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- Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
- A young sculptor searches for the perfect model to inspire his work.
- The wealthy Schuyler family hires a strict governess, Quincy, to watch over their daughter Marcia. When the parents leave on a trip to Japan they tell Quincy to send Marcia to a boarding school while they're gone, but Marcia--wanting nothing to do with a boarding school--switches places with Quincy's niece, who is being sent to an orphanage. She is "adopted" by the Benton family, who own a farm. Soon the carefree Marcia begins to have an effect on the dour Benton household--but complications ensue.
- Left a penniless orphan at 14, Jane Eyre is adopted by her uncle, who has ample means to provide for her and also loves her dearly. Her uncle's family considers her an intruder and do all in their power to prevent her from becoming a full member of their family, but during his lifetime she receives some degree of kindness and consideration. Unfortunately, he dies and leaves her without a friend in the world and his unfeeling widow sends her to a badly-run orphan asylum. Five years later she leaves the asylum to accept the position of governess to Lord Rochester's little niece, daughter of his late brother. Her mother has become insane and is living in Lord Rochester's home under his protection. Jane is engaged by Lord Rochester's housekeeper during his absence from home, and her first meeting with her employer is both exciting and romantic. She is sitting by the edge of the road reading when Lord Rochester rides up to his ancestral home. The sight of his huge dog, coming upon her suddenly, so startles Jane that she jumps to her feet, causing Lord Rochester's horse to shy and throw it rider. He injures his ankle, and has to be assisted to remount "the little witch," as he calls her, who is the cause of his accident. That same evening in his home, he is surprised to find that "the little witch" of his adventure is living in his house as his niece's governess. Jane's rich relations, the Reeds, visit Lord Rochester, and persistently insult and humiliate her by treating her like a servant. Lord Rochester, however, is not blind to her sweetness, nor to the cruelty of her cousin, who is trying to win Lord Rochester's hand and fortune. One evening the maniac escapes from her nurse and sets fire to the room in which Lord Rochester has fallen asleep. He is saved from a horrible death by Jane. When next Jane's haughty aunt and cousins call on Lord Rochester, they are just in time to be introduced to his bride, who is none other than the despised Jane Eyre.
- A young artist is a great lover of the beautiful, and has a natural horror of anything repulsive. He fails in love with a girl who satisfies his artistic requirements. The Girl's father, a worldly wise inventor, does not approve of his daughter's choice. He realizes that the young artist has many limitations, and doubts if he will make his daughter happy. The girl, when told of his fears, at first laughs them to scorn. Then she begins to doubt herself. Finally, a chance comes to test the father's theory. There is an explosion in the laboratory, and the girl, in trying to save her father, is badly injured. The artist hurries around to the house, and finds that the girl he loves is disfigured for life. She offers him his freedom and returns him his ring. The young man is not of the stuff of which heroes are made. His love cannot survive the loss of the girl's beauty. He takes the ring and hurries away. And the fears of the father are proven. As time rolls on the artist finds that he cannot forget the girl he once hoped to wed. Gradually he forgets her beauty, and thinks more and more of her character and mental attributes. Humbly he returns to the house, and again pleads his suit. At first the girl repels him, finally she consents to take him back. She is heavily veiled when they meet, but she does not raise the veil, neither does be ask her to. Her physical appearance is of no importance he tells her, and so far as he is concerned, this is the truth. For he is no longer the artist, he is the sincere lover. Still wearing her veil, but her beauty regained, the girl accompanies him to the altar. When they return to his studio, the veil is lifted, and with a radiant smile she goes to his arms.
- In the days of Oliver Cromwell, justice was swift and merciless. The poem, "Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight," concerns the adventures of a young follower of King Charles, who was captured, tried and sentenced to die "at the ringing of the curfew," the bell which announced that the day was over. The young man had a sweetheart, Bessie, who failing to win over his stern judges, finally appealed to the village sexton, urging him not to ring the curfew, hoping that thereby the execution would not take place. The aged sexton loved her as though she had been his own child, but refused to shirk his duty, although he knew it meant her lover's death. At the last moment inspiration came to the girl. She ran into the church, and by a ladder "none had trod in hundreds of years," reached the belfry. To silence the bell she seized the iron clapper, and desperately clung to it while it swung her far out into space. Plans for execution were all made, but the bell did not ring. The puzzled officers waited, and while they conferred, Cromwell arrived. Bessie ran to him with her story, and when he realized what she had dared for love, the stem old protector told her that she would have nothing to fear. He freed the prisoner, telling him he did it because of the love and faith displayed by the heroine, who at the risk of her own life had silenced the curfew bell.
