Rare Cinematic Gems Exploring the Legacy of Wild Winship's Widow: C...

Dir: Charles Miller

Young Polly-Ann works in a small town inn as a maidservant. A troupe of actors comes to town and the innocent girl falls in love with one of its members. Howard Straightlane is sent to the small town by his father, to work as a schoolteacher in hopes of smartening up the young man from his wild ways. Howard soon meets Polly-Ann and saves her from the unscrupulous actor, meanwhile Howard's father has discovered Polly-Ann is his niece and sends for her. Another niece, greedily tries to force Polly to give her, all of her share of the family fortune. Upon hearing this the father insists that Polly return and since she and Howard have fallen in love, his son is now forgiven.

Dir: Charles Miller

Sylvia Maynard is a stenographer for a theatrical producer and tries to prove to her boss, that she can act by posing as a society woman at a lavish house party. Don Meredith, the struggling playwright who wrote the work in which Sylvia wishes to star, also masquerades as a famous writer at the party in order to prove that the central thesis of his play is valid: that one can pose in any role in high society and get away with it. Sylvia, introduced as the widow of Captain Milton Brown, falls in love with Don, but her joy turns to panic when her supposedly dead husband suddenly appears. The amused captain allows Sylvia to continue her impersonation for a time but advises her to leave the party. Don, heartbroken, also leaves, but after several adventures in which he helps Sylvia retrieve papers stolen during the party by a German spy, the two lovers are reunited in their true identities, and the play debuts successfully.

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

Dir: Charles Miller

Elderly millionaire James Rance, whose only passion is chess, warns his grandson Tommy, who missed the previous evening's game because he played poker with his uncle Gilbert, that should he miss another game, Gilbert will gain the boy's inheritance. During another poker game the next night, Gilbert provokes a fight between Tommy and another player that results in the other player's supposed death. Meanwhile, Terrence Redmond, the guardian of an orphan he found while fighting in France, falls in love with Dawn Moyer. During Elsie Rance's party at the Hotel Plaza, Terrence gallantly offers to assist Elsie whenever she needs him. The next morning, when Tommy's absence is discovered, Elsie calls Terrence, who, after beating Gilbert's Japanese servant in jujitsu, locates Tommy and Dawn at Gilbert's country home. After Gilbert's attempt to poison Terrence is discovered when a cat dies after drinking Terrence's cream, Terrence fights Gilbert's henchmen with broadswords and wins because of his inherited penchant for violence. Tommy returns in time for the chess match, and Elsie becomes engaged to Terrence's friend Bruce, leaving Terrence free to romance Dawn.

Dir: Charles Miller

After his wife/model dies of starvation with her portrait unfinished, an impoverished artist meets another woman with a striking resemblance to her.

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

Dir: Charles Miller

John Adams is working his way through college. Jane is the little slavey in his boarding house. John at first has no idea of falling in love with Jane, but she is completely gone on him from the beginning. In fact, he has his eyes on Ethelda Rathbone, a young college girl. There came a time when John wanted to attend a ball at which Ethelda was to be present, but he hadn't a dress suit. Jane chanced to become aware of this, and with her scanty savings rented him one. Of course she couldn't tell him she did that, but she pretends that it was left there by a former boarder. So he goes to the ball. But boys will be boys, and his classmates rip the coat up his back, and he is compelled to come home without having seen Ethelda at all. Jane takes the suit back to the dealer, unaware that it is ruined. When the dealer discovers it, he demands payment. There follows a scene in the street in which she is humiliated. It was then that old Frederick Verstner, the town photographer and a man of considerable means, came to the crowd. Hearing her pitiful story, he made good the amount to the dealer. Shortly after this, Jane went to Verstner's to have her picture taken that she might give it to John. A newspaper in New York was offering a prize for the most beautiful photograph of a college girl, and Verstner's was crowded with girls from the school. Verstner took a picture of Jane, and, by loosening out her tresses and placing something filmy about her shoulders, he made her look beautiful. Through a course of circumstances, and without Jane's knowledge, this photograph is sent along with the others to the paper. And it wins the prize. Jane is, of course, as much surprised as the rest. And so is John. Verstner adopts the girl, educates her and makes her the most popular girl in the place. And then comes a great awakening for John.

Dir: Charles Miller

Rejected by the townspeople because her father is a squatter, Tess Skinner nevertheless wins the love of the wealthy Frederick Graves, who secretly marries her. When Frederick's mother insists that he marry heiress Madelene Waldersticker, he lacks the courage to admit that he is already married and instead acquiesces to his mother's wishes. For her husband's sake, Tess conceals his crime of bigamy. When her baby is due, Tess is summoned before a council of churchmen and banished from the church because she refuses to name her betrayer. Left alone upon the death of her father, Tess is shielded by Mr. Young, a middle-aged admirer who offers her and her baby the protection of his home. Several years later, Frederick dies of a heart attack and Tess rewards her faithful friend by becoming his wife.

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

Dir: Charles Miller

When a distant Irish relative dies, a young American travels to Ireland to obtain his inheritance. He gets far more than he bargained for when a beautiful Irish colleen catches his eye.

Dir: Charles Miller

The Flame, a dance hall girl who rules the Midas Café, is notorious from Nome to Dawson. She meets her match in a youth named George Fowler, whose good looks and raw nerve compel her to grubstake him and go straight while awaiting his return from the gold fields. One day, a young girl and her baby arrive at the camp, looking for her husband, George Fowler. Shaken, the Flame takes the girl home and when the youth returns he is informed that the Flame is dead. Forlorn, the boy decides to break the bank but the saloon's proprietor plans to rob him instead, and only the Flame's appearance with her six guns saves his life. Not having the courage to tell the boy about his wife and child, the Flame takes her lover to the hotel where she battles with her conscience. Her better nature finally wins, however, and the Flame discovers that there are actually two George Fowlers and that the one she loves is single.

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

Dir: Charles Miller

Jerry Ross, the daughter of an East Side homemaker, decides to sell newspapers to earn money. She disguises herself as a boy, goes to one of the busiest street corners in the city, and soon captures the bulk of the business.

Dir: Charles Miller

In a prologue, Wilhelm II is born into opulence to continue the Hohenzollern dynasty of his father Frederick III, while Woodrow Wilson is born into the modest manse of his father, a Presbyterian reverend who tells his wife that the boy must be brought up "in the fear of the Lord." Conrad Le Brett from Alsace-Lorraine is forced to fight for Germany because his land has been conquered. Conrad, seeing other soldiers take girls into a church to rape them, kills one who murders a baby, and is then shot and taken to a Brussels hospital run by famous nurse Edith Cavell. He and his American nurse, Amy Gordon, fall in love. After Cavell helps Amy escape the pursuance of General von Bissing, the German governor, von Bissing has Lieutenant Ober execute Cavell. Learning of the Kaiser's order that all unmarried women be given to soldiers so they can bear sons for the army, Ober returns to Alsace-Lorraine, where he earlier insulted Conrad's sister Vilma. Ober kills Conrad's grandfather and rapes Vilma. Conrad honors her dying request that he go to America and defend Alsace-Lorraine's reputation. He marries Amy and convinces President Woodrow Wilson that Alsatians should be allowed to enlist. Fighting with the "doughboys," Conrad kills Ober, and after the armistice, returns to Amy.