Debutante Hope Merrill returns home one day to find her financier father Amos Merrill on the verge of committing suicide. Rather than reveal the truth -- that he has misappropriated funds from his own company -- Merrill claims that he has been ruined by young John Cook, Hope's sweetheart.
Against the backdrop of New York City of the early 1850s, a young woman -- naively seeking to win the love she reads about in the romance novels she devours -- finds one prospect in an earnest denizen of the Bowery, and another in an elegant young aristocrat. Focusing on the bygone era's fashions, the novelty of the bicycle-built-for-two, and an inventor's quest for the horseless carriage, the film gently stirs the audiences' nostalgia for simpler times.
A three-part historical film: the first episode takes place in ancient Egypt, the second is based on the Hugo novel La Fin de Satan, and the third takes place during the 1917 Russian revolution. Lost film, minor fragments survive
Minnie, the homeliest girl in town, is devoted to her father, a discouraged inventor who has been working on a wireless device. Subject to the sneers of her neighbors, Minnie "invents" a lover and sends herself letters and flowers. Her stepsister suspects the truth and threatens to expose her. Desperate, she claims an unidentified body at the morgue and tells a reporter that this is her lover, unaware that the body is that of a Chinese man. The absent-minded reporter sees her heart and forgets about the big story. After further disappointments in the invention, Minnie's stepmother decides to leave her father. Her father then has a success and becomes rich. At a celebration, the stepsister and townspeople are surprised when a new couple appear, which turn out to be the former reporter and his lovely wife Minnie.
Headstrong Mavis Cole defying her grandfather runs away with the wealthy but caddish Herbert Whitman. Proving he’s no good Herbert plants a stolen necklace on Mavis and attempts to have her arrested when he comes under suspicion, so Mavis flees to a hunting lodge then entering into a marriage of convenience with Jimmy Ryder to hide her identity. Meanwhile, Herbert bribes ex-convict Steve La Marche to steal a jewel from Dorothy Grosscup but Jimmy captures the thief, though he claims innocence. Dorothy accuses Mavis of the theft, but she is cleared by Steve, resulting in Herbert's arrest.
Marian marries Arthur, a party-loving man, hoping to reform him, but he becomes restless and starts an affair with a dancer, leading Marian to seek comfort in her old friend Tom.
Amy Lindel, a church choir singer, goes to the city to pursue a singing career, but finds herself only able to get cabaret gigs. She then becomes entangled in a situation involving stolen diamonds, and is saved by the "good guy" whom she later marries.
Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Mark Stetson, a scheming politician, entangles the Brandons, husband and wife, and their friend, Antoinette, in his smuggling schemes and engineers their arrest, to protect himself. Edited into Shadows of the Past (1919).
Raised to believe that her mother Elois, is dead, 18-year-old Yvette Muree is aghast to learn that mom is a burlesque queen.
Deserted by his wife Arline, who absconds with their baby daughter Ruth as well, Robert Travers loses all faith in women. Years later, Travers, now known as the man without a soul, is the owner of a chain of department stores in which young Ruth Carroll is employed as a ribbon clerk. Finding himself strangely attracted to the girl, he takes a fatherly interest in her and offers Ruth a position in his office. Laura Wilson, who wants Travers for herself becomes jealous and tries to lure the girl away but Travers comes to realize she is his own daughter.
Agnes Belgradin is in love with a young doctor, Loring Brent. When Agnes' father dies, her mother takes her on a trip abroad. She insists that the young couple separate before they set sail, and promises that if they still love each other after a year they can reunite. But Mrs. Belgradin intercepts all the letters Agnes and Brent write one another, and convinces her daughter to marry a wealthy Australian millionaire.
A rich libertine leaves all his money to a college girl who had refused his advances. The ensuing scandal makes her retire to a small town, where she meets the dead man's son.
Historical drama which features Gösta Ekman as the dashing rogue who steals the heart of the ethereal Mary Johnson.
A young man spends so much time at work on his airplane that he neglects his girl. She goes out on her own to live the high life, but her reputation is soiled by an adventurer. The young woman resolves to kill herself, and throws herself into the water rushing towards Niagara Falls, but is saved at the last minute by her former sweetheart.
Disguised as a boy, a young woman gets an inner-city street gang back on the straight and narrow path.
Robert Fisher Clarke is a promoter who comes to a small Canadian town. He harnesses the power of the rapids and builds a pulp mill. One of his employees, Jim Belding, has a fiancée, Elsie Worden, with whom Clarke falls in love.
Sergeant Malone of the Mounties and effeminate Etienne Doray are both in love with Rose-Marie, but she doesn't light up until soldier of fortune Jim Kenyon drifts into the post. Soon Jim is accused of murder but he escapes.
Katie Abbott, despairing of being a wallflower, is about to attempt suicide in the village pond when she is rescued by a young stranger.