- Three wise men from the East follow a star to Bethlehem in search of the infant Jesus.
- An electric current accidentally brings a female mummy back to life with decidedly romantic inclinations, much to the surprise of a young Egyptologist and his less than understanding fiancée.
- This twenty-three episode serial told the story of a secret society called The Black Hundred and its attempts to gain control of a lost million dollars.
- An indictment of the evils of child labor, the film was controversial in its time for its use of actual footage of children employed in a working mill.
- Biddy's husband, Patrick, was one of the most popular drivers in the Street Cleaning Department. His principal fault in Biddy's eyes was that he never cared to hurry off to work, and one morning she rebuked him bitterly. He partly mollified her by his explanation: "It is your birthday, Biddy, dear, and I was thinking up a great surprise for you." Toward the close of that day, when Pat had dumped his cart at the place appointed, he stepped in the shade of the cart to light his pipe. He only had one match and that went out. While looking about his eyes happened to fall upon a bottle which was lying on the rubbish heap. He took it up and opened it; a cloud of smoke came out and from it emerged a genie. This apparition thanked him for his kindness and voluntarily offered to grant the next three wishes he might make, also the next three wishes of his wife. Pat wished that his pipe be lighted. This was accomplished without the aid of matches, and as he had no more commands for the genie at the time the visitor vanished after explaining that when Pat wanted him again he should clap his hands thrice. Pat proceeded on his homeward way. He went with a chum to a nearby saloon to get a glass of beer. In the meantime, Biddy, not knowing that the gift of three granted wishes had been bestowed upon her, utilizes her wishes wastefully. She was washing clothes in the kitchen, and as it was warm, she wished that it would be cooler. It immediately became so chilly she had to wrap herself in a shawl and naturally enough wished that it was warmer again. The third wish went into effect when she noticed by the clock that her husband was overdue and she wished that if he was in Riley's saloon he would come out and start for home. This explained why Pat left the place very hastily and very much against his own wishes. Arriving at the outside of his home he happened to think it was his wife's birthday and he had entirely neglected a birthday surprise as he promised. He summoned the genie, explained the circumstances to him and the visitor from the other world after looking in the window of the house said loftily: "I can change that wretched room into an Egyptian Harem." The driver consented to the transformation, and it took place much to Biddy's surprise. Running outside she found her husband, and the two returned into the house. There Pat unwisely explained that the change was his little surprise for her and she became enraged. She rolled up her sleeves and prepared to chastise her husband, but he hid under a piece of furniture and before she could dislodge him had summoned the genie and withdrew his third and last wish, "Put everything back as it was and beat it." This the genie did and the house at once resumed its former appearance. Biddy, believing that something unusual had occurred and doubting the evidence of her own eyes, questioned Pat and he craftily told her he had not seen any of the remarkable changes, adding, "I fear you have been drinking again, Biddy, darling, and on your birthday, too." The crestfallen wife admitted the accusation, took the flask from the pocket of her apron, threw it out and promised never to give cause for offense again.
- When Barbara Norton is left orphaned, she goes to live with her aunt and uncle. Time passes, now grown to adulthood, Barbara, becomes engaged to a wealthy young man who believes in pacifism. When the United States declares war on Germany, Barbara's fiance declines to enlist, and so Barbara gives him back his engagement ring and goes to France as a Red Cross nurse. En route, her steamer is torpedoed and Barbara is assumed to be drowned. Even this tragedy does not inspire the young man's patriotism and when solicited to enlist, he declares that the United States be damned. These sentiments shock an old friend of his father's, who brings the young man a copy of the book The Man Without a Country . Upon reading the book, the young man visualizes the story of Philip Nolan and is compelled to serve his country. As he is about to go to war, Barbara returns, and the two lovers embrace.
