Five-episode adaptation of the eponymous Russian novel, directed by Pyotr Chardynin et al.
In the Hands of Merciless Fate
In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder, extortion, and political fraud. He becomes head of Chicago's biggest "business," but moves inexorably toward his downfall and ignominious end.
Brash hoodlum Tom Connors enters Sing Sing cocksure of himself and disrespectful toward authority, but his tough but compassionate warden changes him.
A bootlegger on the run from the law hides out on a college campus. He disguises himself as a student and soon becomes the school's star athlete and the most popular man on campus.
Corinne d'Alys (Daniels) achieves sudden success on the stage and among her many admirers is noted artist Robert Townsend (Menjou). Robert is married to Elsa (Williams), the sister of John Elliott (Stone), the producer responsible for Corinne's rise to fame. The young woman's head is turned by the praise she receives and, despite John's warning against Robert, she permits the latter to paint her portrait and pay her a good deal of attention. John himself loves Corinne and believes that wisdom will come to her with time.
The Talbots, formerly one of the Eastern Shore's first families, have gone to seed: Pap is a drunk, soddenly decaying in his ruined ancestral home, and three of his sons (William, Carol, and Ezra) are lazy, shiftless young men. Mulligan, Pap's second son who supports the entire family by oyster fishing, falls in love with wealthy Anna Lee, but when he first kisses her, she calls him "white trash."
With ruin staring him in the face, Manning, of Manning and Company, commits a theft which averts the crash. The scoundrel cleverly contrives to throw suspicion upon Reynolds, an old and faithful employee. Reynolds receives a three-year sentence. Beatrice, the daughter of Manning's victim, believes in her father's innocence. Led to believe Manning the real cause of her father's tribulations, Beatrice vows to wreak vengeance upon the scoundrel.
Tom Covington, a freight train conductor, who tries to get his rival Ralph Lasher into trouble by putting oil on the tracks.
In the backdrop of 1995 East London, not all is as it seems as Frenchy persuades his eccentric gang to steal from The Stanfields, an impregnable family run drug ring.
A female lawyer sets up her own practice but only achieves success as an attorney for the mob.
Montgomery Seaton, one of the idle rich, pays more attention to his friends' business than to his marital situation.
Rethna works hard to organize her fellow factory employees against the miserly, uncaring owner, Henry Burke. Then, realizing that she needs money to fight Burke, she begins an affair with his unscrupulous son Harry.
Ben Jordan runs away after accidentally setting fire to a barn in his small New England community. He returns when his mother dies to find that she has left everything to her ward, Jane Crosby.
The Purple Dawn is a 1923 American silent romantic drama film that was produced, written, and directed by Charles R. Seeling. Starring Bessie Love, Bert Sprotte, and William E. Aldrich. The film is presumed lost.
St. Elmo is a man who killed his romantic rival in a brawl. Traveling the world as a confirmed misogynist, St. Elmo returns to home and hearth only to fall in love with the daughter of the local blacksmith. The film is based on the 1867 novel of the same name written by Augusta Jane Evans. Today, St. Elmo is a lost film.
Gentle Julia is a 1923 American silent romantic drama film based on the popular novel Gentle Julia by Booth Tarkington. Directed by Rowland V. Lee, the film starred Bessie Love.
Torment is a 1924 American silent film crime drama produced and directed by Maurice Tourneur and distributed by Associated First National. This film stars Bessie Love, Owen Moore, and Jean Hersholt.
A lawyer (Bosworth) running for Congress decides to end his relationship with a showgirl (Bennett), so that he will be more presentable candidate. When the showgirl commits suicide, the police arrest the lawyer for murder.
An angel under the thumb of a ruthless gangster is saved by a trumpet player down on his luck.