Claire McDowell
Andy Hardy’s Blonde Trouble
Andy is going to Wainwright College as did his father. He sees a pretty blonde on the train and he is alternately winked at or slapped every time he sees her. Andy is clueless. On the train Andy meets Kay and Dr. Standish who are both headed for Wainwright. Andy likes Kay, but Dr. Standish also seems to take an interest in her. Things are going well at College with Kay, but the blonde is nice one minute and ignores Andy the next. When Andy finds out that the blonde is really identical twins, he tries to help them out…
Hangmen Also Die!
During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, surgeon Dr. Franticek Svoboda, a Czech patriot, assassinates the brutal “Hangman of Europe”, Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich, and is wounded in the process. In his attempt to escape, he is helped by history professor Stephen Novotny and his daughter Mascha.
Lady Scarface
A Chicago gang led by Slade carries out an audacious brokerage robbery. Lieutenant Bill Mason takes the case, continuing his friendly-enemy relationship with crime reporter Ann Rogers. One gang member is caught; eventually, others follow. But Mason hasn’t a clue to Slade, principally because he’s unaware she’s a woman.
- 1941
- Crime
Young Tom Edison
Inventor Thomas Edison’s boyhood is chronicled and shows him as a lad whose early inventions and scientific experiments usually end up causing disastrous results. As a result, the towns folk all think Tom is crazy, and creating a strained relationship between Tom and his father. Tom’s only solace is his understanding mother who believes he’s headed to do great things.
- 1940
- Drama
The Golden Fleecing
A mild-mannered insurance salesman gets mixed up with gangsters.
Thunder Afloat
A tugboat captain serves under his rival as a U-boat chaser in World War I.
Miracles for Sale
A maker of illusions for magicians protects an ingenue likely to be murdered.
- 1939
- Mystery
Three Comrades
A love story centered on the lives of three young German soldiers in the years following World War I. Their close friendship is strengthened by their shared love for the same woman who is dying of tuberculosis.
They’re Always Caught
This MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short shows the role the crime laboratory plays in the solving of cases, and how even the smallest detail can become a major clue.
- 1938
- Crime
Dr. Monica
A prominent New York doctor, unable to have a child, discovers her philandering husband has impregnated her best friend.
- 1934
- Drama
Murder by Television
James Houghland, inventor of a new method by which television signals can be instantaneously sent anywhere in the world, refuses to sell the process to television companies, who then send agents to acquire the invention any way they can. On the night of his initial broadcast Houghland is mysteriously murdered in the middle of his demonstration and it falls to Police Chief Nelson to determine who the murderer is from the many suspects present.
- 1935
- Thriller, Mystery, Horror, Science Fiction
It Happened One Night
A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.
British Agent
In the days leading up to the Russian Revolution, Stephen Locke, a minor British diplomat in St Petersburg, falls in love with a Russian spy.
The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
A fast-talking reporter befriends a young woman and her male companion who are wanted for a policeman’s shooting.
The Famous Ferguson Case
A foreword warns against the peril of yellow journalism, and the story illustrates it by following events in the upstate New York town of Cornwall after prominant financier George Ferguson is killed. Two types of New York City journalists descend on Cornwall, one interested in facts, the other in getting sensational “news”. Mrs. Ferguson is known to have been friendly with a local banker. The Fergusons quarrel the evening he is killed (by “burglars”, his wife tells the police later), and she is arrested, spurred on by the “bad” journalists, who also manage to badger the banker’s wife into the…
An American Tragedy
A social climber charms a debutante, seduces a factory worker and commits murder.
Young Desire
A carnival sideshow dancer falls in love with a handsome young man.
- 1930
- Drama
The Big House
Convicted of manslaughter for a drunken driving accident, Kent Marlowe is sent to prison, where he meets vicious incarcerated figures who are planning an escape from the brutal conditions.
The Flying Fleet
Six friends, all hoping to become aviators, are to graduate the next day from the United States Naval Academy. When the officer of the day becomes sick, Tommy Winslow has to take his place, while the others go out and celebrate.
The Viking
In this historical adventure based on traditional legend concerning Leif Ericsson and the first Viking settlers to reach North America by sea, Norse half-brothers vie for a throne and for the same woman.