- When the captain was a patrolman on the mounted squad he stopped a runaway, and so saved the lives of "The Baby" and her sister, Irene. He fell in love with Irene, but he did not want her to marry a common patrolman. "The Baby" learned that the man who had saved her and her sister from certain death could not be promoted without influence. She also overheard her father say that Dave Hinkey had all the influence in town, so she lost no time in finding the office of "The Harsh Boss," as he was called in those days, and she asked him for the one thing needful to promote the young policeman and make her sister happy. The boss was right in the midst of a private conference, fixing up the slate for the primaries, but "The Baby" got in somehow, and he didn't turn her out. In a minute or two she had made him her abject slave. He took her to the mayor, and a few days later Irene's lover was made a sergeant. That was how MacCracklin got his start. Now he's the best captain on the force. He and Irene are married. And it's all due to "The Baby" and the way she landed "The Boss."
- To preserve the honor of her society mother, a young Frenchwoman marries a Russian, even though she is really in love with an opera tenor.
- A young woman forced into servitude by her family gets more than she bargained for when her fairy godmother magically permits her to go to the royal ball.
- Dr. Primrose, the vicar of Wakefield, enjoys life with his wife and five children. His two daughters, Olivia and Sophia, are courted by two apparent gentlemen, Mr. Burchell and Squire Thornhill, who is Dr. Primrose's landlord. But when Mr. Burchell is supposed to have seduced and abandoned Olivia, the Primrose family finds its fortunes dwindling in every sense. It is learned that Burchell is innocent of the seduction, and the real villain is unmasked, but not before Primrose and his family come very near disaster.
- Hans is a little Dutch boy, the son of a poor fisherman. He, like all children of Holland, is early impressed with the fact that the safety of the whole community depends upon the strength of the dyke. He is sent upon an errand to his aunt late one evening. Walking along at the foot of the dyke, he discovers a tiny hole, through which the water is pouring. Realizing that if left to flow through even this small aperture, the water would soon break down the dyke and flood the village, he sticks his tiny finger into the hole, and waits for someone to come to his assistance. Night comes on. His family decide that he has stayed with his aunt, and so do not worry about him. In the morning he is found almost unconscious from fatigue and exposure, by his little sister who has been searching for him. She runs back and notifies the villagers, who come to his assistance, repair the dyke, and carry the little hero back to the village in triumph. He is received by the Burgomaster and praised by the Minister. By his night's heroism he has made himself a place in history, and will always be known as "The Little Hero of Holland."
- A messenger boy is wrongfully accused of stealing bonds worth $20,000.
- A society woman who was traveling abroad, heard with deep interest from her husband, that a nobleman was deeply attentive to their only daughter. The mother, knowing that propinquity often leads to love, arranged for her daughter to take a long ocean trip, chaperoned by the young nobleman's mother. In this way the count and the girl would have many hours of each other's society and the girl's mother felt sure that she would not long refuse the honor of becoming a countess. The girl was also wooed by a wealthy young American, of whom the family disapproved because of his lack of ancestry. He grieved over their separation, and later was completely heartbroken when news reached him that the ship had been lost and the girl he loved was reported among the missing. Still he could not believe that she was dead, and dropping all business embarked on his yacht, vowing that he would search the whole world if necessary to find her. The girl drifted to the shore of an island inhabited by a savage tribe. They would have killed her, but her miraculous escape from the attack of a venomous snake convinced them that she bore a charmed life and instead of destroying her, they worshiped her as a goddess. The young American in the meantime had carried his search into many strange lands and all on board except himself were convinced that the hunt was a fruitless one. He refused to turn back, however, and finally his boat reached the little island where his sweetheart was a queen and a prisoner. She was rescued after a lively battle with the savages, and the couple sailed away to their home in America. The parents, in their joy at their daughter's return, withdrew their objections to the marriage, and the girl wedded the man who had braved many dangers to rescue her from her "Robinson Crusoe" existence on an island in the tropical seas.
