Hell's Four Hundred

Mortmain

September 1915 •English

Surgeon Crisp announces to his student doctors and friends that he has solved the problem of limb-grafting, and shows proofs. Among those deeply interested is Mortmain, a musician and a friend of the surgeon.

Destruction

December 1915 •English

Fernande marries a man and schemes to get his wealth when his expected death occurs. But he dies before he can change his will. She next tries to kill the son who inherits, but he outfoxes her.

Harriet and the Piper

September 1920 •English

Harriet Field, living the Bohemian life in Greenwich Village, is tricked into a mock marriage with the unscrupulous Royal Blondin. She leaves him, taking a job as companion to the wealthy Nina Carter. Blondin reappears during a masquerade ball thrown by the Carters, makes advances to Nina but Harriet intervenes, bringing threats from Blondin to expose her past. When Nina’s faithless mother is killed in a car crash as she elopes with another man Richard Carter persuades Harriet to marry him for the sake of the children. She reveals all to her husband and Richard offers Blondin a hefty sum of money to stay out of Nina's life.

The Failure

May 1915 •English

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.

Madame du Barry

December 1917 •English

After Jeanette becomes the mistress of the ambitious Jean du Barry, he marries her off to one of his cousins so that she has an entre to the royal court. She soon becomes the favorite of the King and Jean du Barry becomes a regular around the court too. But all this is disturbed when Madame du Barry falls for Conte Brissac of the King's Guard. Jean du Barry's attempts to expose her affair only get him banished from the court.

The Lord Loves the Irish

December 1919 •English

Miles Machree (J. Warren Kerrigan) meets Irish-American Sheila Lynch (Fritzi Brunette) when she travels through Ireland with her father (James O. Barrows). Soon after the Lynch's return to the States, Miles follows, and through his uncle's connections, gets a job on the New York City police force.

The First Kiss

August 1928 •English

The Talbots, formerly one of the Eastern Shore's first families, have gone to seed: Pap is a drunk, soddenly decaying in his ruined ancestral home, and three of his sons (William, Carol, and Ezra) are lazy, shiftless young men. Mulligan, Pap's second son who supports the entire family by oyster fishing, falls in love with wealthy Anna Lee, but when he first kisses her, she calls him "white trash."

The Further Adventures of Yorke Norroy

February 1922 •English

A series of four 2-reelers based on the stories of George Bronson Howard, directed by Duke Worne, and starring Roy Stewart in the title role; each episode in the series was a story complete in itself. They are all presumably lost.

The Queen's Necklace

October 1929 •French

Adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's novel 'The Queen's Necklace' which portrays the Affair of the Diamond Necklace which occurred before the French Revolution.

Are You a Failure?

March 1923 •English

Coddled by his maiden aunts and apparently unable to make decisions, Oliver Wendell Blaine signs up for a mail-order course in "Success." Oliver follows the instructions step by step, builds his self-confidence, and proves himself a hero when a log jam threatens the town. He is made river boss and marries Phyllis Thorpe, daughter of the owner of the lumber-mill.

The Tower of Lies

October 1925 •English

After his beloved daughter leaves for the city to pay off his debt, an old farmer goes mad when her letters become less frequent and it is suspected she may be using her body to get the money.

Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl

December 1926 •English

Bertha Sloan loses her job as a sewing-machine girl and subsequently is employed as telephone girl with a lingerie manufacturing company. She soon falls in love with the assistant shipping clerk, Roy Davis, and is promoted to chief model for the firm, owing to the patronage of Morton, the wealthy and wicked manager. Bertha is about to take a position in Paris as designer when Morton lures her to his home.

Courage

May 1930 •English

Belle Bennett plays as the widowed mother of seven children living in Sioux City, Iowa. She moves with them to Cambridge, Massachusetts in order to educate her children with culture and give them every advantage. Bennett, who is unversed in financial matters, soon faces poverty for herself and her children. She takes out a loan from an unscrupulous lender (played by Richard Tucker), who is so impressed by the charm and valiant spirit of Bennett than he neglects to ask her for collateral. Bennett, however, is only able to partially pay her creditors. Marion Nixon, Bennett's eldest daughter, is shocked by her mother's actions and attempts to sacrifice herself to Tucker in order to clear her mother's obligations, even though she is engaged to marry a well to do Harvard undergraduate, played by Rex Bell. This film is believed lost.

The Great Gatsby

November 1926 •English

Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.

A Dangerous Game

December 1922 •English

Gretchen Ann runs away from her foster parents but is sheltered first by Bill Kelley, a train brakeman, then by elderly oilman Pete Sebastian. After Gretchen keeps Sebastian from being duped by a medium, he sends her to a fashionable school, asking that she agree to marry him when she returns.

The Eternal Sin

March 1917 •English

Gennaro, the son of Lucretia Borgia, lives unaware of the identity of his mother, who has married the Duke of Ferrara. After Lucretia's brother is killed by five conspirators, the fathers of Gennaro's dearest friends, Lucretia tortures the old men to death. Later, Gennaro and his companions journey to Lucretia's domain, and she sees her son for the first time. The Duke, who believes him to be her lover, poisons him, but Lucretia administers the antidote in time and saves his life. Then she schemes to poison her sons' five friends for their fathers' mistake.

The Decoy

June 1916 •English

Glory Moore, a young girl, finds herself left unprovided for after her father's death, as the farm has to be sold to pay his debts.

After Five

January 1915 •English

Thinking that he has lost both his money and his beloved Nora's in a bad investment young New Yorker Ted Ewing arranges for his own murder. Suddenly he discovers the money is safe and has in fact doubled and sets out to cancel the contract on his life. But will he be able to do so in time?

Mysterious World

May 1916 •Russian

The Monster and the Girl

March 1914 •English

A youth, the only survivor of a shipwreck, is rescued by two old fishermen. One of the fishermen, who has a little girl the boy's age, decides to adopt him. Ten years later a New York lawyer comes to the fishing town and wants to adopt the child who is heir to a fortune, but the boy is old enough to decide for himself and chooses to stay. His money is entrusted to a banker, who faced with bankruptcy embezzles the cash while making the lad think it was lost in a bad investment. The banker also falls for the fisherman’s daughter, and they elope. He is a cad, and she soon returns home. The banker’s plans for a robbery go awry and he flees to the seaside pursued by his gang. After several struggles all is resolved happily.