his aristocratic family. The woman brought up her daughter with but one idea: that father's happiness was to be always the first consideration. Unfortunately, he repaid this devotion by sinking to ever increasing depths of ignominy until at the time of his wife's death his entire existence was spent in a drinking place.
Betty, a farm cook, yearns to be an actress, but her dreams turn into nightmares, and she seeks comfort in the arms of a hired hand.
An heiress, under the protection of the Queen, falls in love with a poor knight.
Two old sweethearts, Henry Jones and Mrs. Mary Owen, he a widower and she a widow, meet at a summer resort and, renewing their old love, get married. On their way back to the city they send telegrams home, he to his only daughter, Florence, and she to her only son, Tom. The children receive the telegrams and are filled with disappointment.
A long-lost film starring actress Mary Pickford. She received her first on-screen credit in this film. In it she plays a wife fighting with her husband (Owen Moore). A solitary copy was discovered in a barn by carpenter Peter Massie in 2006.
A lost film. Flora Powell and Arthur Lennox are lovers, but the girl's stern father has other plans for his daughter, preferring the Rev. John Maxwell for a son-in-law. Arthur receives a note from Flora informing him her father is to take her on an automobile tour in company with the minister. Arthur proves to be a resourceful young man and he visits the automobile garage, and makes an arrangement to drive the car in which the tour is made.
A young Spanish couple want to be together, but are hindered by the girl's parents. They try a ruse to get a chance to be alone, but it is discovered. The young man then decides to resort to more daring methods.
A lost film. Paula, the fisher-maid is asked by Ambrose Fenton to be his wife; she consents, and tells her father. The honest old fisherman is doubtful of the sincerity of Ambrose and his suspicions are confirmed when he sees his daughter's lover in the company of a woman of his own social set. He and his daughter spying through a gate see Ambrose kiss the girl. Paula resolves to end her life and staggers to the beach, throws the oars out of a fishing dory and, seating herself in the boat, is washed out to sea. Her father organises a search but they only discover the missing boat and the oars on the sand.
Jimmie Keene is an ardent devotee of the art of self-defense and never misses a boxing match when he can help it. Jimmie's father, however, being a deacon in the church naturally frowns upon such affairs, regarding them as brutal and demoralizing. Jimmie buys a ticket for an exhibition of this nature, but in rushing out of the house to attend it, he drops his ticket and leaves without it. The ticket is picked up by the maid, who hands it to Deacon Keene.
A lost film. Hiram Flint, a young gambler and horseman, loves Madge, the daughter of James Spotwood but she repulses him. He buys a mortgage on the farm of Spotwood. The interest on the mortgage is due to be paid but Owen, Spotwood's son gambles and loses the money at roulette. James Spotwood has given to Owen a thoroughbred and they enter it in a race at the county fair in an effort to get back the money lost. Flint also has a horse entered and drugs the Spotwood rider on the eve of the race.
A lost film. Mary has been invited by friends to officiate at a charity bazaar as the fortune teller. Her brother invites his artist friend Jack to pay them a visit. On the way home the auto breaks down and Mary in her gypsy costume decides to walk on. Jack arriving by train also decides to walk. On the way he spies a gypsy camp. Further on he encounters Mary, who has hurt her ankle. He is smitten by her beauty and asks her if she belongs to the gypsy camp he has just seen. She says no and escapes, dropping a side comb. He picks it up and decides to find her again. He comes to the house and meets the family, including Mary, but does not recognize her in her ordinary clothes.
A lost film. Louis Perry is discharged from the penitentiary, having served his sentence. He immediately resumes relations with his evil companions. One day he happens to meet Lillian Garvey, a Salvation Army worker. One of his companions insults her and Louis resents it and incurs his enmity. Lillian is the only good woman he has known for years and he learns to love her. Her influence tempts him to abandon the life he is leading, and he attends the services and becomes converted. Just at this juncture Madeline Raymond, a woman of the underworld, who was his sweetheart before he was arrested, again comes into his life.
An elderly woman looks back on the special times in her life, thinking especially about her now-departed husband and the things they did together. Though it is sad that these times are now gone, she is comforted by her memories and by the hope of sharing in the lives of her child and grandchildren.
