Rare Cinematic Gems Exploring the Legacy of March of the Movies: Cu...

Dir: J. Stuart Blackton

A wealthy financier is tricked by a pair of spies into giving millions to foreign powers. His daughter is suspicious and hires a Detective, who is able to foil the foreign agent's plans. Meanwhile, the daughter has fallen in love with a fellow from the enemy camp, but all ends well as his true identity is revealed as a member of the U.S. secret service.

Dir: J. Stuart Blackton

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

Keith, an artist, begins to go blind as a result of having fallen out of a tree as a child. His fiancé Dorothy, a wealthy heiress, had previously said that she thought blind people were "disgusting", and he refuses to see her. Dorothy plans to have her father, an eye surgeon, perform an operation on Keith that may help him regain his sight, but things don't go as planned.

Dir: J. Stuart Blackton

A young Englishman falls in love with the children's governess in his stepsister's home. His stepsister, however, cannot abide the class differential in the romance and sabotages it. The young man, in a state of boredom and depression, begins to invite into the house anyone who happens to pass by in the street.

Dir: J. Stuart Blackton

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Passers-by perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Loved by two men, frivolous Jasmine Grenfel is unable to decide between the bold Rudyard Byng and the more reserved Ian Stafford. Swept away by Byng's forcefulness, Jasmine agrees to marry him and the rejected Stafford goes to South Africa. Three years elapse, and Jasmine's unhappiness increases as her husband slips into dissipation and she is pursued by his private secretary, Adrian Fellow, who is also having an affair with Al'Mah, an exotic dancer. When Byng finds a love note written by Fellow addressed to Jasmine, he threatens to kill both his wife and secretary, but Stafford returns in time to prevent the tragedy. Later, Fellow is murdered and Byng finds a poisoned needle near the body, but before the murderer can be found, the Boer War breaks out and Byng goes to fight for his country. In battle, Stafford is killed and Byng distinguishes himself in the field, recovering from his former dissipation. Al'Mah, now a nurse, is fatally wounded and confesses that she killed Fellow. Jasmine, touched by the crucible of war, finally realizes that she has been responsible for her own unhappiness and makes a true commitment to her husband.

Dir: Wallace Worsley

An orphan boy from the Kentucky hills joins the Union Army and rescues his adopted family from Morgan's raiders. He learns his real identity when he returns after the war.

Dir: Paul Scardon

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

1860 ushers in the era of iron ships, Richard Sibley, a builder of wooden ships, stubbornly resists the change, which leads him to forbid the marriage of his daughter Rose to John Rhead, a proponent of the new method. This injustice outrages John's sister Gertrude so much that she breaks off her engagement to Sibley's son Sam. Meanwhile, John and Rose elope. Twenty-five years later, John has grown rich and conservative and has a daughter named Emily. Gertrude, still single, tries to help her niece Emily marry the man she loves, Arthur Preece, rather than her father's choice, old Lord Monkhurst, but Gertrude fails. Twenty-five more years pass, and John again attempts to interfere by opposing the marriage of his granddaughter Muriel to Richard Sibley, Jr., an engineer. This time, however, Muriel's independence wins and she marries the man of her choice, and after the death of Monkhurst, Emily and Preece are finally together.

Dir: J. Stuart Blackton

The plot revolves around two rival towns in the Canadian Northwest, which are connected only by a bridge. Ingolby, a determined, idealistic engineer, is saved from destruction by the wild-eyed Fleda Druse, whose father is the local gypsy monarch.

Dir: J. Stuart Blackton

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Big Steve and Little Lefty, a pair of hobos, are happily drifting through life until the First World War comes. They enter it and find their lives forever changed.

Dir: J. Stuart Blackton

When the nation of Ruthania declares war on the United States, an army of enemy soldiers invades the U.S. and captures New York. But the American forces have prepared adequately for such an event, and hidden booby traps, trick fortifications, and remote-controlled bombs...

Dir: J. Stuart Blackton

Orphan Mary Lord, the ward of Sir Arthur Stanhope of Parliament, is attracted to Philip Carmichael, a young politician, who ignores her and goes through a supposedly mock marriage at a wild party with actress Sheelah Delayne. Years later, Philip falls in love with Mary, now married to Sir Arthur, who dies from a stroke when he sees Philip and Mary together. Remorseful, they try to keep apart but eventually marry in France. Later, Sheelah confronts Philip with their son and proof that they are married. When Philip is arrested for bigamy, Mary testifies, to her humiliation, that she and Philip are not married, and then disappears. After her son dies, Sheelah goes to France as a canteen worker and finds Mary wandering in a daze. Feeling pity, Sheelah has her marriage annulled and sends for Philip. When Mary hears soldiers sing a song she used to sing to Philip, she recognizes Philip and they resume their marriage.