Barriers Burned Away

Yotsuya Kaidan

June 1911 •Japanese

Earliest japanese horror film.

Rose-Marie

February 1928 •English

Sergeant Malone of the Mounties and effeminate Etienne Doray are both in love with Rose-Marie, but she doesn't light up until soldier of fortune Jim Kenyon drifts into the post. Soon Jim is accused of murder but he escapes.

Her Mother's Secret

July 1915 •English

Lloyd Kent returns to his hometown after twenty years a wealthy man. All the while he was gone, he held the memory of his sweetheart, Emily Lester though she jilted him in a moment of anger and married his rival, John Rand. Emily is now a widow in diminished circumstances with an 18-year-old daughter, Betty, who is the image of her now careworn mother in her youth. Because of that memory Lloyd is drawn to Betty who is flattered despite her love for her neighbor Hal Edwards. Betty, realizing the situation, finds one of her mother’s old gowns and helps transform her appearance closer to her girlish self. Lloyd is swept away with renewed love and both couples happily paired with the proper partner.

The Gypsy Trail

November 1915 •English

Gypsy Willie Buckland recalls to his friend why he and his wife return each year to that same spot to hear the chimes in the village church. In his youth he and little gypsy maid Jane were friends and sweethearts. When Willie’s father died, he went to the city where he met "The Painted Woman," spending his last cent on her, but they had genuinely fallen in love and he promises to stay with the woman, who is fatally ill, until she dies. Penniless and ill, he wanders out into the street and thence to the meadows, where he is found by Jane and nursed back to health. Fearing his love may not be true, she tells him that if he finds her wherever she may wander, one year from that date, that she will believe him and marry him. A long weary year passes when he arrives in that very village just as the chimes are ringing, and there he finds Jane. His story finished, Buckland points to Jane and their children with a happy smile.

Así te deseo

February 1948 •Spanish

A woman takes the place of a wife who had died seven years earlier.

In the Hands of Merciless Fate

December 1914 •Russian

His Supreme Moment

April 1925 •English

John Douglas, a down-on-his-luck engineer, takes his sweetheart, Sara Deeping, to a play starring Carla King, and he falls in love with the actress.

The Kreutzer Sonata

January 1911 •Russian

The Kreutzer Sonata is a 1911 Russian silent film directed by Pyotr Chardynin. The film is considered lost.

The Keys to Happiness

January 1913 •Russian

Directed by Vladimir Gardin and Yakov Protazanov, this two-part epic was the most expensive Russian film at the time and smashed box office records. It is now considered lost, with only a 4 minute clip surviving.

Satan

January 1920 •German

A three-part historical film: the first episode takes place in ancient Egypt, the second is based on the Hugo novel La Fin de Satan, and the third takes place during the 1917 Russian revolution. Lost film, minor fragments survive

Unconquered Woman

May 1922 •English

Helen offers herself in marriage to the winner of a poker game in order to obtain money to replace what her brother has stolen. Antonio, a half-breed, is the winner, but Helen is saved from fulfilling her bet by Bruce Devereux when he doubles the stakes and wins the girl. She marries Bruce but leaves for New York when she finds the marriage to be a fake one. There she marries her previous music teacher, but he proves to be faithless, leaving her with a small son. Bruce returns and assures her he had not arranged for a fake marriage. Her present husband, not able to cope with the pressures of his many affairs, kills himself, leaving Helen free to remarry Bruce.

Shadows of the Sea

January 1922 •English

An idealistic sea captain, Dick Carson (Conway Tearle), is wounded by revenue officers while smuggling arms to a South American country. He finds aid and refuge at the home of Dr. Jordan (J. Barney Sherry) whose young wife, Dorothy (Doris Kenyon), is being courted by Andrews (Crauford Kent), who kills the doctor in a quarrel. To avoid the revenue officers, Carson takes them aboard his ship and sets sail for the Far East. He and Dorothy fall in love but, first, he must deal with a mutiny on his ship.

