An excerpt of the Shakespeare play presented in the Kinetophone sound system, in which the sound was provided by synchronized Edison cylinders.
Social & External
Brutus
Reporter Muriel Manning succeeds in rounding up Mrs. Madison who murdered gambler Howard Trimble. But after listening to her story of Trimble’s degradation and threatened blackmail of her which drove her to an attempt at suicide during which she shoots him in error Muriel decides never to reveal her identity in print.
Wealthy rancher Bronson is targeted by a group of Mexicans who hate him. In an act of revenge, they kidnap his daughter, May, and demand a large ransom for her safe return. The abductors force May to write a letter to her father stating that she will be killed if he does not meet them at a specific location by midnight with a considerable sum of money. While her captors are momentarily off guard, May manages to secretly add a hidden message to the letter. Bronson and his allies then decipher the hidden message and rescue May in time to prevent her murder and avoid the ransom payment.
Young thief “The Bat” to distract an old bookseller, while his partner, “The Fly,” robs the till, purchases a book at random. Later, after a chase and escape to the Devil's Roost, Old Meg's refuge for thieves, he takes the book from his pocket and is about to throw it aside when the title attracts him, "Electricity Made Simple." Intrigued, the volume opens a new life to him and in time enables him to rescue the bookseller’s daughter Bess when she falls into trouble.
The students at Riverdale Girls' Seminary, although typically well-behaved, care about public opinion and are upset when they learn that Mary Adair, whose father had been convicted of embezzlement, would be attending their school. Mary is shielded by Ruth Graham the most popular girl in school. She is slowly accepted but when she pledges a sorority she is required to spend the night in a “haunted house” and while there learns information that will clear her father.
Ben Wilson takes a vacation to his father's farm and is reunited with his childhood sweetheart, Rose Meadows. The prospects for an early marriage are bright until a family feud separates the lovers and Ben returns to the city to seek solace in wild behavior. One night he visits a roadhouse where Rose has been lured by Carrol Walker, a playboy of the worst kind.
When her cotton crop is burned, Barbara Pelham, a beautiful southern girl, comes to New York to find work as a fashion designer, staying with Mrs. Kemp, a woman she meets on the northbound train. In Mrs. Kemp's house, Barbara encounters Peter Heffner, a wealthy stockbroker, and discovers from him that she has taken up residence in a whorehouse. There is a police raid, but Barbara escapes arrest and returns home. Heffner's son, Neil, goes south to inspect some family property and there meets Barbara, with whom he falls in love. They decide to be married, and she accompanies him to New York, where she meets the elder Heffner for a second time. He denounces her as a whore, but Barbara goes to Mrs. Kemp, who explains the misunderstanding to everyone's satisfaction.
Illustrator Donald Barstow living in a run-down studio building develops an interest in the married Mrs. Blakely. She invites him to Philadelphia for the weekend and he accepts leading to unexpected complications for both.
Jim Rose, an alcoholic who falls into a life of crime and participates in a robbery, serves a prison sentence. Upon his release, he returns to his hometown determined to become an honest man and change his ways. A cynical detective, who doesn't believe in the reformation of criminals, attempts to sabotage Jim's efforts to find work and live a clean life. However, another detective named Tom Bailey, who is in love with Jim's sister Mamie, believes in Jim's change of heart and helps him secure his job back.
During the illness of her father, Toni Carter, Milly takes his place as station agent. Both Dave Snowden, a freight engineer, and Bill Mailey love her. Bill, a land express courier, who distrusts and dislikes Dave sees that both the girl and her father favor his rival and decides to disgrace the station agent and his daughter.
Dan Melton is in love with Daisy Dale, who, being of a coquettish disposition, permits herself to become infatuated with Soapy Smith, gentleman gambler. Sheriff Melton is greatly worried by the continual holdups committed by Black Jack, a desperado, who has become the terror of the mountains. His excursions in quest of the bandit compel him to neglect Daisy somewhat. One day Daisy meets with an accident while riding and applies for assistance at a lonely shack in the hills. To her astonishment Soapy Smith opens the door. She accepts his invitation to enter. Once she is inside, however, Soapy betrays his real character and attacks her. Daisy's screams are heard by Morristette, a Mexican, who rushes in and intervenes. Smarting under the blow Soapy deals him, he gallops to town and informs the sheriff. On arriving at the shack to rescue his sweetheart Melton finds that Soapy Smith and the long-sought desperado. Black Jack, are one and the same.