The Auctioneer
Simon, a young Jewish man emigrating to the US, adopts the daughter of a dying woman on the ship. After he settles in the US, he eventually builds up a successful business as a pawnbroker and auctioneer. His adopted daughter Ruth falls in love with a young Wall Street broker, and her father invests his fortune in the young man’s firm. However, a crooked broker at the firm causes Simon to lose all his money, and he must start all over again. He sets out to track down the crooked broker and get his money back.
A Little Journey
A girl travelling by train to meet her boyfriend meets another young man and falls in love with him.
- 1927
- Romance
The Show Off
A blowhard who poses as a railroad executive (but is really just a $30-a-week clerk) catches a young bride and then drives her family’s finances to the brink of ruin.
The Devil’s Circus
In 1913, Carl is released from prison, where he served a sentence for stealing. Spurned by his circumstance, Carl rejects God and resumes his fast life of crime. Before long, his fate intersects with that of Mary, a devout orphan, prompting a romance and a reevaluation.
- 1926
- Drama
The Tower of Lies
After his beloved daughter leaves for the city to pay off his debt, an old farmer goes mad when her letters become less frequent and it is suspected she may be using her body to get the money.
- 1925
- Drama
Those Who Dare
Captain Manning, a seasoned salt, is ordered to remove his battered ship, the Swallow, from the town’s harbor because of a superstition connected with it. The captain, who lives alone, visits the Mariner’s Home and relates the story of how he came into possession of the schooner. Manning was the first mate on the yacht of a wealthy man when it encountered the Swallow at sea. He went on board, accompanied by the drug-addicted son of his employer, and discovered a mutinous crew and a disabled captain fighting for control of the ship. Manning took charge and brought the ship…
Judgment of the Storm
famed for being written by an amateur
Ponjola
Ponjola is a 1923 American silent drama film based on the novel of the same name by Cynthia Stockley and directed by Donald Crisp. The film stars Anna Q. Nilsson in a role in which she masquerades as a man. A print of Ponjola still exists and is held by a private collector.
Michael O’Halloran
Orphan newsboy Michael O’Halloran “adopts” Peaches, a little crippled girl, when her grandmother’s death leaves her alone in the world. A chance acquaintance with lawyer Douglas Bruce draws Michael into contact with the Hardings, a farm couple, who bring Michael and Peaches to the country. Wholesome food and good fresh air give Peaches the strength to walk. Also friends of Douglas Bruce are the James Minturns, a wealthy young couple whose marriage breaks up over Nellie Minturn’s neglect of their children for a society life. Nellie eventually realizes her error, devotes herself to hospital work, and is reunited with James…
- 1923
- Drama
Human Wreckage
An attorney’s wife is determined to fight the evils of addictive substances.
Nice People
Teddy Gloucester, one of the group of jazz age “nice people,” is caught in a farmhouse during a storm with her intoxicated companion, Scotty. A stranger (Billy Wade) also seeking shelter saves her from Scotty’s unwelcome attentions but not from the scandal which results from her father’s discovery of her and Scotty–alone–the next morning. Hurt by the snubbing she receives from her friends, Teddy settles down and agrees to become an old-fashioned wife to Billy.
What Every Woman Knows
Alick Wylie agrees to give railroad porter John Shand $300 to help him secure his education and political ambitions on condition that his daughter Maggie has the option of marrying him within five years. Though not in love they marry, and John becomes successful, thanks to Maggie’s input on his speeches, in time being elected to Parliament. Eventually John strays with Lady Sybil and Maggie diplomatically arranges for them to be together. However his next speech without her assistance is a failure and Sybil leaves him out of boredom, it’s then he sees Maggie’s true worth.
Prisoners of Love
Blanche Henry, a vivacious young woman, finds what she believes is true love with a handsome young man, but then learns that he has designs on her younger sister.
Midsummer Madness
Because Bob Meredith (Jack Holt) spends all his time working, his wife Margaret (Lois Wilson) feels the romance has ebbed away from their marriage. One night, while Meredith is at the office, family friend Julian Osborn (Conrad Nagel) — whose own spouse (Lila Lee) is out of town -takes Margaret to a dance. They wind up at a hunting lodge and begin to get carried away, but stop before things get out of hand. The pair agree to keep their encounter a secret, but unfortunately, they’ve been seen and word gets back to their spouses.
