William Stowell

During a wonderful exhibition of horsemanship and cowboy skill. "Dud," the foreman of the Diamond S ranch, is handed a telegram summoning him to Chicago to claim a fortune left him by an uncle. There he falls in love and marries the stenographer in the office of his attorneys, after a year he tires of the monotony of the life he leads and wires for the entire outfit to come to Chicago and wake the town up. They carry out instructions elaborately much to the embarrassment of Mrs. "Bud." After they leave, "Bud" embraces his wife and to her great relief, whispers, "Never again."

Jack Sterling from up York State marries the daughter of old Squire Merton, takes her back to the big city and later becomes affluent in business, but is not as attentive to his wife as he should be. Easily won wealth seems to lead him from home rather than attach him to it.

Dad, a likable old pioneer character, lived among the foot hills of the western mining region, on a ranch with his two daughters, Rose and Madge. As sort of a side issue he had been doing a little prospecting, and about the time the story starts, we see him carrying some of his quartz to Andy Thomas, a young assayer located in a nearby village.

James Hazen, one-time crook, now wealthy and reformed, is recognized on his wedding day, by a former pal, Florrie Cook, who follows the young couple to Hazen's new home in the country. Hazen has isolated himself here in the hope of finding security in complete loneliness.

SILAS WILSON realizes that his business is being run to the ground, and that he cannot longer compete with the newer foundries unless he makes radical changes in his methods and employees. His workmen have grown old and antiquated in his employ. Through the influence of his daughter, the general managership is passed over to her fiance,—one Jack Berry —a young man, well trained in the school of modern methods.

Among the many beautiful and exciting romances that saw birth, blossomed and grew, during the dark and foreboding days of our great Civil War period, was that of Arthur Deming, the young Confederate officer, and his Southern sweetheart, Alice Munroe.

After his young wife dies, Phillip Fletcher, a millionaire and sculptor, makes his home on an uncharted desert island. Harry LeRoy, a cad who is courting the widow Mrs. Hansen, desires the widow's convent-bred daughter Norma and persuades mother and daughter to accompany him on a sea cruise. When the ship catches fire, Norma, abandoned by LeRoy and her mother in the confusion, is washed ashore on Phillip's island.

Smith & Smith, publishers, in a letter, notify Professor Bernard that they will accept his latest story if he will alter the enclosed paragraph: "Marry me and I will do away with my wife as I did her father." The absent-minded professor leaves this paragraph on his study table while he goes to the store to secure some cloth for his wife. The Professor, however, is very absent-minded, and forgets his mission when he meets a group of firemen who induce him to play a game of checkers. In the meantime, Ellen, the cook, is having her troubles with the butcher boy, who brings liver instead of chops, as ordered.

Five years ago the world was shocked to hear of the sinking of one of the finest and fastest ore boats on the Great Lakes. During one of the worst storms in the memory of sailors this great boat, the Vega, became suddenly lost and almost without warning, was driven ashore on the rocks near the Fox Islands in Northern Lake Michigan.

The blight of Sylvia Steem's otherwise happy young life, is her husband's crave for drink.

Andy Brannigan was a good-natured policeman, large of frame, but limited in nerve. He has, however, been very successful in posing as a hero, and deceives all but his wife, who laughs at him when he tells her that he has been awarded a medal for bravery.

Edna Dusenberry, the charming twenty-year old daughter of Senator Dusenberry, is in love with handsome young Walter Force. John Cartwright, a corrupt politician and candidate for mayor, makes a deal with the Senator whereby he is to receive the hand of Edna in marriage.

The story of a young man and woman in an apparent arranged marriage that is complicated by a supposed inheritance. D'Orsey, the "bogus duke," tries to secure the fortune for himself.

The sensational crux of jealous revenge in "The False Order" is a head-on collision of two enormous locomotives. A realistic effect that heavily discounts any stage device ever materialized to thrill.

Pauline Cushman leaves the theater to become a Federal spy. Working with Henry Holmes of the Secret Service, she escapes execution twice and helps Gen. Rosencrans in battle against Confederate generals Bragg, Forrest, and Morgan.

The story concerns the difficulties of a clerk in the war department, betrothed to the daughter of an ambassador, who loses his position by the change of administration.

