One Increasing Purpose

The Haunted House

November 1928 •English

Four heirs to a family fortune are summoned to appear at the family estate for the reading of the will, where they meet the estate's staff, which includes a nurse, a crazed doctor, and a sinister handyman.

A Reno Divorce

October 1927 •English

An attractive heiress, Carla (May McAvoy), and David (Ralph Graves), a successful artist, fall in love following an automobile accident. and are married. Their idyll is interrupted by a misunderstanding and she gets a Reno-quickie divorce. Years later a chance meeting brings them together.

Companionate Marriage

October 1928 •English

Sally Williams (Betty Bronson) marries Donald Moore (Richard Walling) and have trials and tribulations and input from others but they demonstrate that the most successful marriages are usually based on trust and respect, rather than on sex alone. Released in the UK under the title of "The Jazz Bride".

The Passionate Quest

July 1926 •English

The Passionate Quest is a 1926 American drama film directed by J. Stuart Blackton and written by Marian Constance Blackton. It is based on the 1924 novel The Passionate Quest by E. Phillips Oppenheim. The film stars May McAvoy, Willard Louis, Louise Fazenda, Gardner James, Jane Winton, and Holmes Herbert.

Young Nowheres

October 1929 •English

Young Nowheres is a 1929 American drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Richard Barthelmess, Marian Nixon and Bert Roach.

The Dark Angel

September 1925 •English

Alan Trent (Ronald Colman), his cousin Gerald Shannon (Wyndham Standing) and neighbor Kitty Vane (Vilma Bánky) have grown up together, as close playmates When World War I starts, both Alan and Gerald enlist in the British Army as officiers, and Kitty sees them off to war. Many months later, Alan and Gerald come back to Kitty, on a short furlow. Alan and Kitty reveal their love for each other. Gerald (who's in love with Kitty, too) congratulates his friends. But before Kitty and Alan can arrange to be married the next day, the furlow is cut short and both men head back to the front lines. Weeks later, Gerald will not give Alan leave to marry Kitty. Still arguing, both men volunteer for a reconiscience raid into enemy lines, where a grenade goes off near Alan and appears to kill him. Gerald and Kitty mourn Alan's death. After the war ends, Gerald and Kitty become engaged to be married.

Men of Steel

July 1926 •English

Jan Bokak is a self-educated steelworker who finds himself in the middle of a romantic triangle. Two different girls -- wealthy socialite Claire Pitt and blue-collar worker Mary Berwick -- simultaneously fall for Bokak. It later develops that Claire and Mary are actually sisters, the first of a series of surprising plot twists leading to Bokak being accused of a murder he didn't commit.

The Prince of Headwaiters

July 1927 •English

Pierre, the maitre d' at the swanky Ritz Hotel in Paris, discovers that he has a son from his former marriage, which was broken up by his wealthy wife's upper-class relatives. His son, now a young man and unaware that Pierre is is father, is in danger of becoming the victim of blackmailer Mae Morin. Pierre sets out to save him from the notorious Mae.

Mother Knows Best

October 1928 •English

A stage-actress mother and her daughter in a battle-of-wills in a "don't do this, daughter" and "don't do that, daughter" story of youthful folly and over-zealous parental devotion.

The Drag Net

May 1928 •English

Captain Timothy 'Two Gun' Nolan is appointed head of the New York detective force, and as his first act, rounds up every criminal in town. Gang boss 'Dapper' Frank Trent stands bail for all of them as independent minor gang-leader. Setting out to get Trent, Nolan moves in on his hideout, assisted by his friend 'Shakespeare.' Trent kills Shakespeare, but makes Nolan believe it is his shot that has done so. Nolan resigns his commission and becomes a drunk. Found unconscious by Trent, he is offered as the pièce de résistance at a gangland banquet which 'The Magpie' attends. A lost film.

Babbitt

June 1924 •English

A small-town businessman bumbles into blackmail and a real-estate swindle.

Being Respectable

July 1924 •English

Wealthy young Charles Carpenter is pressured by his family to marry Suzanne, even though he is really in love with young "flapper" Valerie. He gives in to his family's pressure, however, and marries Suzanne, after which Valerie leaves town. Years later, after Charles and Suzanne have had a child, Valerie comes back to town and Charles realizes he is still in love with her, and she with him. Complications ensue.

Gentle Julia

December 1923 •English

Gentle Julia is a 1923 American silent romantic drama film based on the popular novel Gentle Julia by Booth Tarkington. Directed by Rowland V. Lee, the film starred Bessie Love.

The Beautiful and Damned

December 1922 •English

Gloria, the daughter in a wealthy family, has finally spent most of her father's money. She marries Tony, whose as much of a reckless spendthrift as she is, and they continue indulging themselves. Tony's wealthy grandfather Adam Patch dies, but to their surprise he leaves Tony nothing. The couple try their hands at actually working for a living, but they don't like it and return to their spendthrift ways. Something has to give, and it soon does.

St. Elmo

September 1923 •English

St. Elmo is a man who killed his romantic rival in a brawl. Traveling the world as a confirmed misogynist, St. Elmo returns to home and hearth only to fall in love with the daughter of the local blacksmith. The film is based on the 1867 novel of the same name written by Augusta Jane Evans. Today, St. Elmo is a lost film.

The Hindoo Dagger

February 1909 •English

Jack Windom experiences a sensation of awe at the reception of the Hindoo dagger from his old chum, Tom, who was traveling in India. Hanging the dagger on the wall. Jack goes out. For some time Jack has discerned a coolness in his wife, and his jealous misgivings were verified when he returned and found her in company with a stranger. Seizing the dagger from the wall he chases the recreant lover from the house and then follows the wife to the bathroom, wither she has flown in terror. Mercilessly he plunges the dagger and flies the place. The lover in hiding sees him leave and returns, and calling aid succeeds in reviving the wife, who afterwards with careful treatment recovers and marries her paramour. However, either from the baneful influence of this diabolical dagger, or the woman's capricious nature, just one year later the second husband enacts the same scene, but with fatal results.

Naked Hearts

May 1916 •English

Maud and Cecil have been in love since they were children in the pre-Civil War South, but Howard, Maud's domineering brother, disapproves of a marriage between them. Instead, he has chosen English nobleman Lord Lovelace as the ideal fiancé for Maud. On the night that the engagement is to be announced, however, she elopes with Cecil. The runaways are caught, though, after which, because of her loyalty to her brother, Maud sends Cecil away. When the Civil War begins, Howard, Lovelace and Cecil all volunteer, and are all soon reported killed in action. Heartbroken, Maud decides to become a nun, and takes her vows just moments before Cecil, whose death was mistakenly reported, returns from the battlefield and comes to the convent to ask her to marry him.

Bobbie of the Ballet

June 1916 •English

Wealthy Jack Stimson (Jay Belasco) falls in love with Broadway diva Velma Vrooman (Gretchen Lederer), and for her sake bankrolls the musical production in which she is currently starred. But when Velma proves to be fickle and unreliable, Jack shifts his affections to humble chorus girl Bobbie (Louise Lovely).

Broken Fetters

July 1916 •English

The Bugler of Algiers

November 1916 •English

Gabrielle Picard (Elda Hall) and Pierre Dupont (Rupert Julian) are lovers in a small French village in the early 1870s; Gabrielle's brother Anatole (Kingsley Benedict) is Pierre's best friend. The two young men are called to service by their country and go to Algiers. Anatole becomes the bugler and one day when he is commanded to sound the retreat, he sounds for the troops to charge instead. Anatole becomes a hero because of his action, but when the two men make their victorious return home, they find the Picard home ransacked and Gabrielle gone.