Directing
In the tiny Latin American country of Altamura, American architect, sculptor, and adventurer Larry Donovan is executing a magnificent palace for the vain, diminutive Governor Romero, who is angered by Larry's lack of respect. After leading his co-workers in a riotous Fourth of July celebration, Larry responds to the insults of Generalissimo Pedro Mendez by knocking him out.
Society matron Mrs. Fanshaw Renwick entertains lavishly at her posh home. Living with her are her two daughters, Phillipa, a madcap eighteen-year-old, and her married sister Errica who is having an affair with Ralli, a designing South American. When Captain Chantry arrives with an impressive letter of introduction, Mrs. Renwick welcomes him while Phillipa falls in love with him. On the night of the masquerade party, Phillipa induces Chantry to take her to the party in disguise, because her mother will not permit her to attend. The captain, in reality a jewel thief, readily complies, believing it will provide him with the perfect opportunity to steal Mrs. Renwick's famous pearls.
Robert Armstrong, falsely accused of a murder committed thirty years ago in a western gambling hall, faces the alternative of imprisonment or paying blackmail. A letter from Tom Mason, formerly a miner, prepares him for a visit, at which time he must make his choice.
Will the orphan girl win her hero in spite of scheming relatives who seek to keep her in the background?
Lucille Caruthers travels from her home in the South to New York, hoping for a career on the stage. She is aided in her dream by the theatre star Serge Ratakin, and she becomes a star in her own right. But Ratakin is jealous and possessive and attempts to sabotage her. After a violent conflict with Ratakin, Lucille believes she has killed him. But has she?
When famous opera singer Elinore Duane undergoes an operation on her throat, she has a series of ether-induced visions. In one, she is transported to ancient Rome where she appears as a much-admired woman in love with Paul, a young heretic, and at odds with Lutor, the high priest. To save her love, she poisons Lutor with her ring. After several other visions which involve variations on this love triangle, Elinore awakens to discover that Lutor is actually her doctor, Sascha Jaccard, and that Paul is the son of a friend who has come to visit the recovering prima donna.
When Vera, the daughter of steel king Daniel Maitland, marries Blair, a young lawyer, her father cuts her off with only a small allowance. A few months later, Blair becomes famous by securing the acquittal of one of his friends who had killed his wife's lover, basing his plea on "the unwritten law." He then succumbs to the fascination of another woman. Vera discovers them in a compromising situation and shoots Blair. At her trial, her lawyer is pleading for mercy when Vera explains that she does not want mercy, but justice.
Bianca, a Corsican, supports her frivolous sister, Rosa, by making laces. The sculptor, Manatelli, visits her cottage to buy laces, and sees her modeling in clay. Impressed by her talent, he offers her free instruction if she wishes to come to Paris. Bianca accepts and promises to send for Rose as soon as possible. In Paris she meets Etienne Du Inette, head of the Internationale, a powerful secret service organization. He and Bianca are instantly attracted to each other.
The sole support of her invalid mother and young crippled brother, Heloise Broulette is forced to become the mistress of Leland Norton in order to secure the money for an operation to save her mother's life. Mrs. Broulette recovers, but when she discovers the real source of her daughter's income, the news kills her. After her mother's death, Heloise leaves her career behind and goes to the country where she takes a job as a secretary to author Carter Vail, who falls in love with her.
Natalie, whose mother is engaged to Wallace Brewster, the reform candidate for mayor, is seventeen years old and resents being treated as a little girl, particularly by her mother's fiancé. When she meets the opposition candidate's son, Lance Christie, he persuades her to secure some papers incriminating Brewster.
Mrs. Helen Courtland passes a fake check for $25,000 from a millionaire named Woodruffe Clay, who is in love with her daughter Anita. To save the family from a scandal in court, Anita marries Woodruffe, even though she loves Captain Hugh Shannon of the Foreign Legion. During an argument on their wedding night, Woodruffe falls and is seriously injured, and during his recovery, he makes her life miserable. Anita suffers from sleepwalking, and after one episode she dreams of poisoning her husband, she awakens to find him dead. Believing that she killed Woodruffe, Anita travels to Europe with Sarah Harden, her nurse, and there renews her affair with Hugh.
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Young marrieds Guy & Bee are ostracized by their supposed friends in town when Bee discovers she is expecting but the legitimacy of their union is called into question. Eventually the squire who performed their ceremony becomes aware of the scandal and produces the necessary certificate.
Mary Lawson, on the run from a false murder charge finds happiness in marriage to a simple man until the day a villain from her past emerges and threatens all she’s built.
Because of the loss of three generations of women in her family during childbirth Ellen Locke is frightened to have kids. Frustrated by her decision, her husband John finds himself drawn to his old love, Constance, now a widow with a child who bears her name. After her sister Marion dies in childbirth, Ellen becomes more obsessed, however one day when Ellen is driving little Constance home they have a car accident. An incident in the hospital changes her perspective leading to a reconciliation with John.
A young woman becomes a lion tamer in a circus. The circus manager is in love with her, but she only has eyes for a millionaire's playboy son.
Poor abused Nora runs into privileged bored Beatrice while wandering onto the rich girl's family estate. Both girls notice the uncanny resemblance between each other, so they decide to switch places. However, trouble soon arises for both girls in their new roles.
Laura Sutphen breaks off her engagement with Donald Loring because he drinks excessively and she refuses to see him socially. When her automobile breaks down in front of a friend's empty estate during a storm, Laura is forced to spend the night with Von Kolnitz, a rich foreigner also stranded by the weather.
Working as a wardrobe girl in a cheap traveling stock company, Mamie Judd secretly loves Jenks, the leading man, who scarcely notices the young girl. She saves Neal Selden, son of a small-town banker, from being accused of robbery and murder, acts committed by the company's manager and leading lady.
