Cinematic Era: 1917 Vintage

A tomboy, raised by a father who wanted a son, runs away from boarding school and gets a job at a firm.

Caroline works at a hair dressing parlor. A wealthy man falls in love with her, takes her home and proposes to her. Caroline has a dream where she marries the man, who turns vicious and keeps her locked up in his mansion. He finally dies, and Caroline starts out having a good time with his money, but she sees the folly of her ways. She wakes up from the dream.

Phoebe Lester, a little country girl, whispers to her pet hen, "You've laid an egg for a man from New York. Ain't you proud?" and while taking breakfast to Philip, the new boarder, who came from that distant place, she gazes at him as if he has come from an unknown land. Returning to the city with a newfound love and regained health, Philip struggles to sell his poems to bring his "egg" girl to her New York.

William Baldwin, ruined in business by his partner, John Blaisdell, implores Blaisdell's aid, and receives in answer a five-dollar bill across the face of which is written, "Spend this for a gun and use it on yourself."

The story of Cleopatra, the fabulous queen of Egypt, and the epic romances between her and the greatest men of Rome, Julius Caesar and Antony. Only a small fragment of this film survives.

Financier Mark Harrold is responsible for the financial ruin and subsequent suicide of Stanton. Following his death, Stanton's daughter Margaret, seeking revenge, goes to work for Harrold's beloved daughter Helen. The latter plans to marry the dashing Lord Strathmore and thus attain her social ambitions, but Margaret, to avenge her father's death, wins Strathmore away from her by deception. After their marriage, Margaret leaves Strathmore, claiming that she never loved him. With the birth of their child, Margaret becomes ill and blind, but Strathmore finds her and gives her money under an assumed identity. Following an operation that restores her sight, Margaret recognizes her husband as her benefactor and realizes that she loves him.

Brothers James and Allen Mornington are both addicted to cocaine and both believe that their addiction is caused by a hereditary failing. James rises to the position of judge, but when Allen is brought into his court on drug charges, James resigns. The two brothers, along with James's daughter, Hilda, then retire to the country to fight their desire for drugs.

Fatty plays a village blacksmith in “Jazzville,” an imaginary rural village. There is a rivalry between Fatty and Cy Klone, the garage owner, over the affections of a pretty schoolteacher. A city chap unites the two rivals when he tries to steal the girl. An annual village ball features amateur talent in vaudeville stunts with Keaton as a wriggling Fatima who charms a long black stocking from a cigar box like a snake. The film is presumed lost.

Young Frank Stratton, the scion of a wealthy family who is temporarily short of funds, has borrowed a valuable bracelet and hasn't returned it to its owner. A crooked detective, Jim Foley, finds the bracelet in Stratton's possession and promises not to arrest him for it in return for Stratton signing a confession that he stole it, which Foley intends to use at a future date. Years pass and a political boss in danger of losing an election asks Foley's help in getting valuable papers from his opponent, Worthington Lawrence. Foley knows that Lawrence is a friend of Stratton and tells Stratton that unless he steals those papers Foley will make his signed confession public. Complications ensue.

Newly elected police court judge John Fairbrother is impassioned when it comes to the laws affecting the dives and cabarets of the city, and promises equal justice for all.

Silent feature film by Olga Preobrazhenskaya and Vladimir Gardin based on Pushkin’s story of the same name. Considered lost. Directorial debut of Olga Preobrazhenskaya.

Roger Kendall is sent to Nashville by the editor of his magazine to sign a contract for two cents a word with a woman writer named Azalea Adair. Once there, Kendall realizes that Azalea is very poor and is also the abused wife of Major Caswell, a drunkard who takes from Azalea every cent she earns. Kendall is able to piece their story together by following the movements of a torn dollar bill, which he gives to Azalea's former slave Caesar and which eventually winds up in Caswell's hands. In order to help Azalea, Kendall convinces his editor to increase her stipend to eight cents a word and also to advance her $30.