- 1921
- Drama
The Jack-Knife Man
A dying mother left his child with an old man, but the village people want to take the child away from him because he is too old.
- 1920
- Drama
Something to Think About
Wealthy cripple Markley finances the education of blacksmith’s daughter Ruth. When she returns to their small town he asks to marry her, but she runs off with city worker Jim Dirk who is then killed in a subway accident. Markley offers to marry her in name only to protect her new son.
- 1920
- Drama
The Follies Girl
The relatives of dying Edward Woodruff, Nina Leffingwell, her brother Frederic, and her cousin Basil, whom she wants to marry, scheme to inherit Woodruff’s wealth. Since Woodruff continually calls for an imagined granddaughter, the child of his daughter who died before they could patch up a quarrel which estranged them, Nina gets Doll, a Follies girl, to impersonate the granddaughter, try to endear herself to Woodruff, and thus inherit the money. Doll would then be paid off and the relatives would get the inheritance. When Doll’s administrations cause Woodruff to recover, Nina sends for Woodruff’s grandson Ned, whom he disowned…
- 1919
- Comedy
Prudence on Broadway
Prudence’s ( Olive Thomas ) parents send her from their Pennsylvania Quaker colony to a fashionable girls seminary, hoping she can learn about the devil’s tricks, instead she engages in girlish pranks, but uses her pure appearance to escape blame. Later, Prudence visits her New York aunt, a society matron, and soon attracts an array of male admirers. She falls in love with wealthy Grayson Mills, but John Melbourne, who lives off of his wife’s wealth, plots to seduce her. After Melbourne loans Prudence $200 to pay a gambling debt, he forces her to go to a roadhouse by threatening…
- 1919
- Comedy
Heart o’ the Hills
Family tensions in the Kentucky hills are inflamed by an outsider’s dishonest scheme to exploit the area for its coal.
The Bronze Bride
Disgusted with his son Harvey’s attitude since his return from college, wealthy William Ogden turns the boy out to make his own way in the world. Harvey finally lands in the Canadian North Woods, where he goes into business with Joe Dubois, a hunter and trapper. One day while Harvey is trapping, his leg is caught in a steel trap. He is rescued by A-Che-Chee, the daughter of Black Lynx the Indian Chief. A-Che-Chee takes Harvey to her cabin, where she dresses his wound. When her father and brother discover Harvey there, they insist upon an immediate marriage. Harvey protests,…
The Right to Be Happy
Considered to be lost.
- 1916
- Drama
Mixed Blood
For Nita Valyez, who is half-Spanish and half-Irish, Carlos represents potential violence and danger, two things to which she is both attracted and repelled. In contrast, she has only a passing interest in Big Jim, the town’s honest, good-hearted sheriff. Then, after Carlos kills a faro dealer, he forces Nita to make an escape with him.
Under Burning Skies
Joe, “The Bad Man of San Fernand,” is one tough customer. He sets his sights on a lovely young lady who spurns his advances and elopes with a fresh-faced young cowpoke. An angry Joe eventually gets his revenge.
Two Daughters of Eve
Calumny is one of the most despicable crimes against our neighbor, and while the wife in this story acted conventionally, she nevertheless maligned the other woman simply because of her profession, an actress. While out on a shopping tour, the wife and her husband enter a store, leaving their little child in the auto in the care of the chauffeur. This gentleman pays but scant attention to the child, so the little one wanders off and strolls into the stage door of a theater during the matinee. The parents upon their return to the auto discover the child’s absence and…
- 1912
- Drama
The Sunbeam
Set in a tenement, a lonely confirmed bachelor occupies a room across the hall from a dour spinster. Children run amok in the hallways playing pranks on the two. A little girl from the floor above, now alone in the world, brings the pair together and brightens their lives.
