Acting
Robin Hood is a 1912 film made by Eclair Studios when it and many other early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based in Fort Lee, New Jersey at the beginning of the 20th century. The movie's costumes feature enormous versions of the familiar hats of Robin and his merry men, and uses the unusual effect of momentarily superimposing images different animals over each character to emphasize their good or evil qualities. The film was directed by Étienne Arnaud and Herbert Blaché, and written by Eustace Hale Ball. A restored copy of the 30-minute film exists and was exhibited in 2006 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Perpetua is a rich little orphan with a kind but absent-minded dreamer of a guardian, Thaddeus, who is very much older than herself. Perpetua wants to live in Thaddeus's house but instead is sent to her eccentric animal loving Aunt's, Miss Majerdie. Unhappy Perpetua runs away to Thaddeus’s. He endures her for a time and finally ships her back to his Aunt Majerdie's. Pursued by several suitors whose ardor cools when the rumor goes round that she is penniless. Her wealth having intimidated him before Thaddeus steps in now and declares his love for her.
Novice businessman Curtis Jadwin is introduced to the world of grain speculation by veteran broker Charles Cressler. At a performance of Faust, Curtis meets and falls in love with Laura Dearborn, the sweetheart of artist Sheldon Corthell. Curtis pursues Laura and finally convinces her to marry him, but soon after their wedding, he neglects her for his business. In her loneliness, Laura renews her relationship with Sheldon and the lovers plan to elope. When Curtis is ruined on the market, however, Laura rejects her lover and comforts her husband.
A scientist resurrects his dead daughter, only to realize she now lacks a soul.
A lost film. "The Beaten Path" was a 3-reel 3000-foot film produced by the Eclair company in the United States. The film was directed by O.A.C. Lund, and starred Barbara Tennant, O.A.C. Lund, Alec B. Francis, Julia Stuart, Will E. Sheerer. It premiered in August of 1913. Plot summary from "Moving Picture World", August 23, 1913: "This three-reel picture has many big situations in it. In the cast are some of the company's best players: Alec Francis, Julia Stuart, Barbara Tennant, Will Sherer, O.A.C. Lund, Hector Dion, and others. The story is of a family feud between two families, the heads of which quarrel over a boundary line. The main scenes are laid about large mansions, but there are others in an atmosphere of the Northwest, in primitive surroundings. "The Beaten Path" is a real feature."
Wealthy Joshua Anson expects his son Chadwick to marry a woman of their class, but much to his chagrin Chadwick falls in love with factory girl Mary McClintock. Anson schemes to break up the romance by framing Mary in a compromising situation, but she outsmarts him and marries Chadwick. Not to be defeated, Anson offers his daughter-in-law $100,000 to divorce his son, but Mary outfoxes him once again by accepting the money, getting a divorce, and then remarrying Chadwick. Mary's last trick wins her father-in-law's respect, and he finally offers the couple his blessings.
Mark Truitt dreams of becoming a steel magnate, so he leaves his home in the country and his sweetheart Unity and settles in Pittsburgh. He starts out as a laborer in the steel mill but soon becomes a foreman and then a superintendent. Mark lives with the shop foreman, whose daughter Kazia falls in love with him. Truitt, however, returns alone to his hometown and builds his own mill. Wealthy now, he marries Unity, but money changes her, so the couple gets a divorce. In the end, Mark goes back to Pittsburgh, finds Kazia, who has never stopped loving him, and marries her.
The old gardener, attracted by the ducks' antics, goes to the lake to find a basket with a baby in it. He becomes her guardian but passes away when she is fourteen, leaving her the house and garden. Beloved by the woodsman Jean, one day Lionel, a famous painter, approaches her to be his model, and she accepts. Eventually she finds herself torn between the two men.
Scheming golddigger Count Bertrand Delande is pursuing wealthy Irene Waterloo, but has already proposed to Gwendolyne Vanderbilt. Gwendolyne and her social-climbing mother find evidence that Irene is actually black--shocked by this stunning revelation, Irene travels to Europe, where she finally finds out who she really is.
A hunchback, sworn to revenge against a woman who rejected him, lures her stepdaughter Elaine to the stage and assists her to become a dancer. Her stepmother goes to see her dance where the hunchback murders her goes mad and falls off a cliff to his death. John Butler, who is loved by Elaine, is accused of killing him, but Elaine clears him of the charge by proving the hunchback was the murderer of her stepmother.