- Tony Prolo, a poor laborer, lives happily, despite his poverty, with his wife and their child, who is named after his father. Tony is employed with other laborers on railroad construction work, and little Tony brings him his lunch every day. The boy has carried father his lunch as usual one noon, and crossing the road fails to notice the approach of a large automobile. He is knocked down. Mr. Sears, the owner of the car, tries to aid the boy and seeks to comfort his father. But the excited laborer spurns the rich man's sympathy, picks the child up in his arms and carries him home. Arrives at his own resident, Mr. Sears receives a letter signed "Black Hand" demanding $10,000. He is to give the money to a man who will meet him at a certain street corner, and will carry a white rose. Sears takes the letter to the police and a trap is laid for the Black Hand man. In the meantime, Tony, who has been to see the doctor, stops at a florist's and purchases a white rose for his suffering son, who is passionately fond of flowers. Unhappily for him, he passes the place picked out by the Black Hand, the police think his rose the signal rose. He is promptly arrested, but when he tells his story, Sears and his wife induce the police to investigate it. They find Tony has told the truth, and the repentant Mr. Sears presents him, by way of recompense, with a pretty cottage in the country where white roses are so plentiful that little Tony can't even begin to keep track of them.
- Jack Goodwin is a young student of chemistry who is far in advance of the times. He discovers a compound that has the power to put a man to sleep for any stated period of time, after which he will be as physically fit as ever. Jack tests this marvel for the period of a week, finds that it works, and decides to take a rest of 100 years. He hires space in a safety deposit vault, has himself locked in a box and the box sent to the vault. There, according to instructions, it is to remain for 100 years, and at the end of that time sent to the Mayor of the city. There is no hitch in Jack's experiment and he wakes up in 2010, as much surprised at the people as they are in him. He discovers that the rapid transit facilities have been greatly and strangely improved, and that instead of there being any fight for "Women's Rights," it is the men who have their troubles. Jack finds a friend in the lady Mayor, and she finally wins his hand, but not until she realizes that the man from the century before intends to be master in his own house, although the indications are that he will be a kind, loving and considerate master.
- The foreman and cook both are frantically in love with Belle, the ranch owner's daughter. She, heartily sick of their attentions, answers the advertisement of "a rugged young gentleman" in the east, who "yearns for a life in the open" and wants a wife. The two rivals join forces to "fix" the newcomer. They hire a pair of fierce bandits, at large in the hills, to kill "the rugged young gentleman" in return for a bag of gold dust. When, however, the cook and the foreman see Belle's prospective husband alight from the train, they decide to save their gold dust and do the job themselves. "The Insect," alias "Bill, the rugged young gentleman," obediently mounts the horse which Belle leads up, and about thirty seconds later, is clinging desperately to the saddle horn while the flying animal bears him over the plains. At last the girl succeeds in stopping the runaway. "We modern ranchmen use automobiles," explains the young man from the east. And the girl smiles at him in admiration. Meanwhile, the bandits have discovered that they have been done out of their job. They are driving the cook and the foreman before them, bound and helpless, when, snap, the ropes about the wrists of the rivals are severed in twain. The bandits turn to fight their unseen foe. Wiff, off goes the hat of the sheriff, on the trail of the bandits. Angry, he wheels about and runs right into his quarry. The hero of the wobbly gun and closed eyes rides up with the ranch owner's daughter. "I shot off your hat, sheriff," he announced cheerfully, "to attract your attention to my prisoners." And he gets away with it. Belle marries her hero.
- The productions from Thanhouser's mature period, 1915-1917, clearly show the advancements that set the stage for the first cinematic golden age, the 1920s. Such advances are evident in this surviving shortened version of "Fires of Youth": detailed character development by veteran actor Frederick Warde (and in a smaller role, at least in the shortened version, by Jeanne Eagels), mature editing techniques, special lighting effects, intelligent story development, realistic use of locations, fluid dialogue inter-titles, complex staging and access to better cameras with the defeat of the Patents Trust. Acclaimed French stage and film director Emile Chautard was brought from Éclair studio in France to direct.
