Horace Ventimore, a young London architect, stumbles across an old brass bottle. When he picks it up a genie suddenly appears and promises Horace that he will grant every wish Horace wants in exchange for his freedom. Horace accepts the genie's offer but finds out that things aren't working out quite as well as he thought they would.
Based on a play by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Originally released in six reels, but later cut to four due to poor reviews. A lost film.
Poverty forces Helen Shirley, a country lass, into New York in search of a living. Shy and unsophisticated, Helen falls an easy victim of the notorious band which preys upon young girls and she is easily induced to go to a boarding house which is in reality the headquarters of the gang.
The statue of Niobe comes to life through the dream of a hen-pecked old man.
Financial troubles force Nell Carroll, a thoroughbred, to seek employment in a detective agency which has just taken up the trail of a very baffling jewelry robbery in an exclusive summer colony. In order to work from the inside, she is sent to the place as the Baroness Du Vassey.
Franti, an organ grinder of the poor districts of New York, has a daughter, Isola, who sings to his street piano's accompaniment.
Miriam Monroe and John Conrad are two young scientific workers who, independently of each other, have discovered a chemical called exonite. Miriam discovered it while searching for a cure for cancer, while Conrad used it as a basis for a powerful explosive.
Two schoolteachers, married for love, are parted by the husband's obsessive desire for wealth and social position.
Junges Blut
Young peasant Paul's life is one of poverty and hardship from an early age. His lifelong struggle as he is forced to take on the responsibility of caring for his dysfunctional relatives prevents him from experiencing personal happiness, love, or a life for himself.
Jack Holt is Robert Pitt, a wealthy young idler who has just returned home to the States from London. While at a restaurant, he notices pretty Molly Creedon (Sigrid Holmquist). He sees that she has a photograph inscribed "with love" and as a joke, he makes a bet with his pals that he will obtain an autographed picture from the girl within 24 hours. But getting the photo is harder than it seemed at first, and he finally asks a burglar to help him out by stealing it.
Katherine Emerson, an Iowa girl hungry for the good things in life, leaves her small hometown and sets out for New York. En route, she is involved in a train wreck in which another woman is killed. Katherine finds the woman's purse and, among its contents, discovers an invitation for the woman to spend 6 months in an unoccupied luxury apartment in Manhattan. Katherine seizes this opportunity and sets up housekeeping in the elegant suite, living well and dressing in the newest fashions.
Mike Rosenberg, a ne'er-do-well, is broke, but still is undenied the pleasure of imagination. A circus comes to town, and he is without the price of admission. He retires disgusted to the solitude of the bar, where he dreams that he possesses unlimited wealth. His first investment is a pet elephant that leads him into a vast variety of expensive difficulties.
John Howland travels to the frozen North to build a branch of the Hudson Bay Railroad. There he meets and falls in love with Meleese Thoreau who warns him that her three bloodthirsty brothers, Max, Pierre and François, have sworn vengeance against a man named John Howland, the son of a man who killed their mother, and that torture and death await him along the route to his station.
The daily lives and struggles of a group of workers in a small German town. They face poverty, unemployment, and various hardships, but also find moments of hope and solidarity. The film portrays their efforts to survive and support each other in difficult economic conditions.
During the Civil War, Rachel Hayne, a young widow, is among those "held by the enemy" when her old family home is within the lines occupied by the Northern troops. Protected by Colonel Prescott from looters and the unwelcome attentions of Surgeon Fielding, Rachel begins to fall in love with the gallant Yankee officer. Their romance is disrupted when Rachel's husband Gordon, long reported dead, is captured as a spy and condemned to death.
Tom Denton comes from the East to the Northwest lumber region and becomes co-owner of a lumber camp with Howard Patton, whose bored wife Vera insists on flirting with Tom despite his discouragement.
Upon learning that the parents of "Little Red" have died, the cowboys of Colonel Ferdinand Aliso's ranch adopt the boy. Parson Jones and his church committee protest that the child should be brought up in more refined surroundings, but the cowboys, particularly Duck Sing, Aliso's Chinese cook, are so enamored of Little Red that they donate their poker money to the church to placate the congregation. After Little Red catches pneumonia and nearly dies, however, Dr. Kirk insists that the boy either live with the minister or acquire a mother through the marriage of one of the cowboys. While Little Red is recuperating at the parson's home, ranch hand Tom Gilroy courts the only marriageable women in town -- a widow and two spinsters -- but much to his relief, they all turn him down. In the end, Duck Sing and the colonel join forces and legally adopt him.
Chinese merchant Wing Lung and Elizabeth Mendall, an American, marry and have a son named Jang Lung. Because Elizabeth wants Jang Lung to be raised as a Christian, Wing Lung locks her in the cellar and she becomes insane. Jang meets Marcell Matthews at an Eastern university, and she returns with him to San Francisco to be married.
In the mountains of West Virginia, Alderson Cree is mortally wounded in an ambush by Kip Ryerson, after Kip's wife, Martha, seeks refuge at the Crees's home for herself and her stepdaughter, Eileen. Cree makes his young son, David, promise to avenge his death once he has grown into manhood. As David Cree runs for help, Alderson recants and instructs Martha Ryerson to release his son from his promise. However, to eliminate her brutal spouse, Martha Ryerson remains silent, and George Hedrick, the local storekeeper, leads a crowd to drive Kip out of town. Hedrick later announces Kip's death, relieving David of his obligation to his father. Years pass, and David, now an adult, is engaged to Mary Reddin. When Kip Ryerson returns to town, David's mother demands that he keep his promise to avenge his father.