Corporal Blake is sent to apprehend the murderer of François Breault. All evidence points to Jan Thoreau as the guilty man. Blake arrives at Thoreau's cabin while he is away and is greeted by his wife Marie. Posing as a friend of her husband, Blake learns that Thoreau and Breault had quarreled shortly before the murder. This, together with Breault's dying accusation that Thoreau was his murderer, seems undeniable evidence. Blake, fascinated by Marie, agrees to let Thoreau escape, providing that she become his mistress. After much anguish, she consents. When Thoreau arrives, Blake arrests him but during the night Marie helps him escape. Blake goes in pursuit.

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.

Props, the stage man, and his assistant at the Orpheum Theater, Plunkville divide their time equally between drinking and attention to duty. Trouble starts when the new acts arrive. The Wiggle sisters, a Hawaiian act, demand the star dressing room but Props turns them down, but relents when Babe, the strong man, and his beautiful wife, Ethel Burton because he is smitten. Once the show begins Props is forever getting in the way of the performers and his bibulous assistant has an unfortunate propensity for dropping the curtain at the wrong moments. Things only get crazier from there.

When an aviator dies performing in a traveling circus, the circus closes and sideshow con men "Sky-High" Billy Wardell and "Domino" Dominick are arrested for giving out fake watches to wheel of fortune winners. After Domino springs the jail's lock, they jump a freight train and arrive in the next town, where Billy falls in love when Jane Higgenbotham allows them to breakfast on her freshly baked pies.

To protect the family name, a man of morals and integrity marries a young woman his brother got pregnant. The woman continues her loose ways with no regard to her new husband begging her to protect his honor.

Bandit Cheyenne Harry reforms because of the faith placed in him by Molly Young and her father. Soon, however, Harry is lured from the straight and narrow when he meets his old friend Ben Kent and consents to participate in Kent's plan of robbing a stagecoach.

Larry Thomas works as a minor employee in a large insurance company. He loves Ellen Horton, who has great faith in him. When Larry is falsely accused of murder, it is Ellen who saves the day. She also manages to help him achieve the position in the business he deserves.

A 1917 American silent comedy film

When bank president Leslie Morrison dips into the till, he seeks to place the blame on bank clerk David Moulton by altering the figures in Moulton's books. He lays his plan carefully, but upon leaving the building late one night, Morrison falls into an elevator shaft and is killed. Moulton, the one man known to have been there, is charged with murder and tried by district attorney Robert Murdock. Unable to afford a competent defense, Moulton is convicted and sentenced to die in an electric chair. However, Mary Reed, a stenographer who loves Moulton, appeals as a last resort to the newly elected public defender, Arthur Nelson. Nelson investigates the case and discovers evidence on the very eve of the execution, evidence that will warrant a stay. Rescued from death in the nick of time, Moulton is granted a new trial under the supervision of the public defender and is found innocent.

After his defeat at the hands of "Spider" Flynn, the welterweight champion of Europe, boxer Jimmie Dolan and his trainer, Thomas Jefferson Jones, leave for a principality near Paris. Having lost all their money on the fight, Jimmie accepts Count Conrad's offer to impersonate Prince Frederick in return for a large sum of money.

While Larry Semon does not star in Rips and Rushes, its confident gags and frenetic pace suggest his touch. In the knockabout one-reeler set in a dance studio, three suitors compete for the girl. James Aubrey, the actor playing the father’s preferred suitor, may look like a Chaplin imitator, but he came by those skills honorably, born like Chaplin in Britain and likewise coming to the U.S. with Fred Karno’s troupe. Nevertheless it’s Alice Mann, with her wacky headdress and knowing glance, who steals the show. Suffice it to say that many vases are broken and pants ripped before she escapes out the window with the handsomest of the beaus.

The whimsical adventures of the impetuous Sheriff Nell (Polly Moran), who keeps Triggerville in line with an iron fist. But her heart is set on Jack, the saloon barman, and Black Pete, a notorious crook.