Of the over 30 one-reelers Mary Pickford made in Cuba for Carl Laemmle’s Independent Motion Pictures Company, A Manly Man is one of few that survives today. Pickford plays Lola, a young Filipino woman who falls in love with Duncan (William E. Shay), a Caucasian man sent to her village on business. After Lola risks her life nursing his fever and saving him from a knife attack, Duncan marries her and resists the temptation to return to his American fiancée. Directed by Thomas Ince and co-starring Pickford’s first husband Owen Moore, A Manly Man was later reissued under the title His Gratitude (1914).
A lost film. Gertrude Edgar is loved by Tom Moreland and Owen Jackson, and Gertrude, being a woman, is inclined to a mild flirtation with Jackson, while loving Moreland devotedly. Very soon Moreland is invited to join a party to discover the headwaters of the Amazon River. After reading reports of Tom's supposed death Gertrude promises Owen that she will marry him he if he can find and bring back Tom safely to her.
A lost film. Lieutenant Shannon ( Owen Moore ) finds himself shipwrecked on an island and throws a bottle with a message into the sea, hoping it will reach civilization. His brave spirit impresses the islands savages and the King offers him the hand of his daughter in marriage. A rescue party suddenly disrupts the wedding already in progress, and the lieutenant is reunited with his sweetheart Louise Spencer ( Mary Pickford ). The heart-broken maiden stands alone, like a statue on a rock as she watches the boat carry away the man she loved.
Lieutenant Robbins, a young naval officer, sees Haydee the favored inmate of the sultan's harem and is smitten by her charms. She is also interested in the handsome young American. She manages to write him a note that is delivered to him on the deck of his warship lying at anchor in a harbor and implores him to effect her rescue,
A lost film. The king is good-natured and doesn't suspect that the queen is plainly beginning to think too much of one of the courtiers. The queen's sister is aware ofthe situation and saves the queen by taking her place. This deceives the king, but he requires that the villain and the queen's sister be married which complicates the situation as the sister is in love with another courtier entirely.
A lost film. Mr. Browntop and Miss Kelsomine go out to play golf. They engage Andrew McTavish, a lean Scotchman, as caddy. After teeing the ball, Browntop hoists it with a tremendous drive into the sky. They search and search, but still no ball. At length, wearied with the quest, they lie down in a haystack to sleep. They wake 20 years later, aged and forlorn, but still continuing the search for the ball.
While painting the demure little model, Vera, who sat for him day after day, Reginald Spencer was unconscious of the fact that she was falling very deeply in love with him. Success comes Reginald's way and he has a commission to paint the portrait of a handsome society girl. Between the artist and this lady something like affection springs up and poor little Vera finds herself out in the cold and so plots her revenge.
The story opens with a pretty love scene between the Lieutenant and his betrothed, Kate Stanley. Hammond is ordered to join his regiment in Cuba and Kate is heartbroken. He tells her they must part, and the girl decides to be brave. She exacts from him a promise that he will be true to her, and not indulge in any flirtations with the dark-eyed senoritas she has been told lure men from their vows of constancy in the land of flowers. Hammond is only too willing to swear eternal constancy. Kate places in his watch case a photograph of herself, kisses her manly soldier, and the leave-taking is very affectionate. The scene reverts to Cuba, Lieutenant Hammond arrives, and is impressed with the country. Kate, having relatives in Havana, receives an invitation to pay them a visit and eagerly accepts, thinking she will meet her lover. She is apprised of his arrival at Havana, and, knowing the predilection of soldiers to flirt, resolves to investigate.
A lost film. George Dupont, a young farmer, is living with his parents on the farm, while his sweetheart, Sadie Allen, resides on an adjoining farm. George finds rural life irksome and is satisfied that he has talent as an artist. He enters a school of art. Unfortunately, a year passes and his money is exhausted, so the instructor tells him he has no talent, and dismissed him from the school. George tries to write home of his failure, but his nerve fails him. Meanwhile those at home have been waiting in vain for a letter, so Sadie resolves to go to the city and look him up.
