Masterpiece Selection Resonating with the Themes of When Fate Decid...

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

Lieut. Ralph Harrison is in love with Major Marston's wife, who pretends to love him. Harrison's mother implores Capt. Jim Craig to intervene to save her son from dishonor. When Craig visits Mrs. Marston, Harrison appears, precipitating a quarrel during which Harrison is wounded in the shoulder. Craig then leaves, and the major discovers Harrison. The major kills Harrison, and places the blame on Craig. To avoid a scandal, Craig runs away. Madge Summers of the Secret Service tracks him down and the two fall in love, but Craig is arrested and taken back to the army post. Further evidence of his wife's infidelity causes the major to go mad. He murders his wife and confesses to Harrison's murderer. Cleared of dishonor, Craig finds happiness with Madge.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

Gretchen, an abandoned child, is raised by Frau Van Lom, the nastiest woman in the little Dutch village of Olenburg. As she grows up, Gretcen's few moments of happiness are those she spends with Carl, who is also an abandoned child, but who is raised by a poor family. When Gretchen refuses to marry a wealthy old man in exchange for his paying off Frau von Lom's mortgage, she is framed for theft and jailed. On top of that, Carl is taken away from the village and sent to the palace of the king. Complications ensue.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Every Girl's Dream perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

Annie Laurie is betrothed to Donald McGregor just before he leaves Scotland to fight the Germans in France during World War I. At home, Annie discovers a man washed up on the shore and cares for him until her father, fearing that she and the stranger, Lieutenant Hathaway, are falling in love, turns him out of the house. When Hathaway recovers, he returns to the front where he befriends Donald, while Annie becomes a Red Cross nurse. Both men are wounded in a charge and hospitalized. There Annie, though still torn between the two, eventually decides to honor her vow to Donald and marries him.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

Card shark Lee Rogers overhears Joselyn Poe crying in her furnished room. She is trying to get a dancing job in New York without any luck. He gets her a job as a taxi dancer through which she meets chorus girl Kitty who introduces her to all sorts of cads. Meanwhile Lee, who realizes he loves her, decides to go straight

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

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

Rudolph King becomes engaged to Martha Thorne, the niece of John Chandler, when he and Chandler form a pork-and-bean producing partnership. The two hold a house party for Pell Kingston, who buys pork and beans for the United States Army, to negotiate a contract. To convince Martha of the merits of kissing, the shy Rudolph asks Pell to kiss her in the dark, and when she responds favorably, Rudolph claims the credit. Martha discovers that Pell, to whom she is attracted, actually kissed her, but things become confused when Mrs. Irene Chandler also demonstrates an interest in Pell. After several amatory mix-ups, everything is cleared up, and Pell and Martha leave the party together.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

A village schoolteacher, unaware that Eben, the village carpenter, is in love with her, marries a surveyor and has a son, David. Eben, distraught at losing her, goes away, and he returns years later to find that David, now an orphan, is running away from his cruel foster father, the squire. Eben befriends David, and when the town is destroyed by a storm the two escape harm. An epilog shows David 25 years later as a successful businessman, happily married, helping to rebuild the town. (SILENT)

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

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

A marital misunderstanding between iron manufacturer Perry Risdon and his wife Olive occurs when her extravagant spending forces him to devote all of his time to business, which she interprets as neglect. Millionaire Ned Beckwith, Olive's former suitor, sees the developing breech and attempts to use it to his advantage by secretly forcing a bank to make Perry repay an $80,000 loan within 24 hours. When Beckwith agrees to Perry's loan request on the condition that he divorce Olive, Perry knocks him down. Olive, vacationing alone in Pasadena, gets word of her husband's straits and sells her jewelry to raise $30,000. Beckwith replies to her request for the rest by inviting her to his apartment that night. Deeply troubled, Olive goes and is saved from Beckwith's seduction when Beckwith's mistress, Marta Holmes, calls Perry, who arrives and fights Beckwith. Marta then kills Beckwith and drowns herself, while the Risdons are reconciled.

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

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

Eugene Lenoir weds the sister of Major Warfield. The couple dies not many months after the marriage, but there is much animosity between the two families. Gabriel Lenoir inherits his brother's estate, and he makes the nurse, Nance Wilson, swear to kill the baby that was born to Eugene's wife shortly before she died. But the nurse takes the infant to be raised in a New York tenement instead. After the girl is grown, the nurse tells the Major of her existence. Warfield brings her back to Virginia under the name Capitola Black. When the United States declares war on Germany, Herbert Grayson comes to town to ferret out a gang of spies. Capitola decides to help her country, too, and she discovers that Gabriel Lenoir is one of the conspirators. She is almost killed but Grayson rescues her and reveals that Lenoir stole Capitola's fortune when she was a baby, and the villain gets his just rewards for his wrongdoings. The estate is returned to Capitola, who is attacked by one of Lenoir's accomplices that she locks up in the cellar. As Grayson is about to enlist and leave for the front in France, he asks for Capitola's hand in marriage.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

Society girl Priscilla Kane relishes excitement, escapes from her boarding school and then rejects the man her father has selected for her. While visiting a mending shop, Langdon Trevor, a journalist who has exposed Priscilla's father as a food profiteer, mistakes Priscilla for a seamstress and asks her to call on him. Priscilla, attracted to Trevor, plays along, visiting Trevor and doing his mending. On one such visit, the photographer hired by Kane to frame Trevor snaps the young man in bed with Priscilla as his nurse. The two escape through a window and are married.