Home, Sweet Home

Home, Sweet Home 1914

5.30

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.

1914

The Floor Above

The Floor Above 1914

1

English sleuths Grace Burton and Stephen Pryde are in love, but when Stephen inherits wealth and a title, he does not tell Grace, fearing that she will stop loving him. Grace provides support for her sister Stella Ford, whose husband is frequently away on business trips, so Stephen, hoping to alleviate Grace's financial burden, pays all of Stella's debts and provides her with an allowance. When Grace learns of the arrangement, she is hurt that he did not confide in her. Stella lives in a building occupied by a wild crowd. In the flat above her lives Netta, who has numerous boyfriends, including Jerome, an older man, and Bartlett, a young fop. One evening, the rivals mistakenly enter Stella's apartment and in an ensuing fight, Jerome kills Bartlett.

1914

The Gray of the Dawn

The Gray of the Dawn 1910

1

A young society swain is stolen away from the young blind girl he loves by a rapacious queen of the demi-monde who is only out for his wealth…at first. Soon enough, she falls for him and is purified by her feelings. Realizing she will ruin his life if they stay together, she commits suicide in the gray of the dawn, and he returns to his true love.

1910

The Gangsters of New York

The Gangsters of New York 1914

1

Biff Dugan, the eldest son of a poor family living in a tenement on the squalid East Side of New York, leads a gang of hoodlums, among whose members is his brother Porky. Their sister Jess is a consumptive whose health was ruined in a sweatshop. During a melee in a mission run by reformer Henry Davis, the Dugan gang encounters Billy Drew and his sister Cora, newcomers to the city. Porky saves Cora from the unwelcome attentions of Biff's rival, Spike Golden, and the two fall in love. Later, when Spike is killed in a gang war, Biff is wrongfully convicted of the murder and executed in the electric chair. Porky, who served a short term in prison for his part in the crime, comes back to the city to find that Jess has died and Cora has returned to the country.

1914

Macbeth

Macbeth 1916

1

Shakespeare's tragedy of the Scots nobleman whose ambition leads him to betrayal, murder, and damnation.

1916

Our Mutual Girl

Our Mutual Girl 1914

1

Our Mutual Girl was unique. Not quite a serial, not quite a newsreel and not strictly an advertisement, it combined elements of all three. In 52 weekly one-reel episodes, running from January 19, 1914 to January 11, 1915, the Mutual Girl outwitted villains, saw the sights of New York, met with theatrical and political celebrities (who frequently helped her out of trouble) and tried on fashionable outfits in chic stores. The fashions were an early example of product placement, although apparently not paid placement.

1914

The Failure

The Failure 1915

1

Theatrical manager Isaac Shuman has a reputation for "taking advantage" of young girls who want to become stars on Broadway. Reporter Tom Warder investigates these stories and exposes Shuman in his newspaper.

1915

Man's Prerogative

Man's Prerogative 1915

1

Oliver and Elizabeth wed. He is a famous lawyer, careless of his personal conduct, but has implicit faith in Elizabeth. She is a woman of strong mind, a magazine writer of repute, and believes he should guide himself by the same code that governs her. Two of their associates are profligates, Charles, an artist, and Catherine. Oliver trifles with Catherine and this so embitters Elizabeth, that she pretends to receive the attentions of Charles, although it is made clear that she has remained pure. Nevertheless, she purposely permits her husband to believe otherwise. He has considered her like Caesar's wife, but his faith is shattered. A child is born to her and the father doubts its parentage.

1915

Bred in the Bone

Bred in the Bone 1915

1

Harvy, the heavy, and Bella, the ingenue, of a cheap theatrical company are encumbered with an infant girl. The husband, a worthless, dissipated character, annoyed by the presence of the child and the care the wife is compelled to give it. deserts them both. The show then "busts" and the mother and the infant are left stranded in a small California town.

1915

The Armorer’s Daughter

The Armorer’s Daughter 1910

1

Set in Rome, during the feudal period. The heroine, the daughter of an armor manufacturer, is in love with a humble tradesman. The resistance expressed by the armorer towards this romance inexorably leads to disaster for everyone concerned.

1910

Dick's Turning

Dick's Turning 1913

1

Young Dick and Milly are married but struggling, especially when Dick loses his position on a labor gang. Milly returns to her father who refuses to take Dick in as well. He wanders disconsolately in a park where he finds a kitten. Wanting to give it to Milly as a gift he follows it to the courtyard of a mansion. The young boy who lives there accidentally injures Dick, when he is carried into the house the boy's mother, touched by his Dick’s story, cares for him and sends for Milly. When he is all well again, she gives him a position in her household as a chauffeur and the young couple reunite.

1913

The She-Devil

The She-Devil 1916

1

Secretly engaged to Bernice, Albert becomes infatuated with the gypsy Mina. The rich and jealous Renard is in love with Mina enticing her father to take revenge on Albert. A scuffle ensues during which Renard accidentally stabs Mina's father but allows everyone to believe Albert guilty of the crime. Bernice hears of the events and breaks off her engagement to Albert. He is pursued by the police until a last-minute confession saves him.

1916

The Doll-House Mystery

The Doll-House Mystery 1915

5.00

When a stack of valuable bonds go missing from the Grant household, suspicion falls on little Carmen Grant's playmate Georgie, whose father is a poor ex-convict trying to go straight.

1915

Faithful Shep

Faithful Shep 1913

1

When Runa's big sister marries, she takes the little girl with her to the new home. Things go on smoothly for a time, but later, big sister and her husband are entertaining a great deal, and give a great many parties, and so, in consequence, haven't much time for Runa, who, left to the maid's care, feels rather neglected. One day she runs away and is lost in the woods. Shep, her faithful pet, follows and finds her unable to get up, as she has sprained her ankle. He hurries home, and although he barks loudly, no one heeds him, for all are out searching for the lost child. He manages to get into the harness of his little cart and drags it out to the child. She lifts herself into it and Shep takes her home.

1913

The Terror of the Mountains

The Terror of the Mountains 1915

1

Dan Melton is in love with Daisy Dale, who, being of a coquettish disposition, permits herself to become infatuated with Soapy Smith, gentleman gambler. Sheriff Melton is greatly worried by the continual holdups committed by Black Jack, a desperado, who has become the terror of the mountains. His excursions in quest of the bandit compel him to neglect Daisy somewhat. One day Daisy meets with an accident while riding and applies for assistance at a lonely shack in the hills. To her astonishment Soapy Smith opens the door. She accepts his invitation to enter. Once she is inside, however, Soapy betrays his real character and attacks her. Daisy's screams are heard by Morristette, a Mexican, who rushes in and intervenes. Smarting under the blow Soapy deals him, he gallops to town and informs the sheriff. On arriving at the shack to rescue his sweetheart Melton finds that Soapy Smith and the long-sought desperado. Black Jack, are one and the same.

1915