Alaskan prospector Guy Roberts receives a giant $100,000 bill and boards a ship to Seattle, only to be targeted by Soapy Smith and his gang who try to steal the fortune, leading to a comical, suspenseful cat-and-mouse game where Roberts outsmarts them by hiding the bill under a steamship label on his trunk, proving his cleverness and winning the skipper's daughter.
Sauntry, secretary to John Graydon, the wealthy banker, commits many robberies in the city among the wealthy class, gaining a rather sinister reputation. He hides his tracks by placing a wooden leg on one of the good ones, thus leaving a print and a round mark. Graydon's diamond disappears and the chain to which it was tied is found by Limpy Fisher, a boy from the East Side, with a wooden leg.
A man searches for a cursed emerald belonging to his ancestor. Lost film, minor fragments survive
Lowell Sherman's seemingly perfect marriage to Alice, which is shattered when she has an affair with his best friend, Cyril Carr; Lowell's revenge ruins Cyril, leading to suicide, after which Lowell supports Cyril's son and marries Cyril's widow, Muriel, finding a complex love amidst ruin and guilt.
Molly is a young woman who out of desperation after failing to find work steals a pocketbook from a society woman, Blanche Armstrong. This act leads her into a legal conflict involving the District Attorney, Roger Hackett, who uses the situation to pursue his own lustful interests.
After his father dies amidst rumors that he was an oil swindler, Matthew Denton goes to Texas to discover the truth. But he has been spoiled by his mother and he has a hard time adjusting to his rough surroundings.
Beatrix and Pelham Franklin marriage is tested by jealousy and a scheming woman. Beatrix, about to have a baby, sends Pelham on a cruise where he meets the flirtatious May Beamish. Beatrix then provokes a fight by going out with a former admirer, leading to a separation. May tries to take advantage of the situation, but Beatrix ultimately wins back her husband's affection, exposing May's schemes.
Jean, a clam digger finds a treasure map. He races against his girl Marie's father and his rival to find the treasure, ultimately rescuing the girl and securing the gold.
An adventuress traps Norroy into her apartment, then, with the aid of several men, gets the new secret code from him. He turns the laugh on all of them by staging their capture and proving that he had only a fake code with him.
A prosperous small-town peddler accedes to his family's wish to move from their secure existence to the uncertainty of New York City. It proves fruitless and eventually his kin sees the error of their ways and return to their true home.
Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.
At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.
The story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovers one of the most significant social scandals in recent times – the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom to Australia and other Commonwealth countries. Almost singlehandedly, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice.
A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.
The warmhearted story of Polish immigrant and mathematician Stan Ulam, who moved to the U.S. in the 1930s. Stan deals with the difficult losses of family and friends all while helping to create the hydrogen bomb and the first computer.
Stephen Glass is a staff writer for the respected current events and policy magazine The New Republic and a freelance feature writer for publications such as Rolling Stone, Harper's and George. By the mid-90s, Glass' articles had turned him into one of the most sought-after young journalists in Washington, but a bizarre chain of events - chronicled in Buzz Bissinger's September 1998 Vanity Fair article - suddenly stopped his career in its tracks.
Taken into slavery after the fall of Jerusalem in 605 B.C., Daniel is forced to serve the most powerful king in the world, King Nebuchadnezzar. Faced with imminent death, Daniel proves himself a trusted Advisor and is placed among the king's wise men. Threatened by death at every turn Daniel never ceases to serve the king until he is forced to choose between serving the king or honoring God. With his life at stake, Daniel has nothing but his faith to stand between him and the lions' den.
Electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse compete to create a sustainable system and market it to the American people.
In this sprawling, fictionalized history of the Black Panthers, 1960s Oakland becomes a war zone as the Panthers battle for the right to exist.
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.
Based on true events about the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.
Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime by sloppy FBI work and sensational media coverage.
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, finds out that his uncle Claudius killed his father to obtain the throne, and plans revenge.
A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Buddy is a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, whose life is filled with familial love, childhood hijinks, and a blossoming romance. Yet, with his beloved hometown caught up in increasing turmoil, his family faces a momentous choice: hope the conflict will pass or leave everything they know behind for a new life.
Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy relatives, the Bertrams, where she is treated poorly by most except her cousin Edmund. Her life is complicated by the arrival of the worldly Mary and Henry Crawford
An African-American woman becomes an unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s.
Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
