Drama written by the film's star Linda Arvidson, under her married name Linda Griffith, was her both her final screenplay and film appearance.
Social & External
The people behind it
Linda Arvidson
Mary Fleming
Creighton Hale
Jimmie Fleming (Mary's brother)
Sheldon Lewis
Mr. Fleming
Betty Burbridge
Anne (superintendent's daughter)
Veta Searl
The little 'orphan girl'
Betty Dodsworth
Morgan Jones
John J. Dunn
Superintendent of orphanage
Sam J. Ryan
The go-between
Marie Bruce
"The Dawn of Freedom" is a stinging satire on the death of those ideals that prompted the founders of the United States.
To help his dying father, assistant bank cashier Arthur Mansfield enters a fake sum in the bank's account book, but before carrying out the pilferage, he confesses to cashier Slayton, his superior. Slayton, who needs money to pay for his unsuccessful speculations, goes at night to take the money that Mansfield planned to embezzle, so that Mansfield will take the blame.
The Twelfth Regiment is to leave for the front in the morning at seven, and Captain Steadwell, who has been missing for three days, has not yet appeared. Unless he is found and returned to the head of his company by seven the next morning, disgrace will fall on him and his fiancée, Ellen Ferguson. Ellen is also loved by the new assistant secretary of war, Richard Ralston, who does not know of her engagement, Worried by Steadwell's continued absence, Ellen appeals to Dick to find him. Dick sets out to locate him, and the trail leads to Gladys, an actress whose photo was on Steadwell's table.
After divorcing her husband Kent, actress Anne Wetherall returns to the stage. Upon receiving a plea for help from childhood chum Nell Jerrold begging Anne to save Nell's daughter Betty from marrying Kent, the ex-Mrs. Wetherall decides to journey to the Jerrold's home in the town of Wheaton to investigate.
Jeanette, the pretty daughter of a hard-working family of the tenement district, envies other girls with good clothing. She meets the flashy Carrie who invites her out lending her some of her gaudy evening wear. Though tempted by the easy life offered Jeanette sees the peril of that life when a kindly fallen woman warns her of the dangers ahead.
Melia Nobbs, a young Canadian woman, supports both her invalid father Ambrose and brother Henry. When Henry faces arrest for helping himself to his employer's cash, Melia steals the amount from the star of the theater where she has been dancing and offers it to her brother if he will enlist in the army. Henry agrees and goes off to war, making Ambrose proud of his son, but when Ambrose learns that his daughter has been arrested for theft, he disowns her. Melia does not reveal the reason for taking the money and is sent to prison. Meanwhile, Henry fights bravely in France and returns home minus an arm but wearing the Victoria Cross. He finds his sister, weak and worn from overwork, in the prison hospital. Seeing her brother with his medals, Melia realizes that her sacrifices for him and her country have not been in vain, and that in her own way, she has served her country.
Irma is waiting for her escort to take her to a party when she falls asleep and has the most terrible dream. She dreams that she is a poor little girl in the country and has to do all the chores. She gets into all kinds of trouble helping the other children and finally falls in the brook. But just as she is bewailing her fate her mother wakes her and says that Bennie has come to take her to the party. The dream is over and Irma is glad that it was only a dream.
A simple born man rises to power in Mexico but when the country is torn by war he travels to the US in search of arms to aid the fight. While there he saves Hiram and his sister Rosa with whom he becomes enamored. He feels the pull to stay with her but leaves her with the assurance he will return when the battle is won.
Shirley Christy, Champion Mile Runner of the World, has become a tramp and finds himself in the mountains of Arizona. In flashback we see that he was framed for cheating which led to his fall. He drifts into a mining camp where by chance he discovers the cheat who ruined him, up to his old tricks. He foils the new plot, wins the girl of his dreams and faces the world with new determination.
Mr. Carlson of Arizona comes to New York where he is summarily swindled out of his funds and deserted by all his new “friends.” An anonymous friend out West learning of his plight offers him a position as engineer in a construction camp. After a few more travails he discovers his patron is Agnes, the girl he has come to love, and they are united in wedlock.
Upon her parents death heiress Alice Rowland is placed under the guardianship of unscrupulous George Baring, who seeks to gain control of her fortune. First, he tries to force a marriage between Alice and his son James, but old family friend Henry Whitworth, prevents the marriage. Increasingly more desperate Baring imprisons Alice in her room, but she escapes and flees to Whitworth in the middle of the night. Baring petitions the courts for her forced return just as Alice discovers she can dissolve the guardianship by marriage. Alice then marries Whitworth, thus defeating Baring's wicked schemes and securing a happy ending.
Miriam Gibson is seduced by a handsome adventurer who then abandons her and their child to marry for money. Penniless she becomes a prostitute to care for her child but when the baby dies a hopeless Miriam goes to London becoming the housekeeper and eventual mistress of barrister Geoffrey Sherwood. Jilted by his fiancée Valentine, who likewise married for money, Sherwood has become an alcoholic. As Miriam and Geoffrey grow closer, she hopes for marriage, but when an unhappy Valentine begins to trifle with Geoffrey, he responds and discards Miriam until he realizes Valentine’s shallowness versus Miriam's kindness and consideration for others. They marry in a little Scottish kirk, and sail for Buenos Aires to begin a new life.
The itinerant Jewish country peddler Abraham Jacobs saves his pennies until he can afford to open a small second-hand clothing store. Unfortunately, Abraham's son Sonny has not inherited his father's decent, hardworking instincts so when his mistress, Mrs. Morgan, needs money Sammy robs Abraham's safe and then disappears. Time passes, and oil is discovered on a tract of land left to Abraham by his late wife. Although he can now afford to live comfortably with his adopted daughter Mary, Abraham still strongly feels the loss of his son. His life is finally made complete when Sammy returns repentant to marry Abraham's housekeeper Sarah, and the old peddler, his struggles now over, can spend the rest of his days surrounded by his family.
A group of young people made a bet, according to the terms of which they had to visit a cemetery at midnight.
A doctor kills and embalms a woman in order to preserve her beauty.
A young man discovers the reason his new bride killed herself.
The house next door to Mr. Cobb is rented by Mrs. Rose, a widow who moves in with her little girl Helen. Mr. Cobb is a widower with a little boy, Phil.
Virginia Chester visits her Aunt Betty who resides near an army post. Lieut. Calhoun falls in love with Virginia, and after a whirlwind courtship persuades her to marry him secretly. Helen Brassey, the daughter of the Colonel, is in love with Calhoun, and gets her father to help her win the lieutenant's affections.
While a Union picket reminisces about his sweetheart and recalls leaving home to go to war, a Confederate ambushes soldier ambushes and kills him.
Theda Bara plays Princess Zara, who lives on a South Sea Island. A handsome young missionary (William B. Davidson) arrives and there is a romance, which is hindered by various complications including a typhoon.
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
When seventeen-year-old Hannah stumbles upon a website about Thinspiration--an online community devoted to anorexia as a life choice--she becomes an obsessive follower of the site founder, ButterflyAna. By the time Hannah's family realizes what is happening and get Hannah the help she needs, the disease has fully taken hold and Hannah is refusing to eat. Will this family be able to exorcise the demon of anorexia from their lives?
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents' bitter custody battle.
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
Waking up in an unfamiliar city, a man with no memory must confront the mysteries of his own identity. However, his desperate search to uncover the past pits him against a powerful enemy, leading to a showdown that ultimately reveals the truth.
A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
