Acting
When a proud noble refuses to kiss the hand of the despotic King James in 1690, he is cruelly executed and his son surgically disfigured.
In 15th century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and only the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral can save her.
On the lam, criminal Alonzo hides in the circus as The Armless Wonder—a performer who uses his feet to hurl knives. Alonzo keeps the arms he really has concealed to hide his identity. Meanwhile, ringmaster's daughter Nanon has a phobia of being touched by men, but is romantically pursued by not only Alonzo but the strongman Malabar. Alonzo's desperation to remain with Nanon will only end in tragedy.
A Parisian cabaret dancer Emilia finds herself under the scrutiny of aristocratic British military officer Jerome Hautrix, who catches her act while on furlough during WWI. Convinced that Emilia is of noble birth, Hautrix tracks her down after the war, determined to trace her family tree. In the process, the two mismatched souls fall in love.
Delmar Spavinaw, an educated "half-breed," loves Evelyn Huntington, daughter of a racist judge. Evelyn's other suitor is Ross Kennion, a widower with one child, and owner of a vast tract of land which Spavinaw insists belongs to his Indian mother. Spavinaw seeks revenge when Judge Huntington decides to evict the squaw. Assisted by Juan Del Rey, a cattle rustler, Spavinaw steals the title to the land, wounds Kennion, stages a raid on the judge's cattle, and attempts to kidnap Kennion's son and Evelyn. The arrival of the sheriff forces him into flight across the border without his hostages. En route he meets Doll Pardeau, a school friend of Evelyn's, and together they ride for the Mexican border. Caught between a cattle stampede and a sheriff's posse, the couple catch a passing freight train, leaving calamity behind as the train slowly passes.
Hotheaded Jeff De Croteau wins a horserace, shoots a poor loser who has insulted him and escapes across the state line.
An embellished account of the 1803 expedition by famed frigate U.S.S. Constitution--a.k.a. "Old Ironsides"--against the Barbary pirates then terrorizing American shipping, focusing on the crew and passengers of a fictional merchant ship, The Esther, who fall afoul of the same pirates and thus become involved with the Constitution's mission.
A woman and her weakling brother inherit a mine. When the brother commits suicide the guide is accused of murder.
An alcoholic woman was charged and tried for murder and a young defense attorney, unaware that she is his mother, takes the assignment to defend her in court.
A society girl tries to make a go of her marriage to an archaeologist.
Capt. Alaric Lewin and his bride, Chum, are sent to Key Island, off the coast of Africa, where he has been commissioned as assistant to Gregory of the British Service. Chum determines to vamp the commissioner and thereby win a better post for her husband, and her husband finds favor in the eyes of Diana Churton, whose husband is away on an expedition.
A notorious Mexican bandit goes all soft and mushy when he falls for a beautiful senorita. Warner Bros.' Captain Thunder contains some of the darndest Mexican accents you've ever heard in your life. The star is Hungarian-born Victor Varconi, portraying a legendary south of the border outlaw who tries to force Canadian senorita Fay Wray to marry a rival rustler whom she despises. She pleads with the bandito so pathetically that he is moved to grant her a single wish. Without hesitation she chooses her poor but true love. The bandit king, being a somewhat honorable fellow grants the wish and without a twitch, guns down the wicked cattle thief. Fortunately the film was played for comedy, a wise decision since it probably would have garnered laughs as a straight drama anyway.
Because he deserted his ship and passengers during a collision at sea, a ship's mate loses his certification. Unable to find work at sea, he takes a job at a trading post, and eventually works his way up to managing the business. He falls in love with the owner's daughter, and shares leadership of the local village with the son of the Rajah. One day, however, a band of pirates attacks the village, and the man is astonished to see that the pirates are none other than the tyrannical captain of his former ship and his crew.
Capt. James Stewart pursues the bandit "The Kinkajou" over the Mexican border and falls in love with Rita, though he suspects that her brother is the bandit.
During his lifetime John Dorgan is unsuccessful in his attempts to cure his son, Jimmy, of his spendthrift ways, but his will leaves only a part of his fortune to Jimmy, while explaining where to dig for the rest.
Alexei, a young officer, saves the Czarina of a small European kingdom from revolutionary conspirators and is rewarded with her love. Infatuated, he deserts his sweetheart, Anna, the Czarina's lady-in-waiting, only to discover that his Queen is far from true to him. Desperate, he joins the revolutionists and plots against her. The Czarina pleads that she loves only him, and he swears no harm will befall her. Meantime the chancellor nips the revolution in the bud, and the Czarina orders Alexei's arrest. But she causes herself such unhappiness in doing so that she releases him from prison, relinquishes him to Anna, and seeks solace in a new affair with the French Ambassador
On a South Sea island, Stella operates a hotel for her mother, who is constantly drunk on liquor smuggled by Shane, the principal trader and virtual dictator of the island. Dave Wade, exhausted from the heat, lands on the shore near the hotel and reports having escaped from a nearby cannibal island. Stella has her servants, Manua and Loru, care for him, but Shane, to whom she is married but with whom she has never lived, orders him taken to his house, intent on stealing his gold. In a drunken orgy, Shane takes the gold, provoking a fight in which Stella aids Wade. When Ma Blackney dies and Stella recovers the gold, she suggests they go to another island and establish a trading business; but because of a misunderstanding, Stella is kidnaped by the natives and taken to the cannibal island. Disregarding their differences, Wade and Shane join forces and go to the island; Shane sacrifices himself to stall the cannibals while Stella and Wade flee to the sea.
John Douglas, a down-on-his-luck engineer, takes his sweetheart, Sara Deeping, to a play starring Carla King, and he falls in love with the actress.
Nightclub entertainer Violet La Tour collapses during a performance in Sagebrush, Texas, and is taken to the ranch of Lon Dixon. They fall in love and are married. Feeling deserted when Lon joins a posse in search of rustlers, she returns to New York. There, she is wooed by her agent, Maurice Kane, but confirms her love for Lon when he comes to claim her.
To evade a gang conspiring to assassinate him, wealthy businessman Stuart Granger induces his unsuspecting, look-alike cousin, Jack Burton, to impersonate him for a month.