The School Teacher and the Waif
Nora, the waif, is forced to attend school. She warms to her teacher for the way that he defends her against the taunts of some of the students, but when she’s made to wear a dunce cap, she flees the schoolhouse in shame. Unsupervised by her alcoholic father, Nora becomes a determined truant, wandering the town during school hours. There she catches the attention of a huckster, who convinces her that they will run away and be married. The schoolmaster, meanwhile, preoccupied by Nora’s absence, leaves his other students to go find her. He encounters her at a crossroads, being…
- 1912
- Drama
The Sands of Dee
A young girl who lives by the sea with her parents, is the object of one fellows affection. One day she meets a wily artist painting on the beach, he seduces the young girl and gives her a ring, with the promise of marriage. When the young admiring fellow comes to propose, she proudly announces her engagement to the artist. Shocked he leaves and her parents demand meeting her husband to be. She goes to bring him home, and finds he already has a sophisticated fiancée. Distraught she hurries home, and when her father realizes what she has done, he…
- 1912
- Drama
The Old Actor
An elderly actor who lives with his wife and daughter is dismissed from his acting job because he is considered too old. On his way home from the theatre he panics at the thought of telling his family the bad news and decides to disguise himself as a beggar. His daughter’s beau accidentally gives him a five dollar gold piece, thinking that it was a smaller coin. A chase ensues with a policeman, the daughter, and her beau in hot pursuit. When caught he is recognized by his shocked daughter, but is quickly forgiven by all. Meanwhile the actor hired…
- 1912
- Drama
The Female of the Species
A man and three women leave an abandoned mining town and travel across the desert. After the man’s death, his wife plans revenge against her companion, whom the wife suspects had an affair with her deceased husband.
- 1912
- Drama
The Baby and the Stork
Bobby is jealous of the new baby, so he takes it to the zoo and tries to return it to the stork.
- 1912
Man’s Genesis
An old man tells his grandchildren about prehistoric man: Caveman Weakhands is unable to court a woman because of his physical weakness. Humiliated by Bruteforce, he bumps into Lillywhite, who has also been cowering in her cave in mourning. The two new lovers form a connection, but Bruteforce separates the couple and sends Weakhands scrambling. In his cave, Weakhands thinks up the design of a stone club. With this equalizer, he soon vanquishes Bruteforce and wins Lillywhite back again– An early step in human progress.
Lena and the Geese
A first-born baby girl is sent away and placed in the care of Gretchen, a trusted peasant woman, who is the widowed mother of a child about the same age. The two children grow up as sisters. Later, upon her deathbed, the noble lady repents and sends for her child to reinstate her. Gretchen takes this opportunity to make a great lady of her own daughter Lena, the goose girl, by sending her to court instead of the real heiress. Hence Lena is taken before the noble lady, happy in the belief that she has made reparation. Lena is now…
In the Aisles of the Wild
A widower and his two daughters live in the wilds of the north woods. They form the acquaintance of two trappers, Bob Cole and Jim Watson, who hunt in the neighborhood. As fate will have it, both trappers love the same girl, the elder sister, but she loves Bob, while the younger girl is attracted by Jim. The elder girl, however, through a woman’s whim, pays marked attention to Jim simply to arouse jealousy in Bob. He, in temper, cannot reason her motive and leaves, so through pique she accepts and marries Jim. Later Bob revisits the place, feeling that…
- 1912
- Drama
Billy’s Stratagem
While their mother is away from home, Billy and his sister are set upon by marauding Indians, who trap them in their cabin. Billy rigs a keg of gunpowder and tricks the Indians into entering the cabin, while he and his sister escape.
A Sailor’s Heart
A short film directed by Wilfred Lucas for the Biograph Company.
- 1912
What Shall We Do with Our Old?
An elderly carpenter is told by a doctor that his wife is seriously ill. Soon afterwards, an insensitive shop foreman lays him off from his job because of his age. Unable to find work, and with his wife’s condition getting worse, he soon becomes desperate.
- 1911
- Drama
The Squaw’s Love
Wild Flower follows her banished lover, Gray Fox, into the wilderness. Her departure is witnessed by Silver Fawn, who mistakenly thinks Wild Flower is stealing her fiancé. Silver Fawn sets out in pursuit and jealously attacks Wild Flower. They fall into the river but are rescued by Gray Fox.
- 1911
The Primal Call
A young woman who is engaged to a millionaire she doesn’t love meets and falls in love with a rough sailor.
The Manicure Lady
The manicure lady spurns the barber and dates a rich cad instead.
