Acting
Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Mary Alden and her brothers Matthew and George have extremely different political views. Matthew is a committed pacifist, and is constantly giving speeches against war. George is notified that his draft number, 258, has been called and to report for induction, but he refuses. Mary, on the other hand, is intensely patriotic and comes up with a plan to shame him into reporting for induction. Meanwhile, Matthew is being set up for a patsy by a gang of German secret agents, led by Van Bierman, who are planning to blow up an airplane factory.
A murderous gang of mysterious creepy killers mark a young heiress for death. They are led by a ghostly voice known only as the "The Mystery Mind."
No description available.
Joe Morgan, a previously respectable worker, becomes a town drunkard, losing his job and neglecting his family due to the influence of the local tavern, the "Sickle and Sheaf". Joe's daughter, Little Mary, frequently comes to the bar to beg her father to return home. During a confrontation in the bar, a thrown glass hits Little Mary, resulting in her death. Devastated by the death of his child, Joe vows revenge but reforms, ending his addiction and reuniting with his family.
Comedy of a school marm teaching a social climber some life lessons.
New England fisherman John Van Zandt sons Harold and Peter are in love with Eileen Arden, though she favors the younger brother Harold. The jealous Peter convinces Eileen that Harold is circulating false rumors about her, then convinces his younger brother to move to Boston. Six years later, John is unable to work so Harold returns to help support the family, finding employment as a lighthouse keeper. Peter jealousy is once again aroused and his drunken rage results in the death of his child, Anne. After realizing that Eileen knows of his deceit years earlier, Peter attempts to kill Harold in the lighthouse, but instead falls to his own death during the ensuing struggle.
Prospector Harry Farley returns from Alaska to find that his sister, Helen, has gone to New York with Florence, her blind daughter, after being deserted by her husband, Richard Norman. Under the name of Sidney Heaton, Norman has married Blanche Maberly and fallen in with a bootlegging gang while succumbing to the blackmail of Dick Watkins. Helen dies, Heaton kidnaps Florence, but Harry tracks him to the Adirondacks.
John Maddox, Sr., who directs the Equity Trust Company with James Buckley, sends Henry Jenkins to steal a note of security from Buckley's safe, and in the struggle that ensues between Buckley and the burglar, the former is killed. Maddox claims that Buckley, failing in his scheme to steal from the company, committed suicide, and John Maddox, Jr., knowing that Buckley's daughter Beatrice is now penniless, breaks his engagement with her. Forced to earn her own living, Beatrice opens a candy factory, and with the help of her loyal friend, Robert Howard, the business becomes so successful that it presents a threat to Maddox's candy company. Maddox sends Jenkins to instigate a strike at Beatrice's factory, but when he is mortally wounded in a fight, he confesses everything. With her father's honor restored and her business flourishing, Beatrice happily agrees to marry Robert.
Robert Wallace, the elder son of a rich and indulgent father, marries Margaret Christy, a spirited patriot, so that he can escape the call to war. Discovering the reason for Robert's haste to get married, Margaret is appalled and resolves to bring home to her husband a sense of his personal responsibility. In order to instill patriotism in Robert, Margaret contrasts him with John Harding, the man who gave her up to go to war. When Robert protests his wife's tactics, Margaret accuses him of being a contemptible coward. The next day a German insults the American flag, and Robert, his sense of justice aroused, makes him salute it. He then bids Margaret farewell and marches off to war. Margaret sees him off without divulging the secret that she is pregnant, thus sacrificing her own welfare for that of her country.
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.
Maris, having married Lynch, a worthless man who deserts her, taking their daughter Felice with him, marries mill owner Dwight Alden after receiving notification that her husband and child are dead. Discovering that Alden employs child labor, Maris, assisted by the village minister, tries to persuade him that this is wrong, but he will tolerate no interference in his business.
After a prologue where we are shown the backgrounds of Wilhelm II and Woodrow Wilson, we see the story of Conrad Le Brett from Alsace-Lorraine. Forced to fight for Germany Conrad, sees soldiers taking girls into a church to rape them and kills one who murders a baby. Shot in the encounter he is taken to a Brussels hospital run by nurse Edith Cavell where he falls in love with American nurse, Amy Gordon. After Edith Cavell assassination and the murder of Conrad’s sister Vilma by the evil Lieutenant Ober Conrad honors her dying request that he go to America and defend Alsace-Lorraine's reputation. Once there he convinces President Wilson that Alsatians should be allowed to enlist. Fighting with the "doughboys," Conrad kills Ober, and after the armistice, returns to Amy.
Prominent New York magazine publisher Frank Clayton visits Paris, France,with his wife Elinor and young son Dick. He is shown around the city by Benjamin De Lota, an art critic who is a contributor to Clayton's magazine, and among the people he introduces to Frank is model Mimi Chardenet. Frank is immediately taken with the young beauty, and they begin an affair. When Elinor happens upon her husband and Mimi walking together, he introduces her as a new writer for his magazine. However, when they return to New York, Elinor learns of his fling with Mimi. Complications ensue.
A wealthy young athlete comes to the aid of a beautiful heiress, whose fortune is being threatened by two arch villains, The Great Master and Doctor Zulph.
Orphan Mary Lord, the ward of Sir Arthur Stanhope of Parliament, is attracted to Philip Carmichael, a young politician, who ignores her and goes through a supposedly mock marriage at a wild party with actress Sheelah Delayne. Years later, Philip falls in love with Mary, now married to Sir Arthur, who dies from a stroke when he sees Philip and Mary together. Remorseful, they try to keep apart but eventually marry in France. Later, Sheelah confronts Philip with their son and proof that they are married. When Philip is arrested for bigamy, Mary testifies, to her humiliation, that she and Philip are not married, and then disappears. After her son dies, Sheelah goes to France as a canteen worker and finds Mary wandering in a daze. Feeling pity, Sheelah has her marriage annulled and sends for Philip. When Mary hears soldiers sing a song she used to sing to Philip, she recognizes Philip and they resume their marriage.
When governess Thelma Miller falls in love with her employer's brother, Norris Townsend, they have a brief affair. Soon after, Thelma discovers that she is pregnant and demands that Norris marry her so that their child can have a name. Norris' wealthy family objects to the marriage on the grounds of social equality, but Thelma forces the union at gunpoint. After the ceremony, Thelma leaves her husband and seeks employment in a country town. Years pass as Norris searches for his wife and son.
