The Despoiler

The Despoiler 1915

1

Movie mogul Thomas H. Ince may well have been the director of The Despoiler as indicated by the credits; but since Ince was known far and wide as a glory-hogger, it's also possible that one of his talented lieutenants wielded the megaphone. A Civil War drama, The Despoiler refuses to take sides, demonstrating that there are heroes and villains in both camps. Capturing a small town, Colonel Charles K. French orders his men to reclaim the funds raised for the enemy by the townsfolk. French's drunken, lacivious second-in-command Frank Keenan intends to extort money from the citizens by threatening the virtue of the town's female population.

1915

The Bargain

The Bargain 1914

5.55

After the bandit known as the Two-Gun Man Jim Stokes robs the stage, he is wounded in his flight from the scene. Recuperating at a ranch, he falls in love with a local settler's daughter. Now wishing to go straight, Stokes encounters trouble when the Sheriff-- not entirely incorruptible-- Catches wind of his location.

1914

Hell's Hinges

Hell's Hinges 1916

6.00

When Reverend Robert Henley and his sister Faith arrive in the town of Hell's Hinges, saloon owner Silk Miller and his cohorts sense danger to their evil ways. They hire gunman Blaze Tracy to run the minister out of town. But Blaze finds something in Faith Henley that turns him around, and soon Silk Miller and his compadres have Blaze to deal with.

1916

Matrimony

Matrimony 1915

1

It all begins when Mrs. Rossmore (Dean) discovers that her husband (Howard Hickman) has begun "playing the field" with other women. Too much the lady to make an issue of Mr. Rossmore's infidelities, Mrs. Rossmore nonetheless begins plotting her strategy to win him back. She does so by putting on a great show of pretending not to want her husband to return to the nest.

1915

The Wolf Woman

The Wolf Woman 1916

1

An narcissistic woman with the ability to charm, Leila Aradella reaps delight from preying upon weak men. Her first victim is John Morton, a talented lawyer, whom she ruins both morally and financially. Her second victim, Rex Walden, the generous son of society matron Mrs. Walden, becomes her complete slave. Mrs. Walden sends her elder son Franklin to try to dissuade Leila from toying with Rex's affections. Franklin, however, also falls under Leila's spell, and Rex is driven to suicide by her callous behavior. Desperate, Mrs. Walden enlists Adele Harley, a girl of strong moral character, to fight Leila for Franklin's affections. Adele's determined victory causes Leila to lose her confidence, and in a drunken state, she cuts her own face with a shard from her shattered mirror. Permanently disfigured, Leila ends a broken and lonely woman.

1916

The Girl, Glory

The Girl, Glory 1917

1

Glory Wharton is the granddaughter of civil war veteran Jed Wharton. Jed entertains everyone with his war stories, but has a serious drinking problem. Glory is determined to help him overcome this.

1917

The Dividend

The Dividend 1916

1

Wealthy John Steele has a handsome young son, Frank, on whom he pins his hopes. But riches lead Frank not into social standing and duty, but into depravity, drug-addiction, criminal activity, and finally to tragedy.

1916

The Wrath of the Gods

The Wrath of the Gods 1914

6.20

An American sailor falls in love with a fisherman's daughter and convinces her that Jesus is more powerful than the gods who have cursed her.

1914

The Bride of Hate

The Bride of Hate 1917

1

Dr. Dudley Duprez is a well-known Louisiana physician. His beautiful but wayward niece, Rose Duprez, is abducted by Paul Crenshaw, a friend of the doctor, and to prevent her shame from becoming known, Rose kills herself. Dr. Duprez learns her secret and determines to make Crenshaw expiate his crime. While traveling on a Mississippi River steamer, the doctor wins Mercedes, a beautiful slave, at cards. He takes her home and, passing her off as a distant relative, arranges it so that Crenshaw falls in love with the girl.

1917

The Cup of Life

The Cup of Life 1915

1

Sisters Helen and Ruth Fiske work in a department store and live in an East Side tenement. While Ruth is satisfied with her "regular fellow," a mechanic, Helen yearns for fine clothes, wealth, and attention. Ruth marries the mechanic and they struggle for a modest existence. Helen leaves her squalor to be the mistress of wealthy John Ward, despite Ruth's pleas. As the years pass, Helen goes from one man to the next, looking for more luxuries. When James Kellerman, who really loves her, proposes, she laughs at him.

1915

The Eye of the Night

The Eye of the Night 1916

1

William H. Thompson plays a likeable old lighthouse keeper who must contend with his less likeable fellow villagers. One of Thompson's acts of kindness is to bless the "scandalous" romance between hero and heroine.

1916

The Desert Man

The Desert Man 1917

1

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.

1917

The Toast of Death

The Toast of Death 1915

1

Ballerina Poppea is adored by all the men of Calcutta, especially British soldier Captain Drake and Indian PrinceYar Khan. Because of his title and wealth, Poppea decides to marry the prince, while keeping Drake as a lover. But the prince eventually discovers what she's up to and goes out of his way to catch the adulterers together. He takes two glasses of wine, pours arsenic into one, and tells Poppea to choose which glass each man will drink. She innocently picks the poisoned glass for Drake and he dies horribly. The prince disposes of the body and drives Poppea out into the desert.

1915

The Vagabond Prince

The Vagabond Prince 1916

1

Prince Tonio of Bothalia, a mythical kingdom in the Balkan Mountains, escapes an arranged marriage to Princess Athalia, the elderly daughter of a neighboring king. Filled with wanderlust, he becomes a sailor and goes to San Francisco where he meets a young singer...

1916

The Coward

The Coward 1915

5.70

Set during the American Civil War, Keenan stars as a Virginia colonel and Charles Ray as his weak-willed son. The son is forced, at gunpoint, by his father to enlist in the Confederate army. He is terrified by the war and deserts during a battle. The film focuses on the son's struggle to overcome his cowardice.

1915

Shell 43

Shell 43 1916

1

William Berner is an English spy who is doing his job behind German lines. While working for the allies, he proves sympathetic toward a German Lieutenant and saves his life. He gives up his own romance for the cause and is killed when the Allies shell the German trench where he happens to be.

1916

The Forbidden Adventure

The Forbidden Adventure 1915

1

Cecil Weatherby, travelling in the Arabian desert, comes upon a hidden and secret city. There he finds love in the form of a beautiful priestess, Ameera. Their love results in their being condemned to death, but even in the City of Death, love will find a way.

1915

The Italian

The Italian 1915

6.14

An immigrant leaves his sweetheart in Italy to find a better life across the sea in the grimy slums of New York.

1915

The Disciple

The Disciple 1915

8.00

Jim Houston, the "Shootin' Iron" Parson, comes to Barren Gulch to reform the morals of the frontier community.

1915