A minstrel troupe is embarking for a tour of the South. Henry Clay appears on the scene wearing the frayed coat of a Confederate General. He borrows a guitar from one of the minstrel men and begins singing "Way down South in Dixie," and the story unfolds.

The poetic and sentimental theme of the old Southland song is the moving crux investing an interesting story of love and comedy daring the reconstruction period, south of Mason and Dixon's Line.

Granny Willard, seeing the end of her days approaching, begs to leave her bed and sit in her old armchair, the bumble throne about which three generations have assembled. Her favorite grandson, Tom Willard, has come in from the farm with his buxom wife to visit. So the strong arms of youth carry old age gently to the armchair in the sunlit room for a last meeting with all her kith and kin. There came the rural types known to that modest old cottage, and then that more sacred circle of grandsons with their wives and little ones.

A young man addicted to liquor; he becomes a drunkard and later a felon. After serving time he returns to his home and, looking through a window, sees his old-time sweetheart married to the worthy man she should have married.

While many men think they can manage a hotel, a theater, or a newspaper, they are in the minority compared with those low-browed addle-pates who believe they could run the government.

Tom Walker, a miserly man, is much beaten and bullied by his Amazonian wife, Dame Walker. The action of the piece takes place in New England, early in the eighteenth century, when the Puritans were still in power.

Two young collegians, Anthony Markham, an enigmatic person, and Alan Strange, whose temperament is the direct antithesis of his friend, compete for the honors of swimming. Both men are aspirants for the hand of Rosalie Latimer, the daughter of the banker, Latimer, to whom Alan is the confidential secretary.

Elton Gates, having served seven years for submitting to temptation with a bank's funds, is released. His uncle John sends him $500.00, with which to start life anew. He has hardly rested in a cheap lodging house when Detective Doolittle spies him and commences to make him an object of special scrutiny.

Wilbur Stone is falsely accused of a crime, convicted on circumstantial evidence and "railroaded" to the penitentiary. As an odd coincidence. Frank Fink, a hardened degenerate, is sent up at the same time and he becomes a prison parasite on Stone. Both men are released about the same time.

Goldie, the bright young daughter of Farmer Meadows, is engaged to marry Harold Montaine, a romantic young farm hand. Along comes Jim Bludsoe, a regular villain, whose polish and citified manners impress Goldie so that she is induced to elope with him.

Hamad, an Arab half-breed, is in command of the ivory traders. Allan Deane is sent to take charge of the ivory traders' camp, and Hamad is told that he can serve as assistant hereafter. Allan Deane and Naila love each other. She informs Allan that Hamad is a slave trader and sells the native men and women like beasts.

In the romantic days of the Eleventh Century the prologue of this picture shows us, Sir Errol, a victorious knight, returns to the castle of his liege lord, the Baron Edward, where he renews his vows with Lady Maud, his betrothed mistress. During Sir Errol's absence from the realm, the Baron has married Lady Elfrieda, daughter of an impecunious nobleman. Edward loves Elfrieda, but for her the marriage was solely one of expediency. She loses her heart to the handsome young knight.

The story centers around Nanette, an American girl living in a small Canadian village, who is in love with John Patricia, the eldest of five brothers. The war interrupts their romantic idyll, as everyone goes overseas to Belgium and France. Nanette becomes a Red Cross nurse and is terrorized by the evil Prussian Lt. von Eberhard.

Short silent crime film about a man who thrown out by his wife. He joins bandits who want to derail an express train.

Bud Noble, a handsome specimen of manhood, is foreman on the Circle "D" ranch outside of Circle City, Idaho, and our opening scene pictures Bud as the cowboy roping and tying a steer. With its bucking bronchos, pitching mustangs, bucking steers, and the biggest novelty ever, the acme of all thrillers, "see Bud bulldog a steer." Only three men have successfully accomplished this feat and lived to tell about it. Then Bud receives a shock. The local operator appears with a telegram. "Your Uncle John dead. You are sole heir to his estate valued at several millions. Come to Chicago at once." The astounded cowboys tumble over with sheer amazement. Bud buys and the scene closes with a characteristic rush for the bar.

