The Definitive Guide Inspired by the Vision of The Miracle of Life:...

Dir: Harry A. Pollard

Leander Potts, a burlesque manager, has brought his Frivolous Frolickers to Greenville for a one-night stand at the Opera House. But there are bigger things ahead for Leander in Greenville. The natives have mistaken him for the Potum of Swat, a sturdy centenarian, who with his daughters, ranging in age from 70 to 85 years, is to give a lecture on how to live a thousand years. Leander and his burlesquers are given a royal welcome, and then and there he decides to assume the identity of the real Potum.

Dir: Harry A. Pollard

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

In New Orleans, Kid Roberts is lured to a rooming house just before the fight, where he is bound hand a foot, and it looks as though all bets would be forfeited. A free-for-all fight is staged as a preliminary, and while this is going on Kid Roberts gains his freedom and arrives in time for the feature event. At a given signal the lights of the hall were to be turned off, and this have his adversary a chance to knock the Kid out, in the second round. The Kid is mad clear through, however, and knocks his man through the ropes in the first round and wins the fight.

Dir: Harry A. Pollard

Dan Blair, a retired cattle magnate's son, is one of the many youths of Red Rock, Montana who is attracted to soda water-stand operator Sarah Townley. One day, Dan partakes of six chocolate sodas in succession. When an operatic impresario, forced to stay in town overnight, hears Sarah sing at a church social, he signs her to be trained to become a diva. Three years later, after Dan's father has died, Dan visits Lord Galore, a family friend, in London and becomes involved with the Duchess of Breakwater, who, although she loves the lord, needs Dan's money. Dan hears the famous Letty Lane sing and recognizes Sarah. Although Dan courts Sarah, when he thinks that she loves Prince Ponitowsky of Russia, he proposes to the duchess. After he sees the duchess embrace Lord Galore, however, he breaks the engagement, to Sarah's relief. Joshua Ruggles, the friend and partner of Dan's father, arrives to look after Dan. After he falsely tells Sarah that Dan is broke and proposes to Sarah himself, he sees Sarah's true love for Dan and allows them to marry.

Dir: Harry A. Pollard

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

Yulita is known to the inhabitants of one of the South Sea islands as "The Peart of Paradise." Her father, Gomez, a Spanish fugitive from justice, has reared her in ignorance of the evils of the outside world. Piete Van Dekken, the captain of a Dutch schooner and the only other white man the girl has even seen, is infatuated with her. John Dellow and his fiancée on a yachting cruise are forced to jump from the yacht and the next morning Dellow is found on the beach by Yulita. Gomez orders John shot, but Yulita saves his life and Gomez tells Dellow of how years before he married an American girl after accidentally killing her husband and another man. They fled to the island and there the mother died shortly after Yulita was born. Later John realizes his love for the girl but also remembers that she is a child. Van Dekken comes to the island and engages in a fight over Yulita. Denise, Dellow's fiancée, is also saved and found by John, who takes her with him and leaves Yulita alone on the island. He then sees Yulita start out in a boat after them and plunge into the sea. Dellow awakens from his dream in time to save Yulita from Van Dekken and the next day sails for home with his "Pearl of Paradise."

Dir: Harry A. Pollard

Returning from service in the A. E. F., Dale Garland is given a rousing reception by his townsmen. County political boss Nebo Slayter persuades the community to nominate Dale for sheriff--thinking he can be easily manipulated--against John Millard, the incumbent, who refuses political compromises. Dale easily wins and pledges to give the citizens an honest deal. Millard's daughter, Alice, who is Dale's childhood sweetheart, learns of Slayter's dishonest schemes and sees his men murder a moonshiner for whom they had been furnishing protection. She informs Dale, who tracks down the slayers and arrests them after a battle. Meanwhile, the deputies arrest the slain man's accomplices, who implicate the political ring, and Dale jails them all. His honesty wins Alice's love.

Dir: Harry A. Pollard

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Harry A. Pollard

A scientist discovers a death ray and locks it in a box, giving the key to his daughter, who soon finds herself hunted by criminals looking to steal the deadly mineral.

Dir: Harry A. Pollard

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

Messalla, the embodiment of youth and innocence, lives in an old house in Washington Square, New York City, with her father, who has been ruined financially and lost his wife through the lure of Fifth Avenue. He tells Messalla that the thoroughfare is a dragon lying in wait for victims. Messalla starts out to find the dragon and goes up the avenue. Her meetings with various people bring destruction and death to those who had wrought her father's ruin, although she is unconscious of the effect she is having on their lives. Messalla escapes the wiles of the white slaver. She allows a discarded flame of a big merchant to take her place at dinner to which she has been invited, and the merchant suffers at the hands of the discarded woman. A policeman's attention is attracted to Messalla and a man is killed by an automobile while he is looking at her. At a lacemaker's shop a wealthy young woman is tempted to take a bit of lace because Messalla has admired it, but she is caught and jailed. There is a robbery affecting some papers which have been taken and replaced by a bomb, and Messalla gives the package to a woman who turns out to be her father's lost wife; the house is destroyed after the woman and Messalla leave. There is a reconciliation. All those injured were people who had injured her father, and the dragon has been slain by Messalla's youth and innocence.

Dir: Harry A. Pollard

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Harry A. Pollard

A naive débutante longs for a romantic adventure, and sets out to have one, scandalous or not. She rashly decides to burgle a random home, but is caught. At the jail, she's mistaken for a notorious con woman, and nervously is taken into a gang.