Something for Nothing

The Prosecutor

February 1917 •Russian

Prosecutor Olsen's lover, the singer-songwriter Betsy, leaves him for a new passion. And he, speaking in court as a prosecutor, remains deaf to the dictates of feelings, a ruthless servant of the harsh Law. Some time later, Betsy kills her new lover in a fit of jealousy; Olsen, who retained his feelings, nevertheless becomes her accuser at the trial. He seeks the condemnation of Betsy, but comes to the realization that he lived unrighteously, allowing himself to be judged, becoming a servant of Themis. Exit in the classic tradition of the great mute: Olsen commits suicide.

The Sea Wolf

July 1926 •English

Captain "Wolf" Larsen, the absolute master of a seal schooner, is a mystic and philosopher, though he rules his men with an iron hand. On a ferry going from San Francisco to Oakland, Van Weyden, a critic, and Maud Brewster, a novelist, meet in masquerade costumes and are forced overboard when their boat collides with a steamer. Humphrey, then Maud, are picked up by Larsen's crew. Because of her costume, Maud is taken for a boy and placed in the custody of Mugridge, the cook, who attempts to attack her upon discovering her identity. Larsen takes her under his protection and decides to marry her; but as the ceremony begins, the crew mutinies, and Larsen is stricken with blindness as he faces the rebels. The ship is set afire, and though Humphrey and Maud are rescued by another steamer, Larsen, deserted by his crew, refuses to quit his ship and is enveloped in flames.

The Working of a Miracle

June 1915 •English

Roy Conover has just returned to his village home from college.

Daybreak

January 1918 •English

Edith Frome (Stevens) finds it impossible to live with her alcoholic husband Arthur (L ‘Estrange), and finally leaves him. After three years she returns but leaves each evening, returning late arousing the suspicion of her husband. Having her followed he soon learns that she visits a child. Suspecting the worst because of her friendship with Dr. David Brett (Phillips), he institutes divorce proceedings. Edith confesses the truth about the child and Arthur, realizing his folly, swears off liquor and they are reunited.

Flapper Wives

February 1924 •English

Broad-minded rector Stephen Carey is ousted from his church by his vestrymen and befriends Claudia Bigelow, a young divorcée who defended his position in the church. Claudia's carelessness in leaving a cigarette burning causes Jimsy, the housekeeper's son, to go blind. Stephen's prayers restore the boy's sight, and a happy future is predicted for all.

Die Diktatur der Liebe. 1. Die böse Lust

January 1921 •German

A tale of cheating in both love and business.

The Tragedy of Youth

March 1928 •English

Neglected by shallow husband Dick, young bride Paula Wayne seeks male companionship outside the marital nest. She soon finds it in the form of mature lover Frank Gordon. Lost film.

A Blind Bargain

December 1922 •English

Chaney plays two roles: mad scientist Arthur Lamb and Lamb's "experiment", known only as the Ape Man. This hideous creature was the result of Lamb's attempts to transplant animal glands into human beings. A lost film.

Wahnsinn

October 1919 •German

A banker, after a prophetic meeting with a Gypsy fortune teller, becomes delusional as he searches for a trunk which the seer has told him holds the key to either his happiness or his death. This film is considered lost.

Fräulein Julie

January 1922 •German

A loose adaptation of August Strindberg's Miss Julie. The daughter of a count witnesses her mother's increasing mental instability after being spurned by a lover.

The Double Standard

July 1917 •English

Newly elected police court judge John Fairbrother is impassioned when it comes to the laws affecting the dives and cabarets of the city, and promises equal justice for all.

A Wife on Trial

July 1917 •English

Phyllis Narcissa, an underpaid children's librarian, eagerly accepts a dinner invitation from Horace de Guenther, one of her patrons, and happily entertains his invalid wife. Later, Mrs. de Guenther encourages Phyllis to meet with Mrs. Harrington, a dying rich woman whose son Allan, once a vigorous young man, was paralyzed in an auto accident. When Mrs. Harrington proposes to the librarian that she marry and take care of Allan in exchange for his wealth, Phyllis reluctantly consents. While struggling to cheer up the eternally gloomy Allan, Phyllis welcomes the visits of his friend, a doctor who informs her that her husband's paralysis may be psychosomatic.

Tropical Love

October 1921 •English

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, The Drifter, young and educated, and The Seeker, old and feeble-minded, meet and form a partnership. The Seeker meets Rosario, unaware that she is his daughter, left there 20 years previously when his mind was affected by a tropical storm that killed his wife and wrecked his home. Rosario is deeded land belonging to her father and is about to sell it to Clifford Fayne when The Seeker discovers gold there and urges her to desist. Fayne lures her to a cabin and tries to force her to sign the bill of sale; The Drifter and her father rescue her; the father is mortally wounded but lives long enough to learn that Rosario is his daughter and that she will be happy with The Drifter.

Bringing Up Betty

July 1919 •English

During a lawn party at his New York home, steel magnate Theodore Morton claims he is bankrupt as a deterrent to Lord Dormer and the Duke of Medonia, two fortune hunters competing for his niece, Betty. After the suitors depart, unscrupulous Carl Gates is informed by his fiancée, banker's secretary Adele Shelby, that Theodore was lying. Carl pursues Betty, who accepts his proposal with the belief that the marriage will benefit her uncle. During a yachting expedition with Carl, Betty falls overboard and is rescued by architect Tom Waring, who is competing in a race. Tom wins with Betty on board, and a romance develops.

A Self-Made Widow

July 1917 •English

On the promise of marriage, Sylvia Smith, a simple girl from Lone Meadows, follows her lover to the city only to discover that he already has a wife.

Pants

September 1917 •English

Little Betty has a luxurious home, an army of servants and the costliest of toys. But she hasn't what a child wants most of all, other children to play with. The result is that she runs away and joins a group of children from the ghetto district on the beach. In play she exchanges clothing with a little boy. That evening Betty doesn't return home. Her maiden aunt, an over-zealous guardian, is frantic. She notifies the police. The same evening the father of the boy, who has lost his position and is facing starvation, decides to turn burglar. He steals into the home of Betty's father. The household is awakened and the intruder captured.

The Song of Hate

September 1915 •English

Roman Regent of Police Baron Scarpia, loves Floria Tosca, a beautiful opera singer, but she is engaged to artist Maurice Saranof. Inspired by jealousy, Scarpia orders his soldiers to torture Saranof for information leading to the location of a friend suspected of being an Austrian spy. Forced to listen to Saranof's cries of pain, Tosca relents and reveals the whereabouts of the friend. Spurned by Saranof for her weakness, she must then negotiate with Scarpia for his life and offers herself to the baron in exchange for a phony execution. While embracing, Tosca stabs and kills Scarpia, who supposedly has arranged for blank bullets to be put in the soldiers' guns. In spite of the baron's promise, Saranof is executed, and Tosca, destroyed, climbs the prison wall. Shot while climbing, she falls to her death.

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.

A kuruzsló

September 1917 •Hungarian

The Shuttle of Life

November 1920 •English

An actress poses as an heiress who died, and dies fighting blackmailing detectives in a burning house.