Although not the first feature-length animated film, as is sometimes thought, it was the first cartoon to feature a character with an appealing personality. The appearance of a true character distinguished it from earlier animated "trick films", such as those of Blackton and Cohl, and makes it the predecessor to later popular cartoons such as those by Walt Disney. The film was also the first to be created using keyframe animation.
Lillian Travers, a New York heiress, pops down to Florida to surprise her fiancé, Fred Cassadene, the house doctor at a prominent Saint Augustine hotel. The surprise, however, is Lillian's when she finds Fred in a series of compromising situations with a certain wealthy widow staying there. When she can take no more, Lillian discovers a box forgotten at an old curiosity shop in which lies a hundred-year-old secret: a vial of four rare and exotic African seeds that promises to transform whoever swallows one from a woman to a man or vice versa.
A traveler stays the night at a rural inn, but gets no rest as he is tormented by various spectres and mysterious happenings.
A widower becomes infatuated with his daughter's governess, to the displeasure of the child and her nurse.
A cartoonist draws faces and figures on a blackboard - and they come to life.
Cartoon figures announce, via comic strip balloons, that they will move - and move they do, in a wildly exaggerated style. Also known as "Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics".
Tom Evans, the fearless range boss of the Double X Ranch, falls in love with a romantic schoolteacher from the East named Clara. They marry and for a time are happy, but in Tom's absence, his partner Blackie persuades the restless young wife to run away with him. Blackie soon deserts Clara, and she is forced to earn her keep at a disreputable dance hall. After robbing a stage, Blackie returns, and Tom, who has been waiting for his former friend, goes after him. In a gun battle with Tom and his posse, Blackie kills Clara and escapes, but Tom follows him into the desert and takes his horse, leaving him to die of thirst.
Larry in school and always gets in trouble until he falls asleep and dreams of when he's all grown up.
This domestic comedy depicts a woman who stops her husband's gambling habit by having her cousin stage a fake police raid on the weekly poker game.
A smoker falls asleep, and two mischievious fairies play with his pipe. He discovers this, and imprisons them in a cigar box. He removes a flower from the box, which contains a fairy smoking a cigarette. Next, he leaves briefly while his smoking paraphenalia clears itself from the table and the flower reassembles itself into a cigar. He lights the cigar, then breaks a bottle containing the fairy, who interacts with him in various ways reeling from his cigar smoke, building a bonfire that he extinguishes, etc.
A hungry mosquito spots and follows a man on his way home. The mosquito slips into the room where the man is sleeping, and gets ready for a meal. His first attempts startle the man and wake him up, but the mosquito is very persistent.
Larry falls afoul of wanted criminal Gentleman Joe, who runs a saloon full of tough guys and gunslingers.
Marion, the telephone switch operator in a large factory, sticks to her post, notifying the different departments during the burning of the building. The fire department, of which Jack Watson, to whom Marion is engaged, is a member, received the alarm. Hastily the fire laddies get into their clothes and rush to the scene of conflagration. Everyone has escaped except Marion. Jack hears this, and tears himself away from his comrades, at the peril of his life, he dashes into the building and rescues his sweetheart. He drops with his precious and unconscious burden, exhausted, to the ground. They are each taken to their homes. When both are conscious, they are allowed to telephone each other, and their wedding day is set.
The master crook steals the sweetheart of Sherlock, a great detective. Sherlock undertakes to recover her.
Well-meaning but accident-prone bakery employee Larry is involved in numerous slapstick mishaps on the job. After accidentally causing the bakery owner to fall into a vat of cake batter Larry finds his job in jeopardy, but he redeems himself by foiling a robbery planned by the bakery foreman.
Robert Ware takes it upon himself to tame wild girl, Mag, to prove to his doubting friend Arnold, he can turn her into a graceful young lady. Later, when Arnold is in the war, he meets a pretty nurse who greatly impresses him. Back home he recalls the pleasant encounter to Robert, telling him of the gentle beauty he never forgot. Mag, now Margaret, overhears the story and reveals to Arnold, she was the nurse. The surprised Arnold now has to admit that Robert was right about gentling the little wild cat.
Newly married Thomas and Mary MacGregor attend the village fair on their honeymoon. The balloon ascension is advertised for the afternoon. Everything is in readiness and Mary induces Thomas to enter the basket of the balloon. Some mischievous boys cut the ropes holding the balloon and it rises, taking the pair on a honeymoon trip entirely unexpected. They travel fast and long until the balloon collapses upon a desert island, among a tribe of cannibals, who think the couple are gods descended from the skies. Thomas deposes the king and runs things with a high hand. The natives, however, as they become better acquainted with Thomas and Mary, realize that they are only human beings like themselves. They decide to put an end to their reign and begin preparations for their execution and cooking. The night before the day they are to be put to death, Thomas and Mary escape to the seashore, where they hail a passing vessel, which lands a boat loaded with men, who rescue the terrified couple.
A farmer's daughter, who devotedly endlessly gives selflessly of herself to her parents and younger siblings, dreams of going to college, which she's saved money to be able to pay for.
A young girl is struck and seriously injured by a wealthy society matron's car. The woman brings the girl back to her house. Later, a hardened thief is told by the girl of a goblet, that could be the Holy Grail, which has healing powers and could help her. The thief, touched by her predicament, sets out to steal the goblet and bring it to her.
An early film adaptation of the Bard's comic fantasy-- and perhaps the first screen adaptation of a Shakespeare play.
