Directing
Pat Dugan puts his last penny into oil prospecting and finds the oil. He deserts the old shack for his idea of what a palace should be and sends Jimmie to college. Jimmie promptly thrashes three of the students and polishes off the policeman who interferes. Then he leaves college for a partnership in a nursery business with a young Italian. Pat moves east and settles next door to Lady Blessington, but supposes the placid old lady who fraternizes with his wife to be the house- keeper. Jimmy turns up and falls in love with Joyce, Lady Blessington's god-daughter and marries her in spite of his father's commands, but when Pat sees how it all comes out he takes the full credit to himself.
Andrew McLeod, the Factor, is called "The Panther" by the Indians, owing to his cruelty. He wishes to marry Julie, the daughter of Francois Ledru, a French trapper. Julie is afraid of McLeod and rather than become his wife she runs away. Ledru is terrified when he discovers her absence as he knows McLeod will make him suffer for it, in which fear he is fully justified, as he is beaten and then shot by McLeod. Meantime, Julie, in her wanderings, runs into Father Lezare, who is journeying toward the trading station, and also David Brandt, a hunter. She appeals to them for help and upon David's assertion that he will do anything to help her, she begs him to marry her. After some hesitation on the part of both David and the priest, this is done.
Reporter Tom Warder exposes a theatrical producer, Isaac Shuman, for sexually harassing young women, including Tom's girlfriend. After being forced out of town, Shuman returns years later to frame Tom for theft, leading to his imprisonment and the tragic death of his family.
Weak-willed Roy Hanford, driven from his father's house by the coldness of his stone-hearted wife and the sanctimonious attitude of his father, the deacon, flees to the city.
After years on the international crime circuit, "Silver Jim" Farrel shares a comfortable and honest suburban life with Marjory, his sister, until word comes that an old friend from his thieving days is in desperate need of cash. To save his bankrupt friend from jail, Jim reluctantly executes a jewel heist, being careful not to involve Marjory or his sweetheart, who know nothing of his past, in the scheme.
During a fiercely contested battle, a wounded Union officer seeks refuge in a Southern home. He is discovered and assisted by Nellie Morton, who hides him from Confederate forces. Confederate officers eventually enter the home and find the officer's Union coat in the library, confirming an enemy presence. Despite the discovery and the high tension of the search, the Union officer manages to escape his pursuers. As they prepare to give chase a courier arrives with news of General Lee's surrender, halting the conflict.
Loaded Dice is a 1913 short film.
After discovering her husband Roger has been unfaithful to her, Angela De Haven sets out to make all men pay for his deceit.
Country girl Annabel Lee has big dreams of being a famous artist. Her widowed mother encourages her to go to the city so she can study. Annabel works hard, but she sells only one painting. She discovers that a renowned artist is spending the summer at a nearby resort, so she sends him her best work for a critique. A friend recommends that she see him in person, so Annabel pawns a piece of jewelry and heads for the resort. The artist informs her that she doesn't have enough talent to achieve much.
Jules Ingram ( William Desmond ), the sole survivor of an old Puritan family, seeks solace and forgetfulness in drink. Unable to pay his debts, Jules is driven from his house when banker Rufus Moore ( Robert McKim ) forecloses on the mortgage. Offered shelter by Mercy Reed ( Margery Wilson ), a woman who in her youth naively sinned and has remained rejected by the community ever since, Jules begins to reform. Climbing his way back to respectability, Jules attends church with Mercy, causing a storm of protest. Moore's wife Agnes urges the mob to violence, and as they attempt to tar and feather Jules and Mercy, Mercy delivers an eloquent speech condemning Moore as her betrayer. The mob then takes Moore as their victim, leaving Jules and Mercy in peace.