Captain Lafitte receives word that Alicante, a young Spaniard, is to wed Dolores, the Rose of St. Augustine, whom he has not seen since childhood. He objects to the wedding. Lafitte captures Alicante, dresses in his clothes, and with Dalroy, his lieutenant, dresses as his valet, and Black Hawk, a Seminole Indian of his band, go to St. Augustine and pose as the suitor Alicante. Dolores falls in love with him as Alicante. Dalroy falls madly in love with her, is refused and betrays Lafitte to her father, the commandant. Lafitte is made prisoner and while Dalroy leads her father and soldiers to capture the camp of the Privateers, Black Hawk and Dolores rescue Lafitte from the dungeon.

This melodrama about an actress in love with a playwright and the stage manager blackmailing her for her affections offers a unique glimpse into Chaney’s career before his classic performances in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. Preserved and restored by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.

A small-town girl who goes to New York hoping to become a Broadway star falls in with a fast crowd.

Roger Curwell (William Stowell) is disowned by his father (Joseph W. Girard) because of his desire to be an artist. But instead of making good as a painter, Roger finds himself drunk and on the skids in San Francisco's Barbary Coast. At a dive run by Hell Morgan (Alfred Allen), he meets Lola (Dorothy Phillips), who nurses him back to physical and moral health.

Dorothy Phillips was starred as Elinor Crawford, a small-town girl who becomes a reporter on a big-city newspaper -- and immediately plunges into the "Bohemian" lifestyle. Assigned to interview a condemned murderer, Elinor must first obtain permission from criminal lawyer Evan Klavert (William Stowell), who happens to hail from Elinor's hometown and who prudishly disapproves of her current mode of living.

Madge Garvey (Dorothy Phillips) works in a shoe factory. Her father Joe (Richard de la Reno) is a drunk who beats his wife (Alice May Youss), and her sister Helen (Belle Bennett) has repeated the pattern by marrying Dan Mallory (Edward Brady). The new foreman, John Blake (William Stowell), fires Mallory. Mallory attacks him, but because of his alcohol abuse, his heart gives out and he dies. Blake asks Joe for Madge's hand, and he accepts for her. Madge longs for something better, when Cora, a former stenographer from the company (Golda Madden), writes her from the big city.

After divorcing his first wife and marrying a more gentle natured woman, Ralph Hadley finds himself again attracted to his ex-wife, a shrewd business woman. Trouble begins when he foolishly invites her to lunch, setting gossipy tongues-wagging. The news reaches his devoted wife who has discovered she is pregnant.

Nora Helmer has years earlier committed a forgery in order to save the life of her authoritarian husband Torvald. Now she is being blackmailed lives in fear of her husband's finding out and of the shame such a revelation would bring to his career.

Jack Lane (William Stowell) has made an invention for photographing wild animals. It consists of a camera with a trigger -- when the trigger is stepped on by a passing animal, a flash goes off and the camera shoots the picture. Lane goes up to the mountains to try out his new contraption. When a recluse refuses to let him spend the night in his cabin, Lane goes to sleep out of doors, with the camera set up near by. In the middle of the night, he is awakened by the flash and the sound of gunshots. Trekking back to his own cabin the next day, he develops the picture, which is of a girl holding a rifle. He returns to the recluse's cabin where he is arrested for murder.

After divorcing her husband Kent, actress Anne Wetherall returns to the stage. Upon receiving a plea for help from childhood chum Nell Jerrold begging Anne to save Nell's daughter Betty from marrying Kent, the ex-Mrs. Wetherall decides to journey to the Jerrold's home in the town of Wheaton to investigate.

Ida May Park started in the film business as a scriptwriter, but in 1917 Universal announced that Park would direct films with actress and producer Dorothy Phillips for the company’s Bluebird brand. Park’s films often had a strong female perspective and The Risky Road is no exception. The story of a country girl who comes to the city to work, but falls for a rich man and undeservedly gets a bad reputation, the film was marketed as “the drama every woman should see”. The surviving fragment, showing the despair of Phillips’s character, is a real cinematic gem that leaves one yearning for more material of the film to be discovered. In 2008, a tinted nitrate fragment, with Swedish intertitles at the opening of the second reel, was deposited at the Archival Film Collections of the Svenska Filminstitutet. From the fragment, a 35mm B&W duplicate negative was made, from which this print was struck using the tinting of the nitrate as color reference.

