Acting
Mabel, the beautiful daughter of General Lewis, has considerable variety of her love affairs when she finds herself loved by Lieutenant Graham, of her father's staff, and very much sought after by a rich Indian Rajah, whom she meets at a garden party. The Rajah proposes, but is refused. He abducts her. Dennis, Graham's servant, meets the abductors and picks up Mabel's locket, which she drops. He hastens to the Lieutenant and tells him what he saw.
Beatrice Wilson, visiting her brother, a British officer in India, is sought in marriage by a native prince. She refuses him and he plots revenge. He incites the Sepoys to mutiny and they set fire to Jack Wilson's home and endeavor to abduct Beatrice. She is defended by her brother, who in the midst of the excitement is taken captive.
Bettina was justified in being indignant because her employer, a married man, makes love to her. She tells her beau, Raymond, about it and he vows to get square with the old masher and teach him a lesson. He tells Bettina to send word to her boss that she is sick and obliged to remain at home for a few days, but she will send a substitute.
Rapid advancement in film technique is seen in His Great Uncle’s Spirit. Especially in the opening theater sequence, and in the climactic “transformation” sequence, several different shots are edited together to create a fluid, dynamic scene. Cinematography shows the first spark of flexibility with a couple of tilting movements. There is a new energy in direction with strong fore-to-back staging. There are also some insert close-ups and some relatively unusual medium close-ups of action.
Billy Emerson and Mildred Girard are secretly engaged to be married after Billy graduates from West Point and becomes a lieutenant. A very serious setback to their tentative understanding occurs when Mr. Girard loses heavily in a stock transaction that places himself under obligations to his friend Morley, whose son Paul, is anxious to marry Mildred.
An old rocking chair makes a story out of Old Boggs, his daughter Madge, and her boyfriend Jack.
After the overthrowing of Duke Senior by his tyrannical brother, Senior's daughter Rosalind disguises herself as a man and sets out to find her banished father while also counseling her clumsy suitor Orlando in the art of wooing.
King Henry VIII smitten with Anne Boleyn wishes to displace his estimable Queen Catherine for her. He appeals to Cardinal Wolsey to set aside the tenets of the Church and consent to his divorce from the Queen. The cardinal absolutely refuses to do anything so inimical to his office, as representative of the Holy See. Angered King Henry induces the Archbishop of Canterbury to call a special council through which he divorces himself from Queen Catherine. In punishment for his refusal to accede to the king's wishes, the cardinal is exiled to Leicester Abbey where he dies three days afterward, conscious that he had sustained the sacredness of his office, a martyr to his faith and of service to his king.
While in his cups, an older gentleman buys a surprise for his family—one that eats peanuts and weighs 11,000 pounds. (MoMA)
A romance between Mr. Wall and the girl from the laundry, who encounter each other for the first time on a train station platform.
