Acting
The original concept of the show was to allow the viewer to see the inner workings of a movie studio and featured interviews with MGM stars and explanations of how movies were made. Later, the format changed to show edited versions of MGM films.
A con man heading west to search for gold teams up with a pair of scheming brothers along the way. The trio soon find themselves in the middle of a feud between two rival families and two underhanded land developers.
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.
After an unappreciated minister dies, his daughter loses her faith in God, prompting her to open a phony temple with a con man. Can the love of a blind former aviator restore her faith and happiness?
Harry, The Odd Fellow, is a tenement worker who lives alone in a shack alongside a warehouse and longs for the companionship of a wife and children like other men. One day he spies a pretty girl in his telescope and sends her by carrier pigeon a note that, alas, is received by the wrong party. The Girl marries and, poverty-striken, leaves her husband during a snowstorm. Harry takes her in, and minutes later her child is born. He works like a slave for the mother and child, pretending they are his own. Meanwhile, the husband finds her and comes to the shack on Christmas Eve as Harry is preparing to play Santa Claus. Not realizing the unhappiness she is causing him, The Girl thanks him profusely and leaves with her husband. Overcome, Harry sits overnight on the doorstep and the next morning is found frozen stiff except for his eyes--with amusing results.
"The war with Mexico serves to bring together American officer and Mexican senorita, the former all ardent and the latter defiant because of the fact that their countries are at war. Coincident with the American victory is the successful conquest by the 'gringo' of the girl's heart."
Family tensions in the Kentucky hills are inflamed by an outsider's dishonest scheme to exploit the area for its coal.
When an itinerant performing troupe that specializes in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” return to the owner and her son’s hometown for a show the younger brother Roy is nervous and unhappy because he plays Little Eva in the play. Sure that his sweetheart and her family will jeer along with the rest of the town he stumbles during the performance wrecking the set and bringing the show to a grinding halt. All is well though when the town’s hotel proprietor throws a big dinner for the troupe.
A dramatic recreation of the Johnstown Flood of 1889.
Finding herself accused of a murder she didn't commit, Alice Carroll flees to Tangier, Morocco. District Attorney Henry Holcombe, meanwhile, has discovered that she is actually innocent and sets out to search for her. He finds her in Tanger, but she is under the influence of the shady Wilhelm von Linke, who owns a seedy gambling den. Complications ensue.
A young couple's future is put in jeopardy by both the past and present actions of their parents.
Sheltered young Sylvia Fairponts reads about the scandals originating from the Beaulieu Inn and determines to go there at any cost. Anxious to know whether life promises any excitement for her, Sylvia consults clairvoyant Mme. Claire St. Claire, who, for a large fee, predicts that she will soon meet a dashing young lover.
Bedford Mills, wounded in France, meets aristocratic Helen Jessop at a party given by her father for returning war heroes in his Fifth Avenue home. Bedford falls violently in love with Helen, but discovering that he is only a poor bank clerk she insists that he must first become a man of importance. He decides that, in view of the soaring prices of shoes, he will refuse to wear shoes on the street. Causing a sensation, he is arrested and then released, but all New York reads of his exploits.
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.
An oil tanker burns at sea, and Molla Hansen, the captain's daughter, is the only survivor. Her rescuer, lighthouse-keeper Silas Martin, is fatally burned, and begs Molla to look after his daughter, Pearl. Meanwhile, Captain Rodney O'Malley, Molla's grief-stricken fiancé, departs on a long cruise. Two years later, Pearl is seduced by rum-runner Charley Watts, although she blames engineer Ira Meers. Molla learns of Pearl's pregnancy and holds Ira at gunpoint in the lighthouse. When Pearl discovers that Charley is already married, she locks him in the lighthouse tower, floods it with gas, and hurls a lighted lantern at him. Pearl and Charley are killed, but Ira recovers. The explosion signals Rod's ship, and he and Molla are reunited. A lost film.
At her mother’s behest Kate Leigh marries wealthy Basil Kildare, owner of a Southern plantation called Storm. When Basil’s servant and mistress Mahaly protests bitterly he takes their shared son away from her. Kate discovers her new husband is a coarse and brutal alcoholic and turns for friendship to Dr. Jacques Benoix and his mother. When Basil becomes aware of their relationship, he finds the doctor and they have a brutal fight. Later Basil is found dead and Jacques is sentenced to life in prison. On her deathbed, Mahaly confesses that she killed Basil, leaving Kate and Jacques to begin a new life together.
After being released from jail, two con artists take their grift to a carnival.
When Mamie Lee's father, Sam Corwin, is sentenced to jail for forgery, the sheriff, Ed Cass, offers to cover the debt in return for Mamie Lee's hand in marriage. The distraught daughter agrees, and Cass robs the saloon to obtain the money, placing the blame on Jim Kane, his rival for Mamie's affections. Jim is sent to jail an embittered man.
Released on July 3, 1927
A mining camp girl attempts to reform a young derelict addicted to drink. Colleen Moore broke her neck in a fall from a moving handcar during the making of this rousing sagebrush melodrama. The pert Moore, an idol of her generation, quickly regained her mobility but was reportedly forced to sleep in a leather neck support for nearly ten years.
