All Films

The Clodhopper

1917 • 46 min • United States of America

Everett Nelson is a naive young farmboy. Following unjust treatment on the farm, he runs away to the big city. There he encounters a showman who decides Everett is perfect for the part of a bumpkin in his new play. Everett takes the role and becomes a big star. But there are complications...

A Strange Transgressor

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

Lola Montrose ignores the scorn of society to live with Dr. John Hampton, the man she loves. After tiring of his mistress, Hampton tells Lola that he is planning to marry a "good woman" who will exert the proper influence over his son Irwin. Begging Hampton to marry her, Lola confesses that she too has a son, who is being reared in a religious institution for homeless children, but Hampton insists that he must not darken his son's future. Thirsting for revenge, Lola determines to marry Irwin. After inebriating the youth, Lola takes Irwin to the minister, who refuses to perform the ceremony. Too drunk to realize that there has been no wedding, Irwin takes Lola home and introduces her as his wife.

The Fair Barbarian

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

An Englishman who has made his fortune in America decides to return to England.

Hands Up!

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

Railroad president, John Houston, along with his daughter Marjorie and his fiancee, Elinor Craig, are aboard the express train when it is held up by a gang of outlaws. Outlaw Dan Tracy, is attracted to Marjorie, who, filled with dreams of romance, returns his interest. They exchange rings and later meet secretly in the city. When Houston learns that his daughter's new suitor is an outlaw, he hires a detective to investigate. The investigation indicates that Tracy is Houston's son by a former marriage, and Houston, mortified, allows the outlaw to escape. Tracy then persuades Marjorie to elope with him and takes her to his shack in the hills where she is rudely awakened to the realities of outlaw life. Houston arrives to save his daughter, and after Tracy is killed by Rosanne, the woman he betrayed, it is revealed that Tracy was not his son but an offspring of his former wife and an outlaw. A lost film.

A Dog Catcher's Love

1917 • 20 min • United States of America

The dog catcher of the title is arrow-narrow Slim , and his "love" is pert Peggy. Alas, his rival is handsome bow-wow fancier E.R. Ketchum, whose luck with women borders on the fantastic.

Bobby Bumps Adopts a Turtle

1917 • 4 min

A little boy and his beloved puppy find themselves in and out of mischief.

The Edge of the Law

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

Nancy Glenn is a pupil in Pop Hogland's school for crooks. When, attired as a boy named "Spider", Nancy fails at her lessons as a pickpocket, Pop decides to pair her with Pliny Drew, a graduate thief and swindler.

Crazy by Proxy

1917 • 20 min • United States of America

A young man is about to marry; it is the dawn of his wedding morn. The bride-to-be is also present; but while she eagerly pursues preparations for the wedding, the bridegroom is kidnapped by a jealous cousin who is envious of his position as heir of a fortune.

Her Better Self

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

Even though society debutante Vivian Tyler (Pauline Frederick) is engaged to Count Belloto (Frank deRheim), she finds herself attracted to Dr. Robert Keith (Thomas Meighan). Keith works amongst the poor, and his wealthy benefactors include Vivian's father (Charles Wellesley). But when Vivian meets streetwalker Aggie May (Alice Hollister), she mistakenly believes that Keith is responsible for the woman's downfall.

It Happened to Adele

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

Adele has grown up in a tenement, but she longs for greater things. She gets her chance at the stage when her mother runs into an old friend, Blanche. Blanche has been working steadily in the theater, and she helps Adele get work. The young girl finds romance with Vincent Harvey, an aspiring composer. One day Adele suffers an accidental fall out of a window.

Like Wildfire

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

Tommy Buckman, the ne'er-do-well son of dime store magnate John Buckman, is given one last chance to succeed by surveying a possible location in New England for the opening of another store in his father's chain. Arriving in the town of Winton, Tommy lands in jail and, disowned by his father, is bailed out by Nina Potter, whose father owns the only dime store in town.

The Piper's Price

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

After divorcing his first wife and marrying a more gentle natured woman, Ralph Hadley finds himself again attracted to his ex-wife, a shrewd business woman. Trouble begins when he foolishly invites her to lunch, setting gossipy tongues-wagging. The news reaches his devoted wife who has discovered she is pregnant.

