Acting
Mynderse Van Dyun, a wealthy old New York aristocrat, has one goal in life, to see his granddaughter Catherine and grandson Pell married; for, although they are cousins, the marriage would perpetuate the family name. Catherine, however, is in love with Paul La Farge and detests her drug-addicted cousin, who seduces and then secretly marries her maid, Nora Duffy.
John Oxford owns a gambling hall in an Alaskan mining town, but it known far and wide as an honest man. However, one day he finds that in order to save the life of Doris Henry, who has come to Alaska to marry Wallace Towers, he has to cheat. It turns out that Wallace has incurred huge gambling losses and is being threatened by those to whom he owes the money, and they in turn are threatening Doris--who mistakenly blames John for the predicament that she and Wallace are in.
Gordon Elliott, a student at one of the big universities, is unable to make the football team until his senior year. He is then awarded a position at center because of his superior method of passing the ball, though his lightness is against him. He overhears the head coach say that Dick Blackwood would make a better center if only he could master the pass. In his loyalty to the college Elliott teaches Blackwood the pass, thereby eliminating himself, not merely from the team, but also, as he supposes, from the possibility of winning Marjorie Burgess, who has commanded him to return for his answer after he has played his first big game.
The Conscience of John David (1916) tells the story of a wealthy spender who promises marriage to a "Worldly Woman" and plans a big announcement party. Their engagement is interrupted by another admirer, the "Libertine," and John David's life is disrupted by scandal and societal pressure, ultimately leading him to seek a more meaningful existence and a deeper love beyond superficial pleasures.
Most mothers are more or less wrong about their children. Mrs. Reed loved her youngest son, Edward, who was a clever rascal, so blindly that her eldest son, Jim, a generous but somewhat stupid boy, did not get his due dose of maternal affection. Jim was always unlucky, while Edward was never short of good clothes and plenty of money to make his pockets ring.
Honest Arizona rancher Sam Gardner, goes with his motherless son Billy to the city, where he is cheated out of ten thousand dollars by a band of crooks. Taking up residence in a boardinghouse where he meets Jane Ingraham, Sam decides that the only way to regain his losses is by gambling. To achieve this, he makes friends with gambler Kittie Hinch who takes him to Jack Bloom's gambling house. When Bloom begins flirting with Hinch's wife Florry, the injured husband kills his rival and the evidence points to Sam as the killer. Jane tries to provide him with an alibi, but fails. Just as things look grim for the rancher, a wire arrives from Hinch, now in Mexico, confessing to the crime. His faith in mankind thus rewarded, Sam is free to marry Jane
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.
Violet Waldron is the daughter of dissolute parents with no hope of redemption. Yet, strange as it may be, she is a loyal and loving soul, supporting her father and mother in their degradation, no matter how badly they mistreat her. Seeking help for Bill Waldron, who has overdosed on cocaine, she tries in vain to convince his mother, whom she finds in a wine room, to come home with her.
Young Jack Lewis is in love with Anna Mason, the sister of Sheriff Jim Mason. Jack is framed for a murder actually committed by a villainous bandit. After being imprisoned for the crime, Jack manages to escape. In a series of high-action sequences—including a spirit-filled defense of a cabin and a stagecoach holdup—Jack saves Anna and a stash of gold. Jack's name is eventually cleared when the true villain provides a confession, proving his innocence.
Alaskan prospector Guy Roberts receives a giant $100,000 bill and boards a ship to Seattle, only to be targeted by Soapy Smith and his gang who try to steal the fortune, leading to a comical, suspenseful cat-and-mouse game where Roberts outsmarts them by hiding the bill under a steamship label on his trunk, proving his cleverness and winning the skipper's daughter.
Jim Cameron becomes desperate at his failure to get work, and resolves to hold up the stage in order to provide necessities for his wife and sick child, Mildred.
A young lady, who "hates the law" rises from the tenements to society. Financial reverses lead her to commit a series of burglaries as "The Bird". She becomes involved with the detective investigating the burglaries. After she confesses and pays for her crimes, they marry.
A young baseball pitcher in the bush leagues is discovered by a big-league manager and given his chance in the major leagues.
A young man who has proven a failure in business goes to Alaska and enters the salmon-fishing industry, in direct competition with the father of the woman he loves.
IN THE SWITCH TOWER stars Walter Edwards (who also directed) as Bill Wharton, a middle-aged alcoholic who was once a leading engineer with a railroad. Wharton is estranged from his son Joel (Frank Borzage), who now works as an executive with the railroad, but Frank does send him money through Bill's longtime friend, Louis Hall (Robert Hall).
Dalion Pemberton discovers that in order to inherit his grandfather's estate, he must marry Virginia Christy--a complete stranger. Dalion, who doesn't particularly trust or even like women, decides to forgo his grandfather's fortune rather than marry a woman he doesn't know. However, while on a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, he spots a beautiful woman and immediately falls for her. When he discovers that she is sailing to New York City, he stows away on the ship so he can follow her. Things don't turn out quite the way he planned.
A vigilante of the west, known as "One Shot" Ross, travels east on a stage which is held up and robbed of its gold chests. Without his guns he is knocked unconscious in a hand-to-hand conflict, and is cared for by Mary, daughter of a ranch owner, whose place is near the outlaw country.
No description available.
Corrupt saloonkeeper and mayor Johnson Schmidt hits his head during a reform conference, leading activists to mistakenly believe he is dead. Finding a down-and-out stranger named Charles Smith who looks identical to Schmidt, the group gets him to pose as the mayor. The real Schmidt survives with amnesia, while Smith falls in love and reforms after saving a woman from a brawl. Henchmen accidentally shoot the real Schmidt upon his return, revealing the two men are twin brothers; Smith wins the next election and marries.
A "scientific detective" story about the attempted murder of a wealthy New Yorker in his mountain lodge is framed with a satire of Hollywood as the writer of the story comically tries to get the script read and accepted by a studio.