Two mysterious strangers arrive uninvited at the wedding of Sergeant O'Farrell of the Royal Mounted Police and Rosine Delorme, the daughter of an innkeeper. After O'Farrell receives a message that Rosine's wayward brother Louis has escaped from prison with the notorious devil-may-care outlaw Rossingnol, O'Farrell postpones the wedding to find the convicts.

When Mary and Fannie Graham, daughters of a good mother but a father with criminal instincts, are left motherless, Mary flees from her unhappy surroundings while Fannie, inheriting her father's disposition, remains and is raised as a thief.

Dick Evans is the corrupt boss of a rough-and-tumble munitions town called Powderville. He hires his friend, Jack Ripley, to establish a newspaper, intending merely to further his own financial ambitions; however, Jack envisions The Trumpet as an instrument of good and soon persuades Dick to clean up Powderville.

The story of twin sisters, one raised in Russia, the other in America, and how their lives diverge and re-entangle.

In the northwestern wilderness of Alaska, an innocent young girl falls into the clutches of a band of evil men of the gold fields.

A minister and his young daughter Bess, journey west where he hopes to regain his health. They become involved with notorious outlaw 'Eagle' Ryan. The outlaw becomes influenced by the power of religion along with Bess's gentle persuasion, he is reformed from his life of crime and forgiven by all the townspeople.

Her strict upbringing is driving Genevra French (Dorothy Phillips) crazy, so when she gets her hand on a book called "How to Attract the Opposite Sex," she takes its advice to heart. She uses her newly found wiles on Lawrence Tabor (William Stowell) and gets him to marry her. Only after the wedding does she tell him she married him just to get away from her family, and that she intends to do exactly as she pleases.

During a violent disagreement, a miner strangles his partner and accidentally shoots the man's wife. He then deserts his own wife and son to elope with the saloon keeper's daughter. As they are fleeing, the girl discovers the deed and insists upon caring for the baby found in the dead wife's arms.

Doctor Lambert takes his wife west to a mining town, where he can both minister and doctor. His wife is not happy and upon discovering she is pregnant, runs away with a gambler. He soon dumps her, and she comes back and dies giving birth to a baby girl. Lambert, out of his mind with rage, leaves the baby on a doorstep and vows to never have faith again. He returns to the mining town fifteen years later a drunkard. He meets young, kind Lily Sawyer and is greatly impressed by her compassionate nature. Meanwhile, the gambler has returned and decides to abduct Lily, but his partner recognizes Lambert and tells him Lily is his daughter. He kills the gambler before he can harm Lily and soon his faith returns.

According to Vachel Lindsay, "the best film fairy-tale the present writer remembers".

Immediate Lee, employed on the ranch owned by one Masters, is discharged by the manager through the influence of one of his men, who is in the brand blotting game with Masters. Beulah, a dance-hall girl, has attracted the attention of Hurley, a brand blotter, but prefers Lee. Hurley entraps Lee and cuts his mouth open with a wide gash, which leaves a permanent scar. Lee vows vengeance and follows the man all over the country. He at last meets him face to face, but Hurley is saved by the intercession of Beulah. He later is killed in a fierce encounter. The brand blotters are discovered and punished by the aid of Immediate Lee, and Beulah receives the reward of loyalty and devotion by becoming Lee's wife.

After Ralph Carter steals $50,000 from the bank where he is employed, his wife Gloria phones bank official Jerome Harris, a wealthy man who has loved her for years, and is told that the charges against Ralph will be dropped if Gloria will offer herself as security against her husband's "loan." Accordingly, she moves into Jerome's house but rebuffs his advances, and soon he leaves her in peace. When Ralph, who has been seen in the company of chorus girls, angrily demands money from Gloria, Jerome appears and orders him from the house. Because of the covert dealings of Meyer, Jerome's secretary and a German spy, Jerome nears financial ruin, which moves Gloria to pity. Having learned of Meyer's duplicity, she confronts the spy, and as they struggle, Ralph enters and is killed. Meyer is arrested, and Gloria realizes her great love for Jerome.