- A gay dinner party took place in one of Broadway's showiest restaurants. The host was a bachelor of wealth, and his guests included men of his own station in life, and young girls caught in the whirl of gaiety. The bachelor told the young girls that the keeper of his mountain lodge had advised him by letter that she requires the services of a maid, and he offered the proposition to the girls, but they refused. A face then appeared at the window of the restaurant. It was the face of a woman who had been cast aside. The girls told their host to offer the job to her. Being in a mood to take the advice, he hurried from the restaurant, overtook the derelict, and brought her back with him. The woman was starving and accepted the position in the mountain. Her past life was recalled to her that very night, for one of the guests in the restaurant was the man who had made her what she was. In the Adirondack Mountains the woman found life quiet, but a chance acquaintanceship with a family in the valley marked another change in her life. The family (a man, his wife, and their little daughter) took a liking to the maid and induced her to attend services at the village church. The weeks passed, and then the owner of the lodge arrived from the city with a number of his friends. instead of the forlorn outcast whom he had sent to the mountains he found an attractive woman, but one who would not listen to his advances. Angered by her attitude, her employer tried to force his intentions upon her. She then left the lodge and went to the home of the little family, where she was welcomed. Some days later the little daughter was accidentally injured. The doctor declared that her spine was broken, and despite all his efforts, the child steadily sank. The outcast prayed for Divine help, and as she prayed it seemed to her that she was told to heal the child. Strengthened and transfigured by her religious devotion, she accomplished what the doctor had failed to do. The woman's power soon became known and was as effective with other invalids as it was with her first patient, while at the mountain lodge its worldly owner laughed cynically as he thought how these respectable, narrow-minded people reverenced a woman whom they would despise if they knew her past. From the city the man came who had blighted her life. His friend at the mountain lodge had written him about the woman's new career. He came to sneer, but soon learned to respect and honor her. But one day the woman failed for the first time. A mountaineer brought his wife, a cripple for several years, to be cured. Th« owner of the lodge threatened that he would reveal the outcast's past life. Realizing that he would keep his word, the woman's great faith disappeared. While the assembled people were still discussing the failure of their idol, her former employer told them what this woman had been before she came among them, and they recoiled from her in horror, all of them except the man who had been her first enemy and had now become her friend. He asked her to marry him and she refused, going out into the world alone. The old bitterness did not return to her and she prayed for guidance. It seemed to her that she was told to make the cure which she had failed to achieve, and she set out for the mountaineer's cabin. The mountaineer's wife had been crippled by a racing automobile and that day the owner of the mountain lodge told her husband the name of the man who had driven the car. It was the man who had asked the outcast to marry him. The mountaineer decoyed the guilty man into the mountains, and there a fight took place between the two men. The man from the City was no match for the mountaineer and he was about to be hurled into the chasm when he beheld a sight which caused him to forget his vengeance forever. His wife was walking down the mountain path towards him. And with her was the healer, the woman who had failed. Realization came to him as his wife told him of the great cure, and he thanked the woman whom he had misjudged. Happiness has come to the outcast as the wife of the man who made an outcast.
- Prof. Gregg arrived in New York on a liner at a time when news was very light, which explains why the reporters gave big displays to the fact that Gregg was returning with rare antique jewels which he had unearthed abroad. He also had a vast collection of other antiques, and the value of his belongings was set at an enormous figure. The accounts were read with great interest by a number of persons, including a gentleman whose fingerprints and photograph were highly treasured by the police of many cities. It struck him that the professor was far too wealthy, and he determined to see if they could not do business together. So he evolved a neat little plan whereby he hoped to meet the professor and the jewels. The professor received word that a mummy was to be sent to him for inspection, in the hope that he would buy it. It arrived on schedule time, but he did not have much time to inspect it. For the mummy, who was the before-mentioned light-fingered individual, climbed out of his case, swatted the professor, and assisted by the expressman, bound and gagged him, then interred him in the case, and sent him away. The professor spent a few unhappy hours a prisoner in a dirty room, then he managed to free himself, and started back toward his hotel. On the way he met a newsboy, and hearing him crying out, "All about the Smuggler," he bought a paper. It interested him to read that Prof. Gregg had been captured in his hotel room on a charge of bringing in valuables without notifying the customs authorities. His admiration of speedy metropolitan justice was intensified on learning that his substitute had been arrested, tried and convicted within two hours, and was already beginning to enjoy a six-months' sentence. That the prisoner refused to tell the police where the gems were hidden also pleased the professor. The substitute was moodily brooding in his cell; he had been afraid to tell the police he was not the professor, for if he proved it he would convict himself of burglary, which meant a long sentence up the river. Still, although he had saved time for himself, he was far from being cheerful. Then a message arrived from the outer world. It was from Prof. Gregg. He explained that he had sold all his antiques before the substitute arrived, and he thanked the latter warmly for representing him at the roll call of the city prison. The substitute thought of the professor, who had told him he was now on the ocean, headed for a pleasure trip in Europe. The substitute was a strong, coarse man, but he wept. Then he removed his false white whiskers, part of the disguise the police had not penetrated, and cursed.