Writing
Arriving with her husband in Arabia, Katherine Wyvrne is ready for romantic times in the exotic Middle East, but her aristocratic husband prefers to be out hunting "Barbara sheep" than fulfilling his wife's desires. She soon meets up with the dashing Arab chief Benchaalai and falls for his charms, but he has a much more sinister goal in mind for her than romance.
A farmer in Illinois played by Lionel Barrymore is recruited by Abraham Lincoln to pose as a copperhead during the Civil War.
When Tourneur adapted the allegorical plays The Blue Bird by Belgian symbolist Maurice Maeterlinck and Prunella by British playwrights Harley Granville Barker and Lawrence Housman in 1918, they had been successfully staged for many years, opening in Moscow and on Broadway and everywhere. Today, the saccharine charm of these anti-modern fairy tales doesn’t work any more. But undistracted by the meaning or action of the film, we can enjoy the surface of Prunella all the better, the dazzling sets and costumes, silhouettes and painted backdrops created by the great art director Ben Carré in a fashionable Art Déco Neo-Rococo style.
Rich Matthew Thurlow, spends nearly every night at cabarets, admires Dazie, a leading dancer whom he calls "Redhead." Dazie loves Matthew, but she is dismayed that he wastes his life in clubs. After Matthew, while intoxicated, marries Dazie to win a bet, Dazie insists that they remain married. When Matthew's uncle cuts off his allowance and ends his "soft" bank job, Dazie decides to make a man out of Matthew, but he scorns her. She rents a small apartment, while he gets work in an auto factory. Although Matthew is genial when Dazie's parents visit, he remains cold to her. When Matthew's uncle offers Dazie money for a divorce, she refuses, but says that she will agree to a divorce if Matthew really wants one. Matthew develops a new interest in life and realizes he loves Dazie when he becomes jealous through a misunderstanding. After his uncle, seeing Dazie's effect on Matthew, threatens to disinherit him for good if he does divorce her, Matthew confesses his love.
Lola Gray working in a New York department store as a clerk, loves Charles Cox, a millionaire's son who is described by his friends as "Broadway's million-dollar kid." One evening at a lavish party, Charlie, quite intoxicated, proposes to Lola, but because of his irresponsible habits, she refuses him. Heartbroken, Charlie decides to drown himself in the hotel fountain and urges his friends and the proprietor to join him. When Lola learns from her sister, Ida Bell Gray, that Cox, Sr., having read about Charlie's antics in the newspaper, plans to disown his son, she phones Charlie immediately to accept his proposal. Although startled by the news of his disinheritance, Charlie is comforted by Lola's assertion that she prefers a man of character to one of wealth, and the two begin their married life on a farm in the Midwest.
Believing her husband, Laurence Teck, to be dead in the African jungle, Carol marries musician David Verne. Laurence does come home, but, thinking it best for Carol, he returns to the jungle. The shock kills David, and Carol sets out in search of Laurence, has many adventures, and finally finds him with the friendly native king who saved him.
After embezzling a large sum of money from a Chicago firm, Lee Brownell pays an unexpected visit to his brother, Dr. Max Brownell, offering the excuse that he needs a rest. Soon, Lee wins the affections of Coralie Grayson, whom Max had long wished to marry. On the night before Coralie and Lee's wedding, Max discovers his brother's crime, but for Coralie's sake arranges to repay the stolen money. Max is too late, however, because Lee has stolen again. Coralie learns of her husband's true nature after the wedding. On their honeymoon cruise, they accidentally meet Max, who is traveling on the same boat. As the days pass, Lee becomes more depraved until, in a jealous pique, he shoots Max. Max, wounded, crawls to his brother's room, and Lee, confronted by his victim, dies of shock, thus freeing Max and Coralie to begin a new life together. A lost film.
In India, Rosamond English learns that her husband, Capt. Harry English, has been killed in battle. After a time, she marries Sir Arthur Gerardine but is unable to forget her first husband, and gradually her love for him is rekindled, especially when she contrasts him to the pompous and elderly Sir Arthur.