Paul La Blanc graduates from the seminary with high honors with plans to enter the priesthood, a much-desired outcome for his parents. But when he meets one of the local parishioners Rose Miqueleon, they are mutually attracted. An amateur artist Paul paints a picture of the Madonna, with Rose as the subject. When the portrait is seen gossip spreads and his parents are enraged at the thought, he might abandon the church. Events reach a danger point until Paul’s father sees the young pair in the moonlight and realizes the inevitability of events.
A young woman tells her parents and fiance (in flashback) about the recent sinking of the Titanic and her experiences as a passenger during the disaster. Her intended marriage now faces a new hazard because her fiance is a sailor and her parents have just been reminded of the dangers of the sea. Premiering in the United States just 29 days after the event, it is the earliest dramatization about the tragedy.
Betty Brown is an egregious coquette and flirt. She fools a pair of lovers, and her indecision lands her in a pretty mess at a Hartford hotel, where she is cajoled into passing herself off as the wife of a man whose real wife is on her way to meet him. Betty just butts into a sea of trouble, for the man and his wife are to receive some money from the former's uncle on condition that the wife meets with his approval. The general mix-up at the hotel caused by the meeting there of all these opposing interests is the cause of a great deal of fun and confusion, the central figure of which is always Little Miss Betty Brown.
A man traveling home for Christmas gets stuck in a small town and finds romance with a woman operating the telegraph.
Cowboy Mark West lives on a ranch with his sister Mary, who suffers from a serious spinal disorder. Flighty East Coast socialite Violet Ridgeway flirts with Mark while vacationing at the ranch but returns to her fiancée, Dr. Welsh, when she leaves. Mark has been working hard to earn money for an operation Mary, which Doctor Welsh and Doctor Boyd agree to perform without telling him how dangerous it is. When Mary dies Mark receives a letter detailing the doctor’s risk-taking, filled with vengeance Mark kills Boyd, but Welsh flees to safety. Mark is imprisoned, but Violet convinces him to marry her, satisfying a stipulation in her late aunt's will. Mark escapes taking Welsh and Violet hostage. They are set upon by a villain and in the confrontation Welsh’s cowardly act shows Violet Mark’s true worth and the pair escapes to freedom across the Canadian border.
The famous pianist Tenorini has moved into the neighbourhood. He plays a song (a spring waltz from "Alexander's Ragtime Band") on the piano; it is such a joyful tune that everyone in the neighborhood starts to dance. When he finally stops everyone is exhausted.
Based on the Novel by Robert W. Chambers of New York City life among the upper-crust, Valerie West , artist/model and philosopher, undergoes much sorrow and joy, many trials and tribulations, and final triumph on her journey to become the living personification of sweet and noble womanhood.
A maid loves her employer, sacrificing her own happiness in order to insure his.
When Lois Folsom's continual complaints about her husband Roger's sloppiness finally drive him out of the house, Lois seeks solace in the company of their friend, Henry Carter. Roger's brother Tom, angry at Lois because of her interference in his courtship of Dorothy Halstead, the ward of Jewish storekeeper Abe Guth, informs his brother that Lois has kissed Carter. This knowledge propels him to accept Jack Harkness' invitation to join in a gold mining expedition of Arctic City in Alaska. Unaware that his wife is pregnant, Roger leaves, and Lois, who is now desperate, accepts Carter's care. In the meantime, the Guth's store is destroyed by fire and Tom sustains the family by stealing food, but is jailed for his efforts. After Lois' baby is born, Carter ventures North to inform Roger. After an initial confrontation between the two men, Roger returns to his wife and frees Tom from jail. Tom, realizing the damage that his lies have caused, confesses his deceit and wins Dorothy's heart.
James Rallston, facing financial hardship, marries a wealthy invalid widow with a daughter, Jean, and plots to control her fortune. He orchestrates her confinement in a sanitarium by drugging her and falsely claiming she is insane, with the help of a conniving doctor and sanitarium keeper. Fifteen years later, Rallston has lost Jean's fortune through speculation and seeks help from John Bigelow to recover it, offering Jean as a reward. Bigelow, suspicious of Rallston, discovers the truth about the widow and Jean's father, and rescues the widow from the sanitarium.
