A man and two women, suspected of stealing bonds, are traced to a country hotel. While Judith, one of the women, is out horseback riding, the other two, Walter and Vera, are arrested. When, during a storm, Judith is injured in a fall from her horse, Boone Pendleton comes to her rescue. Soon the river becomes impassable, and they are trapped in Boone's cabin, where the two fall in love.
Police headquarters has been plagued by a series of robberies, culminating in the theft of a priceless necklace smuggled from Europe. The detectives are on the track of a gang led by master thief Ramon Mordant and his accomplice known as "the Face" because of his twisted and hideous countenance.
Louis and August Siever, the twins sons of a German father and American mother, are traveling in Europe when war breaks out. August joins the Kaiser's army, but Louis, a supporter of the United States, is practically made a prisoner in Berlin for a year while he tries to prove his American citizenship. After a violent confrontation with Louis, August steals his brother's passport and leaves for New York with Gerda Anderson, a German spy.
Henry Egbert Xerxes' big chance as a cub reporter comes when he is assigned to track down a gang of counterfeiters which gathers regularly at the Red Dog Inn. As he leaves the office, Henry witnesses a girl being dragged into a cab -- the same girl he had seen that morning passing counterfeit money. Henry follows, but on overtaking the cab, he finds it empty. At the Red Dog Inn, he discovers that the girl is being held captive. After a series of rough and tumble adventures with the resident thugs, he and the girl escape, after which he rushes home to write up the story. When it fails to appear in print, Henry storms into the city room only to discover that the entire business was a hoax, intended to test his reporter's instincts.
The Circular Staircase
Millionaire Joshua Barker insists that his daughter, Faith, must marry Phil Langhorne, a man that neither likes, and Faith is in love with and eager to marry her childhood sweetheart, John Temple.
Rosalind Joy (Helen Foster) is an heiress who has inherited a South Seas island known as Pleasure Island. A hidden cache of gold is allegedly buried on the island, which has several haunted structures. Rosalind's uncle, Spring Gilbert (Al Ferguson), wants the gold for himself and declares he will stop at nothing, not even the death of his niece, to get it. Rosalind, meanwhile, is befriended by Jerry Fitzjames (Jack Dougherty), a playwright. Unfortunately, Jerry has only recently escaped from a psychiatric hospital. Although he swears to protect Rosalind, she doubts Jerry's sanity. The two lovers race against Uncle Gilbert (who has set several traps for them) to find the treasure. In the end, Rosalind and Jerry are aided by the "Phantom Rider," a spectral horseman.
A woman's cheating husband is murdered at their country estate, and suspicion immediately falls on her.
A man assists a woman to dispose of the body of her stepfather....
Chaney plays two roles: mad scientist Arthur Lamb and Lamb's "experiment", known only as the Ape Man. This hideous creature was the result of Lamb's attempts to transplant animal glands into human beings. A lost film.
Young London realtor Leonard Tavernake becomes involved with two sisters, one good and one evil, which leads to much melodrama but things work out in the end.
Young Edyth Vail, believes her fiancé Allen Morris may have committed a murder, asking Ashton Kirk to investigate the crime. The fiancé admits he went to the David Hume's home to retrieve plans for a submarine, invented by his scientist father and stolen by the murdered man, but Allen claims he left the home before retrieving the plans. Kirk uses a train conductor's punch ticket to discover the identity of the murderers, one of whom is mute, and sets a trap to apprehend the suspects.
Ashton Kirk is a wealthy and scholarly young man who solves mysteries that have the police puzzled. Stella Morse asks Kirk to find out who is threatening her uncle, Dr. Morse. Morse has a copy of a secret treaty between Russia and the United States that was made during the Russo-Japanese War. When the Doctor is murdered Kirk takes on the case. Japanese spies have been trying to purloin the treaty to ruin relations between its country and America. Kirk manages to get the treaty himself and prevents a war from breaking out.
When Harlan Carr inherited his Uncle Ebenezer's "Jack-O Lantern" house and too his bride there to live, he found himself the unwilling host of a score of hungry relatives within a week. Soon, strange things began to happen. A black cat made the house his headquarters, unexplained sounds could be heard and a shadowy figure floated through the halls at night.
Holmes goes on the trail of a Rembrandt painting, stolen by a drug-addicted artist.
Sonya, a Marseilles Cafe performer involved with a pack of thieves is rescued from her criminal life by a police official who sends her lover and partner in a knife-throwing act to jail and then tries to seduce her. Not submitting to the official's advances, she falls in love with an Apache dancer in Paris and works with him, holding her other admirer at a distance. The official is mysteriously killed, presumably by her lover, it then falls to Sonya to find the real felon.
Having been rejected by Phyllis Leigh in favor of wealthier suitor Peter Lester, Hugh prevents Elinor Ashe from drowning herself. Hugh recklessly marries Elinor, but they occupy different wings of his house. Lester and Phyllis arrive as guests, and a new manservant favored by Elinor is hired. When Lester is murdered, the servant is charged with the crime, and Elinor admits to Hugh that he is indeed her father, recently released from prison. While in the company of Marcia Marshall, Hugh discovers her husband Harley dying in a Chinese opium den. He confesses that, victimized by Lester, he killed him. Elinor's father is released, and she reconciles with Hugh.
After coming under suspicion for a computer technician's murder, six hackers team up to try to find the real killer.
Allayne Norman's husband Bruce is a gambler and drunkard who kills her artist cousin in an argument. Bruce flees the studio with Allayne and their son, and places his identifying documents in the pockets of an amnesiac man. To avoid the consequences of his actions, Allayne identifies the man as her husband. When Bruce returns, he tries to kill the man but is shot instead. The man regains his memory and is cleared of wrongdoing.
The abandoned Balfour House, the owner of which was found dead five years earlier, comes back to life with the arrival of two suspicious sinister-looking tenants. This film was lost in the 1965 MGM vault fire; only a few stills exist.