A Just Punishment

“Crime film set in Malaya concerning the pursuit of a planter framed for poisoning his partner and suspected of carrying plague.” - BFI.

A little girl and her father are among the settlers in a small western town. The father is very friendly with the neighboring Indian tribe and is presented with a quaint piece of metal representing a dragon's claw, the tribe's good luck omen. Some time later, while traveling with his daughter, he is held up by a band of bandits and shot dead. A bandit takes from him this dragon's claw. Years pass. The little girl has grown into a beautiful young lady. She marries. Their love is very real and their life most happy. He decides to go out west to see a mine that yields the richest gold and his wife expresses a desire to go along with him. The mine is christened "The Dragon's Claw," because of an Indian charm the man owns. While out on a western desert, he shows the dragon's claw to his wife. She then recognizes it as the kind her father possessed when he was killed. She has understood it to be the only one of its kind. She now believes it is her husband who killed her father.

As a derelict paints the face of a girl on a barroom floor, the plot is developed in a series of flashbacks: Robert Stevens, an artist engaged to marry Marion, a society girl, becomes charmed with a fisherman's daughter who poses for him. The society girl's brother brings dishonor upon the fisherman's daughter, and when she commits suicide the artist shields the brother. Stevens is blamed by his fiancée, who terminates their engagement. The artist becomes a derelict and is wrongfully imprisoned. Eventually Stevens is exonerated and reunited with Marion.

Colorado lawyer Bill Brent, falsely accused and imprisoned for a murder committed by his partner, escapes to Canada with his cellmate where they become wealthy in the trapping business. When out of a trapping expedition the pair rescue Nita, the only survivor of a boating accident. In time Bill and she fall in love and marry then Bill makes the unwise decision to try to return to see his elderly mother.

To help secret serviceman Bill Parsons in pursuit of the thieving Benson gang wealthy criminologist Henry Avery sends his assistant Blinky to cover the waterfront while he attends a reception at the home of Mrs. Cornelius Westervelt. At the soiree he meets gang member Alice Carter while also discover the gang’s cache hidden there. Captured Parsons is saved by Blinky, and the pair foil the gang’s attempt to rob Mrs. Westervelt and her guests.

Michael Frazer, newly rich from his invention of a can-opener, has drifted away from Jane, his wife, who persists in her old-fashioned ways. He advises his daughter Marcia to marry "someone congenial so that when love goes you will have common interests." Neighboring architect Jack Ballard obtains the contract to design Frazer's house through the friendship of his attractive wife, Emily, with Frazer. Emily and Frazer become intimate friends, arousing the concern of Mrs. Frazer and Jack Ballard. Determined to teach his wife a lesson and win her back, Jack asks Marcia Frazer to run away with him. She consents but later reconsiders and they return home. Frazer realizes that Mrs. Ballard meant nothing to him, and Jack is reunited with his wife.

Mining engineer and rancher Bruce Andrews marries Eastern visitor Isabel Hollins, stirring jealousy in rival mine owner Edmund Rawn and his partner Burton Mortimer, who both desire Isabel, leading to clashes over land, romance, and unscrupulous business practices.

In a banana republic, way south of the Texas border, a dumb-Dora American girl, Norma (Olive Borden), lets her ruby-red lips promise more than she is willing to deliver, and she finds herself a prisoner in a notorious dance-hall/brothel. But her American aviator boyfriend, Barry Blake (John Boles), is flying to her rescue. He does just that but, alas, they are quickly captured by a gang of outlaws. Possibly the many expensive pieces of jewelry she has gathered from the many male friends she has made along the way, including El Presidente, captured the outlaws' attention.

Vallery Grove is in love with Don Warren but her mother opposes the match because he is poor and has no social standing. Don decides to terminate his engagement to Vallery after attending a party where he meets a spoiled rich girl who is interested in him.

Wealthy Jack Stimson (Jay Belasco) falls in love with Broadway diva Velma Vrooman (Gretchen Lederer), and for her sake bankrolls the musical production in which she is currently starred. But when Velma proves to be fickle and unreliable, Jack shifts his affections to humble chorus girl Bobbie (Louise Lovely).

Gabrielle Picard (Elda Hall) and Pierre Dupont (Rupert Julian) are lovers in a small French village in the early 1870s; Gabrielle's brother Anatole (Kingsley Benedict) is Pierre's best friend. The two young men are called to service by their country and go to Algiers. Anatole becomes the bugler and one day when he is commanded to sound the retreat, he sounds for the troops to charge instead. Anatole becomes a hero because of his action, but when the two men make their victorious return home, they find the Picard home ransacked and Gabrielle gone.

A criminologist and a government agent team up to expose a ring of German spies.

Paris vamp Ernestine Bergot, posing as wealthy Englishwoman Sarah Brandon, goes to work on aging Count Ville Handry after first warming up on Malgat, a banker whom she ruined. Ernestine convinces the count to marry her despite his daughter's strenuous objections and then gains complete control of his fortune. Her steady milking of his funds makes the count decide to kill himself, but just as he is about to do it, Malgat, who has managed to catch up with Ernestine, exposes her to the authorities. Then, instead of the count, it is Ernestine who commits suicide rather than submit to arrest. A lost film.

Olaf writes his memoirs, before his execution. He tells of his life as a struggling farmer when Renie, stranded in the village, stays one night in his home and Olaf falls in love with her.

Though a spendthrift and a layabout, Lord Arthur Waring (J. Warren Kerrigan) is universally loved by his tenants. The same cannot be said for Arthur's half-brother Mark (Bertram Grassby), a tyrannical tightwad. Disowned by his family, Arthur finds himself strapped for cash when he promises to finance the operation of Helene von Gerald (Lois Wilson), whom he accidentally crippled in a riding mishap.

Upon hearing about a woman dubbed The Huntress because of her wild attention craving ways, Fleming Harcourt decides he can domesticate her and they marry. He takes her to settle down in a mining town, however she soon becomes bored and returns to the city and her lavish parties with plenty of adoring male admirers. Fleming decides to make her jealous by flirting with other women. When the Huntress hears the rumors of his affairs, she soon realizes her one true love is Fleming, and they are happily reunited.

Love Never Dies was set in France, and convincingly so (which was not often the case in American-made films of this period). It is established in the first reel that hero Felix and heroine Cecile have been sweethearts since childhood. Later on, Fate forces Felix and Cecile to separate, but viewers could take heart in the positive sentiments expressed by the film's title.

Maud and Cecil have been in love since they were children in the pre-Civil War South, but Howard, Maud's domineering brother, disapproves of a marriage between them. Instead, he has chosen English nobleman Lord Lovelace as the ideal fiancé for Maud. On the night that the engagement is to be announced, however, she elopes with Cecil. The runaways are caught, though, after which, because of her loyalty to her brother, Maud sends Cecil away. When the Civil War begins, Howard, Lovelace and Cecil all volunteer, and are all soon reported killed in action. Heartbroken, Maud decides to become a nun, and takes her vows just moments before Cecil, whose death was mistakenly reported, returns from the battlefield and comes to the convent to ask her to marry him.

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.

Dr. Spencer sends Lester Jordon to spend a few months in Tennessee for a rest. The school trustees employ Ruth Overholt as teacher for the Sumach Crossroads School. The townspeople suspect Lester is a Revenue Officer and want to get rid of him. When Clem, a man who had argued with Lester is found shot in the woods the news spreads that Clem is responsible. He is carried to the town, with a rope about his neck, to be lynched. Ruth is frantic, but helpless until she can convince the townsfolk of his innocence. Lester is released and with Ruth, he returns to civilization.