Gunman Chuck Connelly is hired to silence the new district attorney who has been pounding the graft organizations. Chuck goes to the D. A.'s home to threaten him, but is taken off guard when his victim's little daughter leans trustfully on his knee and looks up at him with a smile. The D. A. ignores Chuck's warning, and the gang orders the gunman to execute him. Chuck breaks into the house, but sees the little girl again and is unable to complete his task. Instead, he seeks out his girl friend, Annie Mangan, a Salvation Army reformer, and swears to end his life of crime.

The National Red Cross Pageant (1917) was an American war pageant that was performed in order to sell war bonds, support the National Red Cross, and promote a positive opinion about American involvement in World War I.

Cattleman Flint cuts off farmer Sims' water supply. When Sims' son Ted goes for water, one of Flint's men kills him. Cheyenne is sent to finish off Sims, but finding the family at the newly dug grave, he changes sides.

Montgomery Jackson is initially afraid of conflict, refusing to enlist despite pressure from friends and his fiancée Bettie, but later joins the American Expeditionary Force after Bettie volunteers as a Red Cross nurse.

Mary Turner is a young shopgirl who is unjustly convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison. Upon her release, she does everything possible to make the man who wronged her to suffer, always taking care to stray no further than the extremes of the law allow.

William Lewis accidentally shoots a policeman while breaking into a house as a prank with his friends. His friend Sid falsely accuses him of the shooting, and Will escapes, eventually meeting and marrying Alice. Later, Sid blackmails Will into helping him rob a bank, leading to a chain of events that ultimately results in Will's imprisonment and eventual tragic death.

A judge who had taken part in the gold rush of 1849 hires an acting troupe to recreate the experience in this rather fanciful silent Western. The make-believe turns serious when a real gold mine is discovered nearby and a local girl is kidnapped by a nasty gambler.

Mary Miles Minter is Sylvia, the niece of a man who leaves her a fortune. The money is in the hands of his lawyer, Baxter, who uses it to support his ambitious wife and daughter. Sylvia comes to Baxter's home and it's obvious she's not wanted there. Arnold, Baxter's son, is wasting his life away with drinking and nightclubbing, but Sylvia sweetly influences him to straighten up.

Shouts of joy and the clapping of many tiny hands welcomed the arrival of the big birthday cake. For this was Little Mary's birthday. To celebrate all Mary's little friends had been invited and the big event which preceded the supper and the cutting of the cake was a performance of Cinderella and the affair of the glass slipper. Little Mary forgot to leave at the hour of 12, and when she was called away by the fairy she dropped her glass slipper on the stair. Of course, to every one's amazement, when the Prince went looking for the owner of the slipper, the only one whom it fitted was Little Mary.

When his wife Grace inherits her father's stock, John Miller, the president of the Western Power and Development Company, becomes a millionaire and moves to New York with his family. Beset by business problems, Miller pays little attention to his wife, and Grace, feeling neglected, takes up with a bohemian set. Among her new acquaintances she meets Stuart Mordant, the attorney for Thomas Hurd, a business rival of Miller's. Grace seeks refuge from loneliness in Mordant, who makes a bargain with Hurd to gain control of her husband's company for half a million dollars.

Musty Suffer, finding a meal ticket, resolves to take a vacation while eating is free. The café owner, however, discovers Musty’s face does not compare with the photograph on the ticket. Musty goes out to have it altered, thinking less of the face than he does of the meal ticket. He is completely recast in a steel foundry and returns to enjoy the free meals only to find that the restaurant has closed.

A publicist for a racy burlesque troupe romances the daughter of the head of The Purity League, an organization that wishes to see such shows banned.

A 1917 film directed by Edward Morrissey.

Naive Eileen Rodney (Dorothy Dalton) is duped by the high-minded talk of Raymond Moreland (William Conklin). But when she discovers that he wants to take her to India without the benefit of a marriage license, she balks and instead weds her guardian, John Harland (Thurston Hall). However, she had written some letters to Moreland, and these come back to haunt her when he tries to use them for blackmail.

Debutante Hope Merrill returns home one day to find her financier father Amos Merrill on the verge of committing suicide. Rather than reveal the truth -- that he has misappropriated funds from his own company -- Merrill claims that he has been ruined by young John Cook, Hope's sweetheart.

