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The First Year Synopsis

"The First Year" was a 1920 play written by Frank Craven and produced by John Golden that originally ran on Broadway at the Little Theatre. It closed in 1922 after 760 performances. In 1932, a film adapted from the Craven play was written by Lynn Starling. The film starred Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, and was directed by William K. Howard. Gaynor and Farrell made almost a dozen films together, including Frank Borzage's classics "Seventh Heaven" (1927), "Street Angel" (1928), and "Lucky Star" (1929); Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress for the first two and for F. W. Murnau's "Sunrise" (1927).

The Great Shadow Synopsis

Jim McDonald, the foreman of a shipbuilding plant and head of the labor union, strives to combat the anarchistic propaganda being put forth by Klimoff, the leader of a Bolshevik gang whose goal is to disrupt the country with strikes and anarchy. Despite McDonald's efforts, a strike is called, resulting in chaos. McDonald's child is knocked down by runaway horses abandoned by their striking driver, and dies. Mob scenes take place in America, as well as in Russia. Eventually, the unrest is quelled with an armistice called between Capital and Labor for a year, during which time wages are to be increased to reflect the cost of living, and leaders are to work out a common plan for their mutual advantage. The strikers now realize that they have been pawns of the Bolsheviks and call off the strike, agreeing to the plan.