A lost film. Claude Marlow, Eugene Wilson and Fred Strong pose as a trio of mashers whom women cannot resist. However, They soon find have have met their match with the arrival of Edith Morton, the new dentist.
A lost film. Mary the tomboy, and Owen, the sportsman, have an equal aversion to the opposite sex. . Meeting at the trout stream one day, Owen orders Mary off his side of the stream, where she has comfortably ensconced herself. But alas! Cupid has not lost his opportunity and the die is cast. Mary's uncle, although seemingly severe, has a tenderness for an interesting spinster of uncertain age and plans to get Mary married off at the behest of the spinster lady.
A lost film. Jose Almedo is a cattle thief. Marie, his wife, endeavors to assist him. Jose and his band plan to run off some cattle belonging to a rancher. Marie goes to warn them, carrying her little girl, Nello. In her desperation, she struggles across the range but is in the path of the cattle which are being pursued by the thieves. Marie is trampled to death but the child is unharmed. Years elapse and Nello has grown to be a woman.
A wife tries to drive away her husband's best friend by flirting with him, but trouble arises when the friend flirts back.
During the Civil War, a father living in a border state leaves to join the Union Army. After he leaves, Confederate troops forage on his property, where a soldier encounters one of his daughters. The father himself is wounded on a hazardous mission and must run for his life, pursued by Confederate soldiers.
Gerald and Percy inherit a fortune and spend all of it in pursuit of a young heiress.
There is always a right girl for all of us; sometime, somewhere, somehow we find her. But often the discovery leads through strange channels and peculiar by-ways. A young heiress, discouraged by fruitless efforts to secure a suitable husband at the seashore and fashionable summer resorts, decides to go to visit her old nurse, to recuperate. She does not want the town people to know she is an heiress, so she changes places with the nurse's daughter. A youth who is pretty much "down and out" receives a letter from a city friend saying that the heiress is in town. The friend advises him to board at the house at which she is staying with the intention of courting the her.
A rejected suitor rebuffs the woman he loves after the death of her husband.
Owen Moore is addicted to gambling and about to lose his family and job because of it. James Kirkwood, his brother-in-law, shows up and cures him of his gambling fever.
A young secretary is locked in an airtight vault by a robber. Only her boss knows the combination, and he is off on a journey. Can the boss's son locate his absent-minded father before it is too late for the girl?
A jealous husband misinteprets the performance his actress wife is putting on with his best friend.
The Duke, in an effort to 'save' his daughter from marriage to a poor lad of noble birth, hatches a plot which nearly costs the life of that very daughter.
A young couple must endure a tedious visit from their aunt until their friend offers to find a way to make her leave.
Reverend Howson loves his young ward, but urges her to marry someone else. She accepts the proposal, but then sees the Reverend kissing an object she has dropped, and realizes he loves her.
During the French Revolution, a wealthy couple lives safely by professing republican beliefs. When a mob attacks a nearby chateau an aristocrat bursts into the couple's home. They save his life by disguising him as a servant, but he soon forces his attentions on the wife. Hearing their struggle, the husband intervenes and, stripping the aristocrat of his disguise, thrusts him outdoors to be killed by the mob.
Soon after their engagement, Bill goes to sea, and Emily vows to stay true until his return. Unknown to her, Bill marries another woman from a different port. Emily waits faithfully for six years, finally becoming dangerously ill. When Bill suddenly appears in town with his family, Joe, who has loved Emily all along, forces Bill to make Emily's final moments happy by pretending he has returned to marry her.
Mack Sennett appears as a man in the crowd in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
Mary Pickford's debut! Henry and Marion have a lover's quarrel and part in anger. They do not reconcile, and ten years pass without contact. Marion becomes a society girl and spends her time at parties with her friends. Henry has become very ill and wishes to see Marion one more time. He writes asking her to visit. When she recieves the note, she laughs and tosses it on the floor, but, later, on a whim, decides to take all her drunken friends with her to visit him. When they arrive, Marion finds Henry dead, clutching her portrait in his hand. She sends her friends away and falls to her knees in remorse.
This is a very short and rare attempt at comedy by D. W. Griffith.
