Acting
Claire Barrington falls heir to a famous racing stable with many debts, whose payment is dependent upon the sweepstakes in which the horse Wildfire is entered.
An innocent young New York newsstand worker is deceived by a famous boxer, leading to an international betrayal, murder, and a dramatic courtroom trial.
Hope Dugan rescues young Jim McTavish from a beating at the hands of his cruel father, who then is himself beaten in a fight with Hope's father. Seeking revenge, Red kills Dugan and is hanged, leaving Jim and Hope orphaned. They are adopted by two old miners, Sam Hawks and Bill Higgins, who later sell their mine to send Hope to school but are robbed of the money by Brandt, who has offered to buy the claim. Jim learns of Brandt's treachery and recovers the money in a holdup but is arrested. Hope returns to find that Sam has died, and she believes that Jim is dead too until Bill tells her he is being framed for robbery. She and Bill hold up the stagecoach and rescue Jim, pretending to shoot him. United and free again, Hope and Jim face a happy life together.
Wild flapper Patricia Van Nuys decides to become a pilot like her husband Robert, but with a difference--she wants to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by airplane. Capt. Endicott, a friend of Robert's, offers to teach her how to fly. One day while aloft in the plane, the craft takes a sudden nosedive and crashes. The pair walk away uninjured and find shelter in a roadhouse. Robert, upon hearing of this, becomes jealous of Pat's spending so much time with Endicott, which angers Pat. She decides to leave Robert and slips out of the house to catch an evening train, but unfortunately, Endicott is also aboard the train. Robert finds out about that, too. Complications ensue.
An illegitimate child of the slums comes to faith. Later, she chooses to labor in a canning factory in order to investigate its poor conditions, not realizing she has a significant connection to the cold-hearted factory owner.
After serving time in Sing Sing, for which he was unjustly sentenced, and encouraged by two "sharpers," Richard Goodloe returns to the home of his wealthy southern mother in dread fear that she and Virginia Sanders should learn of his prison record--a fear which is constantly nurtured by his rival, Con Arnold.
Upon leaving prison, an ex con vows to go straight, but circumstances force him to return to crime. Meanwhile, a gang of crooks kidnaps a visiting British aristocrat, but the ex-con has an incredible likeness to the Englishman, and his intended hosts take him home to their mansion.
Offering a ride to a millionaire, Sam Smith (Leon Errol) agrees to trade places with his passenger for financial reasons. Only when the men in the white coats put the collar on him does Sam realize that the "millionaire" was actually an escaped mental patient.
A full-time carer plots a daring heist from the Houses of Parliament, in a bid to thwart devastating welfare reforms known as Independence Credit.
A wealthy young athlete comes to the aid of a beautiful heiress, whose fortune is being threatened by two arch villains, The Great Master and Doctor Zulph.
Camilla Van Dam is in love with her rich father's poor employee, John Hamilton. Van Dam is against their marriage but proposes an arrangement to which Camilla agrees. Van Dam goes abroad with the understanding that she will not marry for a year or reveal her whereabouts to Hamilton. Announcing to the press that she is accompanying her father, Camilla instead gets a job as a chorus girl, takes an apartment, and supports herself. Hamilton finds her and joins in the deception until Van Dam's secretary tries to make off with the fortune on hearing the false rumor of Van Dam's death. Van Dam consents readily to his daughter's marriage when he returns.
Ronnie Rand, Required to marry before she is 21 or lose her inheritance, Ronnie Rand meets Pierre Martel, member of a gang of thieves, and, convinced that he is a "real man," she marries him. Pierre's confederates attempt to blackmail Ronnie, and when she refuses to sign a check they try to kill Pierre; but police arrive in time to save him. Pierre is revealed to be a U. S. Intelligence Service agent. Ronnie, though somewhat disappointed that her husband is not at all a crook, accepts the situation.
Dr. Paul Carrington is a rising young surgeon engaged to selfish socialite Marion Ainsworth who resents the time he devotes to his profession. During an outing, Marion intercepts a crucial emergency hospital message meant for Paul, causing him to miss a vital operation and ruining his professional reputation. Discovering her deceit, Paul shoulders the blame to shield her and flees to a remote tropical island to live in solitude. A year later, Marion sets out to find him but is shipwrecked. She washes ashore on Paul's island, where he divides the land between them, promises to protect her, but strictly forbids her from disturbing him and his work.
Henry Burgess favors a match between his ward, Virginia Parke, and his nephew, Peter Warburton, but she is only interested in her poodle, Frou Frou, and Peter devotes all of his attention to his business. To bring them together, Uncle Henry rents twin babies of the laundrywoman, Bridget McGroghan, placing one on Peter's doorstep and the other on Virginia's. Each discovering that the other has a baby, Peter and Virginia soon begin to share their views on child rearing and matrimony, and are about to become engaged when the babies disappear. Michael McGroghan, the twins' father, hires a pair of crooks to kidnap the babies so that he may collect the $25,000 bond that has been put up by Henry for their safe return. Peter, however, tracks down the kidnappers, and after the infants are returned to their grateful mother, he and Virginia look forward to having their own babies. (from the AFI)
Somewhere in France, German troops occupy the chateau of Marquis X. The commanding officer see the aged Marquis attempt to signal his daughter Louise, and seizing a paper writes an order demanding her presence. On the paper is a message in code from the Marquis to ring the bell as a signal to the French troops. Louise kills one of the German officers and rings the bell, though she knows it will mean death for her father and herself. The picture fades into a Liberty Bell ringing out "Buy, buy, buy, Bonds."