- 1911
- Comedy
The Long Road
Edith enters a convent after losing her fiancé to someone else. Years later, Edith finds him again, now poverty-stricken, and secretly helps his family.
- 1911
- Drama
The Adventures of Billy
Billy witnesses two tramps accidentally kill someone during a robbery. The tramps lock him up and decide that he must be killed, too.
Swords and Hearts
A poor girl is secretly in love with a wealthy young planter.
His Trust Fulfilled
Continuing where His Trust (1911) leaves off, George takes care of his deceased master’s daughter after her mother’s death. He sacrifices his own meager savings to give the girl a good life, until the money runs out and he tries to steal money from the girl’s rich cousin.
Fate’s Turning
A young girl working as a waitress at a resort for the wealthy is swept off her feet by a rich young gentleman who’s there for the summer. However, his impending nuptials with another woman complicate the matter.
- 1911
A Country Cupid
Schoolteacher Edith breaks off her engagement after an argument with her fiancé. She writes him a note of reconciliation but throws it away. Without her knowledge, one of her students fishes it out of the trash and sends it to her fiancé. Later, Edith is alone grading papers when a man bursts in and threatens her.
- 1911
- Romance
Wilful Peggy
Peggy is a high-spirited young woman from a poor family. One day she catches the eye of a wealthy lord, who proposes marriage and wants to introduce her into his social circle. But complications arise when the lord’s nephew also becomes attracted to Peggy.
Waiter No. 5
After conducting a raid on a Rebel camp, a Czarist officer discovers that his wife has joined the revolutionaries. Out of loyalty to his wife, the officer resigns his commission and escapes with her to America. Several years later, the ex-officer is gainfully employed as a waiter in a Russian restaurant. For the sake of his grown son, who is engaged to marry a wealthy socialite, our hero pretends to be a man of great wealth and prestige. The truth is revealed in the final scene, but “Waiter Number 5” is saved from disgrace by the timely arrival of his…
- 1910
The Golden Supper
Julian loves his cousin and foster sister Camilla, who is wooed and won by Lionel, his friend and rival. He is a witness to their marriage and after the ceremony he departs heartbroken to his own house. Utopian was the existence of Lionel and Camilla, until some time later Camilla is seized with a serious illness, and Lionel’s grief knew no bounds when he heard “That low knell tolling his lady dead.” “She had lain three days without a pulse all that look’d on her had pronounced her dead, So they bore her, for in Julian’s land they never nail…
- 1910
Rose o’ Salem Town
A young girl living in Salem attracts the attentions of The Puritan. After he’s brushed off by the girl, he becomes furious and desiring revenge, declares to a council of elders that the girl and her mother are witches.
Muggsy Becomes a Hero
Two spinsters on their way to church, are accosted by a couple of burly tramps. When Mabel is called to the church meeting with her mother, she sends Muggsy a note asking him to meet her after the service so he may walk home with her. Muggsy is there on time, however, the old ladies are afraid to make the return trip unaccompanied. The pastor asks that a man escort them home. Poor Muggsy gets chosen, and when the trio reach the deserted part of the road, the tramps again appear.
Love Among the Roses
In the Kingdom of Never-Never Land there live a great Lord and Lady, each presiding over their own domain. This great Lord goes for a stroll through his estate and coming to the border of his own land he is struck by the entrancing beauty of the contiguous estate, so like his own, that the inclination to intrude is irresistible. His peregrination is halted by the appearance of the great Lady, who is indeed as fair as the flowers that clothe her land. He introduces himself and invites her to stroll with him in his gardens. She is in like…
- 1910
A Flash of Light
An experiment goes wrong and blinds a newly married chemist. The chemist’s wife does not want to take on the burden of caring for the blind chemist, and her younger sister take her place.
- 1910
- Drama
The Planter’s Wife
John Holland, a planter in a small way, is devotedly attached to his wife and infant child. The wife wearies of the monotonous grind of farm life and is easy prey of a contemptible villain, in the person of Tom Roland, the ubiquitous “other man”.
The Black Diamond Express
Dan Foster, the engineer of the Black Diamond Express express train falls in love with Jeanne Harmon, whose snobbish, high society mother, Mrs. Harmon, does not approve of the blue-collar, rough-at-the-edges Dan Foster as a suitable husband for Jeanne.