Pippa awakes and faces the world outside with a song. Unknown to her, the music has a healing effect on all who hear her as she passes by.
Nellie flees her old life and goes east to become a nurse, where she marries a doctor. One of her old colleagues finds her and tries to blackmail her. When the blackmail plot is exposed, Nellie's husband expresses his complete faith in her.
A son leaves to seek his fortune in the city. Many years later he returns and checks into his parents' inn. They don't recognize him, but noticing his fat wallet, plan to rob him.
Mary is coerced into helping with a burglary of a minister's apartment. Later she repents and goes to the minister's storefront mission to help.
"Fine feathers make fine birds." and handsome gowns make handsome women, and a handsome woman is the most fascinating thing extant. Hence it is when Isabelle appears on the scene clad in a gown that is a masterpiece of the dressmaker's art she easily fascinates the male contingent, among whom is Enrico, the sweetheart of Veronica, a street singer. Enrico is so enraptured at the sight of Isabelle in her resplendent attire that he becomes her abject slave, casting aside the poor, peasant-clad little Italian street singer, who has loved him devotedly. Crushed almost beyond endurance the poor girl stands sobbing at the entrance of the park where the inconsistent lever left her. Her tears attract the attention of a wealthy young couple who happen to pass. In answer to their queries she tells them how contemptibly her sweetheart acted, and all because of the fascinating influence of a gown.
It's Bob Allen's twenty-first birthday. His mother and his brother Jack, a policeman present him with a cap, personalized with his initals in the lining. Jack then goes to work and Bob goes out also. Later in the evening, Jack is called to the scene of a robbery, where he finds the cap with his brother's initials. Dismayed by the idea that his brother is a thief, he goes home and confronts Bob with the evidence. Though it breaks their mother's heart, Jack does his duty and leads his brother out in handcuffs.
Two boys, twins, leave the old homestead to seek their fortune in the world. They go divergent roads, and are soon widely separated one from the other, but they grow lonesome and try to find each other's whereabouts, without success. We lose sight of Bill and Dick is seen up against it good and hard. For him the future looks like a chalk ring on a blackboard, until he happens to saunter along the Bowery, where the manager of a dime museum offers him a job to play the gorilla. It looks good so he accepts. It is pretty sort until the astute impresario decides to pull off an innovation: that is, a gorilla and lion in the same cage. Of course Dick objects most strenuously to this arrangement, but his objections are quailed with a treacherous looking run, so he is forced to share the same menagerie hallroom with the lion.
An Indian comforts a dying prospector in his last moments. In exchange, the prospector tells him the location of his gold claim. A group of cowboys tries to get the information and go as far as kidnapping the Indian's wife.
A confirmed bachelor learns that he will inherit his late uncle's fortune only if he marries, which he does reluctantly. Shortly afterward he returns to his bachelor lifestyle but realizes he can't get his wife's face out of his thoughts.
Mack Sennett appears as a butler and a man in an office in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
A gang of thieves lure a man out of his home so that they can rob it and threaten his wife and children. The family barricade themselves in an interior room, but the criminals are well-equipped for breaking in. When the father finds out what is happening, he must race against time to get back home.
An anonymous donor drops a gold coin in the shoe of a homeless girl as she sleeps. A gambler with a 'sure thing' borrows the coin and wins a fortune, but he can't find her again to repay her.
After three years at sea, Edward returns home to find his sweetheart forced into an engagement with a much older man.
Mack Sennett appears as a party guest in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
A wife offers to support her artist husband by teaching piano. She can't find work at the conservatory, and ends up working in a laundry, without telling him the truth. When he discovers her lie, he is determined to leave her, until she is injured and he understands the sacrifice she made for him.
Lady Florence hides her lover, a Prussian spy, from the French troops who are hunting for him. One of her other suitors, a French officer, discovers the hiding place and threatens to kill the spy.
George Peabody is a young man who has been giving free rein to his inclinations, the principal one being drink. One might have concluded he was lost, but there was the chance which the hand of Providence always bestows in the person of pretty little Ruth King, who had secretly loved George since their childhood days. She succeeds in persuading him from his reckless life, and he determines to cut off from his old loose companions by going out West and making a man of himself. Bidding Ruth and her mother good-bye, he realizes that he loves his little preserver and promises to return worthy of her love and confidence. They plight their troth with their first kiss and a heart shaped locket, which Ruth wears, she breaking it in two, giving George one side while she retains the other, which symbolized the reunion of their hearts with his return.
