Love Aflame

The Ballerina

November 1916 •Swedish

Lovers are torn apart by a noble's desire for the female half of the couple.

The Divine Woman

January 1928 •English

[For 9 minute surviving fragment] Lucian, a soldier in Paris, is to ship out for Algiers at 9 that evening. He stops by for a last meal with his love, Marianne. He may be worried that when he leaves she will find another soldier to love. They argue then embrace and, when the clock strikes midnight, he is still in her arms. Is desertion in the cards? Can the relationship survive the military demands and a soldier's obligations? A lost film.

The Pit and the Pendulum

July 1913 •English

Alice Guy's version of Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum. This film is partially lost.

Winds of Chance

August 1925 •English

A love triangle set against the turn-of-the-century gold rush.

Die schönsten Beine von Berlin

July 1927 •German

The Stronger Love

August 1916 •English

Nell, a beautiful mountain girl, is a member of the Serviss family, rivals of the neighboring Rutherford family. Nell is engaged to Jim Serviss, who is the head of their clan, but when, by accident, she meets a stranger who has come to stay with the Rutherfords, they become infatuated.

The Awakening

December 1917 •English

Abandoned on the church steps at birth Jacques Revilly is a pariah in his small hamlet finally heading to Paris to fulfill his dream of being an artist. After three years he has become quite adept but due to his slovenly ways and appearance he has been nicknamed “The Beast” and is once again exiled among society. One night he discovers a young girl who has collapsed in the roadside snow, with the assistance of his one friend Varney they nurse her back to health and “The Beast” begins to mend his ways.

A Fortune Hunter

March 1921 •Swedish

Historical drama which features Gösta Ekman as the dashing rogue who steals the heart of the ethereal Mary Johnson.

A Scarlet Angel

October 1922 •Swedish

The criminal couple Louise Kent and Charles Zukor stages a coup in the luxury restaurant Oriental. In the midst of a dance number goes suddenly all the lights out. In the confusion that arises one of the elegant guests is deprived of her jewelry.

Satan Triumphant

October 1917 •Russian

Pastor Talnoх furiously urges the flock to fight temptations, but he himself becomes a victim of temptation. In his house appears Satan, pushing the hero to theft and spiritual fall.

The Moth of Moonbi

January 1926 •English

Charles Chauvel's first feature tells the story of a country girl, Dell Ferris (the Moth of Moonbi), drawn to the bright lights of the big city where her inheritance is soon frittered away with high society revelling. A wiser Dell returns to Moonbi Station where she is beset by the cattle rustler Jack Bronson, but finally finds peace and happiness with the faithful head stockman, Tom. Only part of the film survives to this day.

The Making of O'Malley

June 1925 •English

A policeman falls for a teacher, and befriends her students. A gang of bootleggers threatens his newfound joys.

The Risky Road

April 1918 •English

Ida May Park started in the film business as a scriptwriter, but in 1917 Universal announced that Park would direct films with actress and producer Dorothy Phillips for the company’s Bluebird brand. Park’s films often had a strong female perspective and The Risky Road is no exception. The story of a country girl who comes to the city to work, but falls for a rich man and undeservedly gets a bad reputation, the film was marketed as “the drama every woman should see”. The surviving fragment, showing the despair of Phillips’s character, is a real cinematic gem that leaves one yearning for more material of the film to be discovered. In 2008, a tinted nitrate fragment, with Swedish intertitles at the opening of the second reel, was deposited at the Archival Film Collections of the Svenska Filminstitutet. From the fragment, a 35mm B&W duplicate negative was made, from which this print was struck using the tinting of the nitrate as color reference.

Grounds for Divorce

July 1925 •English

Divorce lawyer Maurice (Matt Moore) does not pay much attention to his wife Alice (Florence Vidor). When he spends their anniversary with famous actress Marianne (Louise Fadenza) Alice decides to seek a divorce herself.

Tomboy

October 1914 •Russian

Prisoner Number Seven

November 1929 •Hungarian

A young woman, a prisoner who was set up to steal by her lover, is in jail. She would like to see her sweetheart. One night she succeeds in persuading the doctor of the prison who also is a woman, to be released. She finds the man, a waiter in an elegant hotel, behaving as a cynical Don Juan. He was preparing to rob the safe of the hotel and go away with his new lover, a dancer.

Meir Ezofowicz

October 1911 •Polish

Majority of the movie is lost - only 5-7 minutes remain to this day. Two influential Jewish families: The Ezofovichs, famous for their modern views advocating the assimilation of Jews, and the Todros, Karaites preaching a return to the teachings of the Bible live in the same town.

Our Mutual Friend

June 1921 •Danish

After his father's will stipulates he must marry Bella Wilfer to inherit his fortune, John Harmon fakes his death to avoid the marriage and the threats on his life. He returns as John Rokesmith and becomes the secretary for the Boffins, who inherit Harmon's estate following his alleged death.

The Private Life of Helen of Troy

December 1927 •English

Setting the standard for his later light-hearted biopics The Private Life of Henry VIII and Rembrandt, producer-director Alexander Korda steadfastly refuses to take any of The Private Life of Helen of Troy seriously. Maria Corda, wife of the director, plays the title character as a fetchingly underdressed coquette, oblivious to all the political turmoil she's causing when she allows the handsome Paris (Ricardo Cortez) to kidnap her. Meanwhile, poor King Menelaus (Lewis Stone), Helen's husband, stands by in stoic silence, just as he's done on previous occasions when his wife succumbed to the charms of various sexy suitors (one of whom is played by future cowboy star "Wild Bill" Elliot). Finally galvanized into action, Menelaus reclaims his bride, who seems none the worse for wear for her experiences.

Fair Game

February 1928 •German