Back to Liberty

November 1927 •

Tom Devon, alias Reginald Briand, is the mastermind behind an organization of gentlemen thieves, including Jimmy Stevens and Rudolph Gambier. Jimmy falls in love with Tom's innocent daughter, Gloria, after he rescues her from an embarrassing scene in a restaurant. Tom disapproves of the romance and decides to dissolve the partnership. When an embittered Rudolph kills Tom he frames Jimmy, but Gloria is determined to clear him. Posing as a thief, she seeks the truth.

Great Expectations

January 1917 •English

Orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.

The Forward Pass

November 1929 •English

Marty Reid, the star quarterback at Sanford College, is constantly singled out by the opposition for punishment, and he swears to his pal, Honey Smith, and to Coach Wilson that he will quit the game forever. Ed Kirby, who dislikes Reid, calls him yellow, and Wilson gets Patricia Carlyle, the college vamp, to induce Reid to play. At a sorority dance, where only football players can cut in, Kirby persecutes Reid by dancing with Pat, and as a result Reid does apply to play in the game.

Benjamin Bunter: Book Agent

December 1915 •English

Retired sea captain Jonah Grundell is in charge of his niece Polly's fortune until she comes of age, or marries with his consent; if she marries without his consent before she is 21, the fortune goes to Jonah. He has handled the money so long he hates to give it up, so when Polly reaches 21, he manages to keep her in ignorance of the fact, and enters into an agreement with family lawyer Daniel White that he shall marry her and divide the money with him. White is a solemn old hypocrite, much admired by Jonah's spinster sister Myra; his one weakness is his love of the bottle. Fresh book agent Benjamin Bunter arrives in town with a flourish, meets and falls in love with Polly, and she falls in love with him. Bunter puts White out of the running, then digs up a birth certificate that proves that Polly is over 21. He forces Jonah to consent to their marriage, while White is left to the consolation of Myra.

A Price for Folly

December 1915 •English

Noble born but dissolute M. Jean de Segni receives word from his lawyers that his profligate ways, including keeping mercenary actress Dorothea Jardeau, have led to his ruin which he accepts with a shrug of the shoulders. As word spreads Jean’s father-the Duke, who has managed to keep the boy’s mother in the dark about her son’s true nature, realizes she will soon know. Terminally ill and fearing Jean reducing them to penury, the father decides to take his beloved wife with him and kills her. Jean is at first suspected but the Duke saves him by confessing his guilt. Nevertheless, everyone, including his Dorothea, believes the Duke lied to save his son, and after his father's death Jean finds himself a social outcast. An argument leads to a duel where Jean realizes his folly has killed his parents, and he fires in the air, receiving a mortal wound from his adversary.

Rags and the Girl

September 1915 •English

Wealthy young broker Tom Raine is set upon in a lonely wood by a tramp, knocked out, and stripped of his clothes. Dressed in the tramp's rags, he reaches a hut in time to save veritable wood-nymph June from a beating at the hands of her cruel foster parents. They drive him from the place, but June saves him from being torn to pieces by their huge watchdog, and Tom falls deeply in love with June. They're seen talking by her foster parents, and the father goes after Tom with a club. A fearful fight results, but the timely arrival of Tom's family, who saw the affair from their auto, stops a tragedy. Tom explains matters, his family taking a liking to June, she returns home with them, and Tom and June marry.

The Boy in Blue

July 1919 •German

A man searches for a cursed emerald belonging to his ancestor. Lost film, minor fragments survive

Heavy Villains

August 1915 •English

Retired businessman F.G. Lawrence favors Philip Preston for a son-in-law; Mrs. Lawrence prefers Reggie, the Dainty Dude. There's trouble, right there. Mrs. L. becomes suspicious of a stout stranger prowling about the place and tells Mary, the husky cook, to point him out to Serena Slim, the slender sleuth. The mysterious fat man happens to be Mary's beau, so she sics Serena onto John Bouncer, Philip's fat uncle. Serena is some "shadow" and the police must be called in to stop the comedy of errors which follows. After explanations all around, Lucy nestles her pretty head on Philip's shoulder while her parents soothe Bouncer's ruffled feelings.