A young courtier gambles in a tavern and wins a coat from the leader of a gang. In the pocket he finds details of a plan to kidnap the Queen. He returns to the castle and hides until the kidnappers show up, then he exposes the kidnapping plot.
Schneider is trying to write a speech but he can't concentrate with all the noise around him. During the night, Schneider catches burglars in his house, but when he sees they are stealing all the noisy distractions, he helps them get away.
A court fool believes the Duke is after his beautiful daughter, and arranges to have the Duke murdered. The daughter overhears the plot and, disguised in the Duke's cloak, sacrifices her life to save him.
In an Indian tribe, a girl escapes from her father and suitor to be with the man she loves.
Mary marries James, after jilting his brother Luke. Mary's sister arrives and soon James is professing his love to her. The shock of this kills Mary and leaves her newborn daughter motherless. Luke offers to raise the daughter. Years later James returns and tries to convince his daughter to leave Luke, the only father she's ever known, and come with him.
A mountain girl is seduced by a traveler from the valley. Her brother tracks the seducer down and kills him. In retaliation, the sheriff captures the brother and prepares to lynch him. Mother intervenes and, to save her son the disgrace of hanging, shoots him.
Brothers George and Robert enlist on opposite sides in the Civil War. Robert is captured as a spy for the South, but escapes and hides in his parents' house. George leads the search party, but doesn't reveal his brother's hiding place, and Robert escapes. After the war, George is a hero and Robert is down on his luck. George cautiously welcomes him back into the family home.
Mack Sennett appears as a man at the dance and a cop in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
A tramp tries to get himself arrested so he can sleep in the nice, warm jail, but the police keep ignoring him or arresting the wrong person.
A man arrives home late and drunk as usual. His wife reminds him that he's supposed to take their daughter out to a play. While watching the play, he's faced with his own drinking evils and how his life would be without them.
Nekhludoff, a Russian nobleman serving on a jury, discovers that the young girl on trial, Katusha, is someone he once seduced and abandoned and that he himself bears responsibility for reducing her to crime. He sets out to redeem her and himself in the process.
During the American Revolution, a young soldier carrying a crucial message to General Washington is spotted and pursued by a group of enemy soldiers. He takes refuge with a civilian family, but is soon detected. The family and their neighbors must then make plans to see that the important message gets through after all.
One of the members of a suicide club learns he has inherited some money, but only after he drew the fatal lot and is expected to kill himself. Presumed to be a lost film.
A contest is being held in Cremona for the best violin, with Giannina's hand in marriage as the prize. Filippo is secretly in love with her, but is also ashamed of being a cripple, so he switches his superior violin with that of another apprentice, Sandro, whom Giannina loves.
Mack Sennett appears as an extra in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
Harry leaves his new wife at home while he goes out to play poker. Angry, his wife fakes evidence that she has had a male caller while he was gone.
A short version of James Fenimore Cooper's famous tale about Natty Bumppo, or "Hawkeye," and his exploits during the French and Indian war.
William is drawn to Edward's wife, Helen. Sensing his feelings might lead him into an affair, he decides to go away. As he says goodbye to Helen, Edward spies from behind a curtain. Soon afterwards Edward shoots himself, believing Helen can be happier with William. When William returns to convince Helen to become his wife, she refuses, blaming herself for Edward's suicide.
A husband suspects his wife of an affair. The wife's cousin borrows a shawl to meet her lover in the garden. The husband spies the couple embracing, and, thinking it's his wife, he strikes the lover. The thought that he has killed a man temporarily unhinges the husband's mind until he can be convinced that the lover is still alive.
The story tells of the young widowed mother of two children who is forced by extreme poverty to part with one of her children, a baby girl, by placing it in a basket on the door steps of a wealthy banker. Before leaving the baby the poor mother takes one of its little shoes to keep as a memento.