Wall Street clerk George Coburn leaves the employ of broker Ralph Coombes to become an independent speculator. Although she disapproves, George's wife, Lisa, insists on being his "silent partner" with a fifty percent share of the profits. Lisa avoids spending lavishly and saves her share of the money. Later, Ralph, who is in love with Lisa, conspires with brokers Jim Harker and Charles Nesbit to involve George in a stock deal that will likely ruin his business and his marriage. George loses his fortune and leaves his wife. Ralph conspires with his friend, Gertie Page, to lure Lisa on a voyage to Europe. Soon after boarding the ship, Lisa learns of the plot and disembarks. She reunites with George and assures him that they are not destitute. (Source: AFI)
After their wedding, Richard Vaughan and his wife Courtney take up residence in Richard's ancestral home. Courtney, despised by Nanny, the old housekeeper, and neglected by her husband, who buries himself in his chemical experiments, leads a lonely life. Consequently, when experimental chemist Basil Gallatin pays a lengthy visit to the Vaughan home, Courtney finds herself attracted to him. One day, during Richard's absence, a burglar alarm places Courtney and Gallatin in a compromising situation.
Jessica (Mary Miles Minter) becomes fed up with her husband Weston's (Robert Schable) womanizing and leaves him for a Wyoming ranch. Weston follows her, and violence and jealousy ensue.
The only daughter of wealthy Wall Street banker, Evelyn Murray, while with her aristocratic fiancé, Bert Van Vliet, runs down and injures newsboy Terry McGuire. To avoid an embarrassing outcome, Bert persuades her to flee the scene of the accident. Evelyn is conscience-stricken and informs her father; he is then forced to pay "hush money" to a garage attendant who has witnessed the accident.
Peasant children Mytyl and Tyltyl are led on a magical quest for the fabulous Blue Bird of Happiness by the fairy Berylune. On their journey, they're accompanied by the anthropomorphized presences of a Dog, a Cat, Light, Fire, and Bread, among other entities.
Differing considerably from Henrik Ibsen's classic play, the basic story of a woman who forges her father's name and comes to grief therefore is retained.
A Belgian countess escapes to America to avoid a loveless marriage and finds romance and adventure in a mountain village in Tennessee.
Stenographer Rita Charles is a woman who courts the attention of wealthy men. Rita works for T. J. Olverson during the day, and sees wealthy New Yorker Hugh Chalvey at night. She meets Dr. Varian, a young settlement doctor, who falls in love with her, but Rita does not encourage him because he does not make enough money. She tries to get Hugh to propose, but he does not want to marry her.
Judge Robert Appleton (Winter Hall) has led an exemplary life. His four children, however, fell short once they grew up and had to fend for themselves. When Appleton dies, his widow (Lydia Knott) explains that his last request was that each child spend one hour of contemplation with his body. The first is the youngest daughter, Daisy (Rosemary Theby), an artist of note who was betrayed and left with a son to raise out of wedlock. Next is Luke (Milton Sills), a wild young man who ran away at 19, and even though he is now married and a father, he still can't quite settle down. The eldest son, Bob (Wilfred Lucas), is next -- he wed a wealthy woman, but the marriage has no love.
When Easter Hicks, a Kentucky mountain girl, becomes infatuated with Clayton, a civil engineer from the city, her father Pap Hicks vows to kill Clayton. Sherd Raines, a young mountaineer who loves Easter, prevails upon Pap to reconsider, but Sherd is finally overcome by jealousy and begins to mold a bullet to kill his rival. As he prepares the mold, Sherd hears a preacher's voice denounce him for his evil intentions and he spills the hot metal.
A resourceful young girl struggles to free herself from slum life.
Cyril Hamilton is a chicken-hearted easterner who heads west. He makes up for his past misdeeds by rescuing a Cavalry colonel's daughter Marcia West from Mexican bandidos.
