Acting
Released in June of 1914.
Torment is a 1924 American silent film crime drama produced and directed by Maurice Tourneur and distributed by Associated First National. This film stars Bessie Love, Owen Moore, and Jean Hersholt.
Shortly after being made the executor of a wealthy man's estate, a man murders his benefactor. He then makes a play for the widow, who rebuffs him. To escape his arduous pursuit, she takes her little daughter on a trip but dies in an auto accident. The daughter is rescued but disappears. Her grandparents spend years looking for her, as does the executor who killed her father--if she's found she'll inherit the estate and he won't get a penny. He aims to see that she's never found, and if she is he plans to see that she doesn't live long enough to make a claim to the estate.
Enemy agents under the leadership of "Emanon" conspire with pacifists to keep the American defense appropriations down at a time when forces of the enemy are preparing to invade. The invasion comes, and New York, Washington, and other American cities are devastated.
Bryant Washburn and Edward Everett Horton are ordered to retrieve an old $25 debt from a stubborn (and violent) client. The fact that he has an attractive daughter (Billie Dove) could complicate or simplify the situation! Originally released at six reels, only reels 1, 2, and 6 survive.
James Barclay is elected to the office of governor on the machine ticket. Sylvia Marlowe, a lawyer whom Barclay has loved for years, refuses to marry him because she fears that Barclay's ambition is causing him to disregard ethics and justice. When he is persuaded by the political boss to veto a child labor measure, Sylvia determines to run for the office of lieutenant governor and is elected.
When Mary Worthington will not sign a document absolving the executors of her late father's estate from the loss of money due to mismanagement, they lock her up to force her to comply. Meanwhile, Danny Abbott, a press agent for Mary's friend, Gloria Morning, and two East Side Jewish backers, worry that Gloria's failing musical, The Purple Pagoda , will ruin them. Danny persuades his friend Robert Garrison to kidnap Gloria and release her before showtime, thus creating a news item to attract ticket buyers. When Mary escapes and approaches Gloria's apartment, Garrison, thinking that she is Gloria, kidnaps her. Mary plays along to escape the executors and falls in love with him at his cabin where they fight off Gloria's would-be rescuers. After the executors find Mary and take her to an insane asylum, Garrison saves her, they marry, and Gloria's show becomes a success.
Robert Sheldon is an honest young man sent by his mother to work for a wealthy city financier who turns out to be his estranged father. When Robert uncovers his father's corrupt financial schemes, a violent conflict erupts, leading to a murder accusation that is ultimately resolved by his mother's intervention.
After Pamela Martin's fiancé, lawyer Frank Steele, leaves for South America on business, her mother and another suitor, Douglas Martin, trick her into marrying Douglas by telling her that Frank is a thief. Douglas commonly hosts Bacchanalian parties at the couple's home, and after one of these revelries, during which Pamela explained the reason for her marriage to Frank, who had recently returned from South America, her husband in a drunken rage insults and then attempts to embrace her. Pamela reaches for a knife, but at that instant, she faints and awakens to find Douglas dead and herself charged with murder.
Young Elsie Duchanier, maid of the star dancer in the French Brunel's Follies, is deceived by a lascivious doctor into believing she has only one year to leave in his effort to seduce her. Separated from her true love American soldier Capt. Tom Kendrick when he is reassigned to the United States, she accepts Maurice Brunel's offer to make her the main attraction of his new Follies. She meets with enormous success, but Brunel demands she submit to his advances as the price he demands for making her a star which she refuses. Tom returns to France just in time to save her virtue and whisk her away.
A reverend attempts to raise the money necessary to open up a boys' club and clashes with a wealthy grocer in the process.
Shrewd crook Boston Blackie is determined to go straight. At a celebration held on the eve of his marriage to Mary Dawson, Fred the Count plants a stolen jewel and Blackie is arrested and sentenced to twenty years in jail. Fred the Count tries to win Blackie's fiancée, but the honorable Mary rejects him. Blackie's only hope for escape is from the hospital, so he manages to get into a weakened state. He escapes from the hospital, but is trailed by the warden. Blackie refuses to shoot the defenseless man, and the warden recognizes Blackie as an honorable person and allows him to escape. Blackie frames the Count, and leaves for Honolulu with Mary
The Secret Kingdom is a 1917 silent action movie serial comprised of 15 chapters: 1. Land of the Intrigue 2. Royalty at Red Wing 3. Sealed Packet 4. Honorable Mr. Oxenham 5. Carriage Call #101 6. Human Flotsam 7. Ghost Ship 8. Rum Cay 9. Swamp Adder 10. A Goat Without Horns 11. The White Witch 12. The Shark's Nest 13. The Tragic Masque 14. The Portrait of a King 15. The Tocsin.
When Mary Turner is sent to prison for a crime she did not commit, she vows upon her release to take vengeance on those who wronged her, always staying however within the letter of the law.
A European Ruler falls in love with an American.
In France during the reign of Louis XVI American naval officer Francis Burnham escapes from a British convict ship. He flees to Paris to see Benjamin Franklin only to find him away. At loose ends he becomes indebted to the Marquis de Tremignon who under threat of imprisonment involves him in an intrigue to compromise the Countess De Villars to force her into marriage. While unwillingly purloining one of her slippers the lady catches him, and they realize he had saved her at one time from highwaymen. After many contretemps, the Marquis is disgraced, and the Countess and Burnham are united.
Elizabeth West, a young woman who is both a thief and a con artist and allied with a gang of crooks, is freed when a jury does not convict her on a larceny charge. She determines to aid district attorney Richard Templar to round up a gang of narcotic traffickers. Disguised as an old woman, she secures the privilege of having an old confederate, who is in solitary confinement, temporarily released to aid in the plan. He turns against her, however, and she is forced to work alone with the district attorney. They succeed in their plan and then confess their love for each other. A lost film.
A biographical two-reel series starring Joseph Kilgour as Washington. The first part, "Washington Under the British Flag" (released June 29), focused on Washington's early life and French and Indian War experiences as a British colonial officer. The second part "Washington Under the American Flag" (released July 3) continued his story through the Revolution and presidency, portraying his journey from surveyor to commander and first president, aiming to educate audiences on America's founding father.
Hilda and Berta Nordstrom, although identical in appearance, are opposites in temperament. Berta weds naval engineer Robert Hallowell, deserts him in Europe, and travels to the Orient in search of the gay life where she becomes a notorious courtesan known as The Yellow Typhoon.
It is 1774, the eve of the American War of Independence. Janice comes from a Tory household. She cavorts with American and British alike, is pursued by Charles Fownes, patriot and friend of General Washington.
