The Definitive Watchlist Seeking the Same Brilliance as Gretchen th...

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

Rowena Jones attracts the attention of wealthy playboy William Vaughn, when trying on an expensive fur coat belonging to one of the guests at the hotel where she works as a hat check. Determined to marry a millionaire in order to alleviate her family's financial woes, Rowena accepts Vaughn's dinner invitation. That afternoon, while modeling at a fashion show, Rowena is attracted to a young man, but because he appears to be a poor chauffeur, she continues her pursuit of Vaughn. However, when Vaughn's wife appears at dinner, Rowena consents to go to a masked ball with her chauffeur. Arriving at the ball, she is pleasantly surprised to discover that her sweetheart is not a chauffeur but a millionaire, that meets her standard for a husband.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Toll of the Sea perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

While visiting China, an American man falls in love with a young Chinese woman, but he then has second thoughts about the relationship.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

Roy Somerville has turned out an interesting story that will hold the interest of the majority of audiences as produced by the Triangle-Fine Arts Company. It is a five-reel feature produced under the direction of C.M. and S.S. Franklin,. Norma Talmadge stars as Cora, who is wed to Arthur Vincent (Eugene Pallette); they have two children. Vincent is a bank president's son who devotes much of his time to cabaret dancer Jane Courtenay, who is willing to have him devote his time to her as long as he is a good provider. The wife, who has been sadly neglected, turns to her sister, who is wed to young detective Fred Brown. His brother Charles, who works in the elder Vincent's bank as a cashier, lives with them. He was Cora's first love and has never quite recovered from the fact that she jilted him to wed Vincent because of his money. The cabaret dancer makes several demands on the young Vincent, who tries to borrow money from his father to meet them; failing to receive the loan, he agrees to help several friends of the cabaret charmer rob his father's bank. After the robbery Charles Brown is accused of the crime and arrested. But the robbers are discovered in their hiding place, and in escaping all but one is killed. Cora is left a widow and the natural supposition is that she and Charles were happily married afterward. Just where the title comes in is hard to say, but the picture, while not one of the best that has been produced at the Fine Arts, is one that will get by because of its great appeal to women.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Children in the House perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A French orphan girl is adopted into the home of wealthy Americans. There she becomes romantically involved with a farm worker and at the same time entangled in the deteriorating marriage of the American couple who rescued her.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

Sculptor Roger Heath realizes his new maid is possessed by the soul of his departed wife.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Private Scandal perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Ali Baba, a poor Turkish wood chopper, discovers that a robbers' cave, concealed in the mountains that surround his house, opens to the magical phrase, "Open Sesame." Learning that the cave is filled with stolen treasure, he takes home as much as he can carry, but his greedy brother forces him to reveal the cave's location. After gaining admittance to the cave, Ali Baba's brother is seen by the thieves and killed. Meanwhile, Ali Baba falls in love with Morgianna, a slave girl forced to dance in the local inn, and by securing her freedom, he wins her love and loyalty. The leader of the band of robbers suspects that Ali Baba knows the secret of the treasure cave, and in the guise of an oil merchant, he visits Ali Baba with his forty thieves concealed in oil jars. When Morgianna discovers the robbers, she fills the jars with boiling oil, thereby killing them all. Ali Baba defeats the robber chief in combat and then marries his beautiful Morgianna.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

Following the death of her fiance and the birth of her baby, Dorothea, to avoid even the hint of a scandal, gives the child to her best friend Martha, who has arranged to have the infant raised by her old nurse. Soon, having kept her child a secret, Dorothea marries Deacon Hunt, while Martha becomes engaged to John. When unconscionable Sell Hawkins remembers having seen Martha bring the baby to the nurse, accuses her, before the church congregation, of being an unwed mother. Dorothea remains silent, and Martha, hoping to protect her friend, refuses to tell the truth about the child. Just as Martha's guilt seems assured, however, the child is brought to the church with an injury, and when a concerned Dorothea rushes to the infant, her actions and expression betray her own secret.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of All Souls' Eve perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A man and his wife both have criminal pasts, but have quit crime and are now respectable citizens. One day a member of their old gang shows up and threatens to expose them if they don't help him pull a heist.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

The story of Aladdin and the Princess Badr al-badr's adventures as told through child actors.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

The Japanese emperor's son Hanki Pan (Francis Carpenter) is in love with beautiful Fan Fan (Virginia Lee Corbin) and determined to marry her, although his father has decreed that he shall wed the Ancient and Honorable Lady Shoo, an ugly hag. Hanki Pan and Fan Fan elope and find employment as entertainers at the Wisteria Gardens. However, Lady Shoo and Fan Fan's rejected suitor, the Chief Executioner, follow in close pursuit and soon catch the young lovers. The Executioner plans to behead Hanki Pan, but when the emperor discovers the plot, he orders the villain to choose between the sword and marriage to Lady Shoo. Hanki Pan and Fan Fan are reunited, while Lady Shoo is happily wed.