A writer bets a publisher friend that he can write a 10,000-word novel in 24 hours. The publisher takes the bet, and gives him the "only key" to his Baldpate Inn, which has been closed for the winter, so he can write in complete seclusion. Things start heating up, though, when a succession of people who also have keys to the inn begin showing up.

Henry de Spain is determined to find the man who murdered his father. He becomes sort of an outsider with Duke Morgan's gang, cattlemen, and outlaws. Nan, daughter of the head of the clan, secretly loves Henry and when he is wounded in a fight with the Morgan clan, she helps him escape. This angers her father and he declares that she shall marry her cousin. Nan dispatches a message to Henry for assistance and he brings her safely to his clan. Nan then learns that her father was the murder of Henry's father. She returns to her father to learn the truth and together they go to Henry and reveal the murder's name. After a thorough understanding and forgiving, Henry and Nan are married.

Mrs. Standing, an old-fashioned country mother, sacrifices to put her son John through college so that he might have a better life. Upon completing school, John goes to the city where his financial success blinds him to the basic values taught to him by his mother.

Young Polly-Ann works in a small town inn as a maidservant. A troupe of actors comes to town and the innocent girl falls in love with one of its members. Howard Straightlane is sent to the small town by his father, to work as a schoolteacher in hopes of smartening up the young man from his wild ways. Howard soon meets Polly-Ann and saves her from the unscrupulous actor.

Broke and stranded in the Big City, Paula Lee (Dorothy Dalton) willingly becomes the mistress of "love 'em and leave 'em" playboy Fielding Powell (William Conklin). In spite of himself, Powell falls in love with Paula, and just before leaving on a business trip, he promises to marry her upon his return. In the meantime, however, Paula falls in love with dedicated charity doctor D. Melfi (Thurston Hall).

Dick Mason is arrested for defending a girl's honor in a Chicago restaurant brawl, and his father sends him to Lithuania where his family owns a share in a cattle concession. By chance, the girl from the restaurant is also bound for the Balkans. While on board, Dick undertakes to renew his acquaintance with this attractive foreigner, but encounters considerable resistance. In Lithuania, Dick meets with Count Vortsky, the Minister of Finance, who presses him to sell his cattle concession, hoping to clinch a coup attempt he is planning with the Bulgarian Ambassador. Somewhat suspicious, Dick agrees to announce his decision only in the presence of Princess Alexia, who turns out to be the girl from the restaurant.

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Lubitsch plays a book shop employee who falls in love with Jannings' daughter.

Stephen Stephani leaves Nordhoff with his daughter Mary to visit Zandria, an enemy country, where he tries to steal the war plans of the hostile nation. There, Mary meets Paul Ekald, a Zandrian captain, falling in love with him at first sight. While Mary remains in Zandria for the moment, Stephani returns to Nordhoff. Meanwhile, Vesta, Mary's illegitimate half-sister, has managed to get hold of important war plans stolen from Count Wenzel. But, to get them, she had to kill the count.

A young man with little ambition is given an opportunity to set himself up in business by means of financial support from his father. But the young man becomes involved in a shady railroad deal which threatens to destroy his own father.

Stella Benton, a young society girl who has lost her beautiful voice through the death of her father, goes to live with her brother Charles, in the lumber camp. Charles Benton is having a struggle to make both ends meet, and when his cook quits, he makes his sister do the work for the hundred men in the lumber camp. Jack Fyfe, a neighboring lumber man, meets Stella and gradually falls in love with her, but love is not reciprocated. Seeing that she is being overworked, Fyfe offers to marry her, in spite of the fact that she does not love him. A child is born of this loveless marriage, and the couple are reasonably happy, until Walter Monahan, a wealthy lumberman, begins to make love to Stella.