Promising young lawyer Jack Dunn,, becomes a victim of drugs and loses his standing in the legal world. He passes his idle hours in the slums where he meets Nan Bishop, an underworld figure. Nan's influence helps to make a man out of Dunn and with her help he breaks his dependence on drugs and is successful in obtaining a position as a criminal lawyer. Years later, they meet again in a courtroom. Nan has been falsely accused of murder and Dunn is the prosecuting attorney. Learning that Dunn's professional future depends on his winning the case, Nan pleads guilty, but, at the last minute, the real criminal is discovered and Nan is cleared of the crime. She then accepts Dunn's offer of marriage and together they look forward to a happy future.
Lord Anthony Crackenthorpe engages the help of a zoologist's widow to help him write a book about his favorite subject, spiders. She moves into his mansion with her impetuous daughter Peggy. Anthony's mother is very worried that her son, heir to the Crackenthorpe estate may become involved with Peggy. She asks her younger son Jimmy to keep company with the young girl.
Sam Higgins, a grocery clerk, sends his invalid wife, her mother, and their baby to Arizona, hoping the desert climate will improve her failing health. The family rents a cottage owned by John Hecker, a stern railroad superintendent. However, they soon find themselves unable to pay the rent. Hecker threatens them with eviction, demanding they pay immediately or leave the premises. Desperate, they write to Sam for help. The film concludes with Sam attempting to secure the funds to save his family from being stranded in the desert.
When Nora Nolan, a poor bargain-basement clerk, faints from the heat, she is told to take a vacation. Reporter Jimmie Norton, the son of a millionaire, witnesses the incident and sends her an anonymous $200 check. Nora stays at a fashionable seaside hotel, where Jimmie happens to be pitching for the hotel baseball team after he is fired from the newspaper.
Colonel Crewe, in charge of a fort near the Mexican border, receives word that some Chinese are about to be smuggled across the line. He details Lieutenant Hurd to attend to the matter. Hurd, with a few soldiers, succeeds in capturing the Chinese, among whom is a Christianized girl, Moon Chew. She falls in love with Hurd.
Man-haters Pamela Gordon, Violet and Kate West, each disappointed in love, vow never to marry, and room together with a sign above their door reading "No man shall cross this threshold." When Edgar Holt enters their room to escape an irate husband whose jealousy he mistakenly aroused, he falls in love with Pamela, but she makes him leave through a window across an ironing board over a courtyard. Edgar woos Pamela but he is unsuccessful in breaking down her resolve, even though she privately softens and develops a love for him. To help her, Edgar secretly gets her a position as a confidential secretary with his firm.
Bright young novelist Mabel Vere is engaged to Gerald Wantage, a prig who angrily objects when she advertises for a husband in order to elicit ideas for her new book. Mabel's roommate, Maud Bray, a physical culture expert, frightens away the less desirable suitors, while the writer responds to the more interesting letters, and soon becomes embroiled in a number of adventures.
Jim Neal, the proprietor of the "Halfway Saloon," located between Tucson and Gold Creek. A local minister discovers Jim selling alcohol to the Indians and asks him to stop. Jim refuses, telling the minister to mind his own business. The minister then appeals to Jim's wife, Mrs. Neal, pointing out that the saloon is an unfit environment for their young daughter. Realizing the truth in the minister's words, Mrs. Neal decides to take their daughter and leave the area to visit her sister in a distant settlement. Tragically, while enroute, Mrs. Neal and her daughter are attacked by a group of the same Indians who had been incited by the "firewater" sold to them by Jim Neal, demonstrating the consequences of his actions.
Bill Slade, a desperate ironworker who loses his job is unable to feed his wife and child. Attempting to rob a doctor's house he is caught, leading to dramatic complications. The film focuses on his struggle to provide for his family amidst poverty, with red tape delaying charity, pushing him to crime and highlighting societal struggles during that era.
A mounted police lieutenant investigates the murder of a factor, MacKenzie, discovering it's a tale of vengeance: MacKenzie had stolen the assistant factor Burke's wife and daughter, leading Burke to kill him in a coin toss for the first shot, a brutal act presented as a chilling story of betrayal and revenge in the wilderness.
