Masterpiece Selection that Capture the Essence of Jack and the Bean...

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

Millionaire Hamilton fakes death to test wife's loyalty. His wife and brother plot to kill his children for inheritance. Hamilton warns kids through Hansel and Gretel story. Wife overhears, realizes her evil plan. Family reunites.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Girl with the Champagne Eyes perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

On a boat to San Francisco, Nellie Proctor is nearly caught stealing a man's wallet, but because she slips it into James Blair's pocket, he is arrested for the crime and sentenced to two years on the chain gang. Nellie, ashamed at having sent an innocent man to prison, convinces her friend Milligan to help James escape, after which all three go to an Alaskan mining town to begin new lives. While James prospects for gold, Nellie and Milligan find work in a local saloon, and Nellie takes charge of four orphaned children. Warren McKenzie, the saloon owner, is also the sheriff, and when he discovers James' identity, he threatens to turn the young man over to the law unless Nellie visits him in his cabin. To save James, with whom she has fallen in love, from a second prison term, Nellie consents, but James and the children come to her rescue.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

Adopted by the Kellys from an orphanage, Nancy is reared in dreadful surroundings and mistreated as the household drudge. She accidentally makes the acquaintance of Jack Halliday, son of a wealthy city family who is fishing near her home. When Mrs. Kelly beats Nancy for accepting the attentions of her husband, the girl escapes into the woods and conceals herself in the rear of Jack's car as he drives into the city. Arriving home, Jack discovers her and orders a beautiful new wardrobe for her. Jack's fiancée, Elizabeth, angered, recalls his parents from their trip, and while he is out buying flowers for Nancy, they persuade her that she can bring only unhappiness to their son. In her old garments she returns to the Kelly shack, where Jim Kelly tries to attack her; but Jack arrives to rescue her, and they are happily united.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

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

The little school ma'am has come out to a Western town from her home back in Virginia. The townspeople just can't help making life miserable for the little schoolteacher, and when a young playwright who happens to be from Virginia himself, arrives in the town and meets the lonely little teacher, old Mrs. Grundy just runs riot. To make matters worse, the young people go off for a ride and when they wander off to a spring to get a drink, the horse runs away,, so they must stay out in the woods all night. Then there is a crash, and the school teacher is summarily dismissed from her position.

Dir: Chester M. Franklin

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

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Little School Ma'am perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

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 German Shepherd puppy is "adopted" by a wolf pack in the snowy and frozen Great North and raised by them as one of their own. A few years later he comes upon a fur trapper and saves the man from certain death, and begins to feel a kinship with him that is stronger than the one he has with his adopted pack.

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.

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

A young woman and her six little brothers and sisters are left orphans by the murder of their father over gold found on his ranch. Together the seven offspring fight against their greedy neighbors to keep what is rightfully theirs.