Nell Gordon's father was once a burglar, but he has turned over a new leaf. When he falls ill, however, the burglar's old cronies persuade Nell to help them in a bank robbery, supposedly to raise funds for their sick friend. Nell gets a job in the bank, and learns how to open the safe, but then she falls in love with Jim Brooks, another bank employee, and decides not to help with the robbery after all. The crooks try to force her father to insist, and when he refuses, they shoot him. Seeing their true colors, Nell forms a plan. She agrees to help with the robbery, but in the middle of the heist she calls the sheriff. Of course the story ends with the crooks in jail, and Nell and Jim in love.

The social climbing Flower family is comprised of Mr. Flower, a banker who has overextended himself financially, Mrs. Flower, a socially ambitious mother, Julia Flower, a marriage-minded elder daughter and Madge Flower, a high-spirited younger daughter. When Madge is expelled from boarding school for her practical jokes and pranks, she joins her mother and sister in Palm Beach, where they are wintering, in hopes of snaring a titled husband for Julia. Julia, fearful that her little sister will impair her success on the marriage market, forces Madge to dress as a child of ten. Julia has her sights set on the Earl of Larsdale, but after a series of misadventures, Madge elopes with the young man who turns out not to be an earl at all, but a prosperous young American who is holding her father's notes. Thus, she saves the day for the Flower family.

William S. Hart directs and stars in a film that is a typical Western of the era. He plays Jim, a prospector who lands in the town of Broken Hope, and the name pretty much describes its inhabitants. Jim meets and falls in love with Jennie (Margery Wilson), whose father (Walt Whitman) is gravely ill. Jim rounds up a reluctant doctor from another town to tend to the old man, but he dies anyway. The doctor, however, gains Jennie's trust and she runs off with him. Only then does he tell her he's already married. She leaves immediately, but is too proud to go home so she finds work as a dance hall girl at Tacoma Jake's saloon. Jim, meanwhile, finds gold near Broken Hope, which raises its inhabitants' attitudes considerably. But the bad element is still there, and Jim is chasing after a group of kidnappers when he enters Tacoma Jake's saloon and sees Jennie. Jim not only overcomes the bad guys, he gets the girl, too.

Jack Harding, a wealthy ne'er-do-well, becomes involved with a Broadway vamp. When she is murdered, Jack is falsely accused of the crime and must turn for help to his lawyer--his wife.

Having worked himself out of grinding poverty, grouchy millionaire Lorenzo Todd adopts a chip-on-the-shoulder attitude concerning the rest of Mankind. The only people Todd truly cares about is his son Warren and his boyhood chum Dudley Phillips. Eventually, however, the old sourpuss manages to alienate these two people as well. T

Charity and her young brother are taken in by Merlin Durand, the son of a penurious millionaire, when their mother, a poor cleaning woman, dies. Charity is a strong believer in the world of fairy tales, and calls Merlin "The Prince". Merlin's cheapskate father cuts off his allowance until he gets a job and earns a salary, then leaves home for a "water cure". His servants immediately take a vacation, leaving the house empty, so Charity and Merlin hide there until Merlin can find a job. Charity begins to call the mansion "Charity Castle". They soon wind up involved with a strange cast of characters, including a burglar and an unemployed Shakespearean actor.

Charming melodrama by the Vitagraph Company about the friendship between a boy (Bobby Connelly) and the grumpy Captain Barnacle(William Shea). This seems to be the first film in a short-lived Captain Barnacle series that Vitagraph started at the beginning of 1917. Young Bobby Connelly was one of the first star child actors and his character Sonny Boy links the two series he did for Vitagraph, the "Sonny Jim" series from 1914 to 1915 and the "Bobby" series in 1917.

In the office of Major Northfield, the quartermaster of the Pacific Coast, a leak has been discovered which may endanger the safety of American transports that are secretly carrying troops across the Pacific. Nara-Nara, a Japanese detective, is assigned to the case because his country has guaranteed safety to these transport ships. Nara-Nara believes that Northfield is guilty, although in reality it is Northfield's secretary Kitty Little, a girl of German ancestry, who is passing information to Dr. Ebell Smith, a German agent. Nara-Nara falls in love with Kitty, but soon after discovers that she is the leak in the quartermaster's office.