The Adopted Son

1917 • 60 min

A feud has existed between the McLanes and the Conovers in the Tennessee mountains for many years. "Two Gun Carter" leaves Texas after a shooting fray and arrives just in time to witness George Conover's death at the hands of Henry McLane. Carrying young Conover's body to his family, Carter is very moved by their grief that he agrees to become their adopted son and subsequently falls in love with Marian Conover.

Daughter of Destiny

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

In the days before the U.S. enters World War I Marion Ashley, an American woman living in Paris, discovers that her husband, Franz Jorn, is a spy. So she leaves him and goes to the neighboring (and fictional) neutral nation of Belmark to stay with her father, an American Ambassador. After she hears her husband has been killed, she resumes an old romance with the Crown Prince and they go through a secret morganatic marriage ceremony.

Betsy's Burglar

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

Betsy Harlow is a hard-working maid in a boarding house. Her dream. however, is to be a detective, a dream she shares with her boyfriend Oscar, a delivery boy for a local grocer. One day a mysterious character named Harry Brent takes a room at the boarding house. Harry, seeing that Betsy is falling for his rather shady charms, persuades her to help him get a box of jewels owned by the Jaspers, an elderly couple who lives across the hall. It turns out that Harry is not quite who he seems; neither, however, are the Jaspers.

Bashful

1917 • 10 min • United States of America

In order to claim his inheritance, our hero must first produce a wife and family.

The Hater of Men

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

Convinced that her impending marriage to fellow reporter Billy Williams will result in a loss of her freedom, Janice breaks her engagement and enters a period of Bohemian living.

The Hero

1917 • 22 min • United States of America

The Hero is a 1917 silent comedy film featuring Billy West & Oliver Hardy.

The Tornado

1917 • 30 min • United States of America

The Tornado mostly followed pulp Western formula -- bad guys hold up a town, take a girl hostage, and the hero rides to the rescue. But there were a couple of twists that made it seem more personal than the usual cowboy fare. Ford's Jack Dayton ... is known as "the No-Gun Man" because he faces the villains unarmed, anticipating the character played by James Stewart in George Marshall's 1939 Western comedy classic Destry Rides Again. Dayton is an immigrant who uses the reward money to bring over his mother (Jean Hathaway) from Ireland, a prototypically Fordian situation if there ever was one.

A Girl of the Timber Claims

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

A homesteader (Constance Talmadge) shoots a man she believes is a "claim jumper," only to discover he is a government inspector. The film follows her as she tries to protect her claim from schemers while navigating a confusing and overly complicated plot with many side stories.

The Soul Master

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

Deserted by his wife Arline, who absconds with their baby daughter Ruth as well, Robert Travers loses all faith in women. Years later, Travers, now known as the man without a soul, is the owner of a chain of department stores in which young Ruth Carroll is employed as a ribbon clerk. Finding himself strangely attracted to the girl, he takes a fatherly interest in her and offers Ruth a position in his office. Laura Wilson, who wants Travers for herself becomes jealous and tries to lure the girl away but Travers comes to realize she is his own daughter.

Charity Castle

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

Charity and her young brother are taken in by Merlin Durand, the son of a penurious millionaire, when their mother, a poor cleaning woman, dies. Charity is a strong believer in the world of fairy tales, and calls Merlin "The Prince". Merlin's cheapskate father cuts off his allowance until he gets a job and earns a salary, then leaves home for a "water cure". His servants immediately take a vacation, leaving the house empty, so Charity and Merlin hide there until Merlin can find a job. Charity begins to call the mansion "Charity Castle". They soon wind up involved with a strange cast of characters, including a burglar and an unemployed Shakespearean actor.

A Hungry Heart

1917 • 50 min • United States of America

Vivacious little Gilberte, known as Frou Frou, is the daughter of M. Brigard, a retired merchant, who has as his companion in a life of gaiety, Comte Paul de Valreas, a much younger man. Both the Count and Henry de Sartorys are in love with Frou Frou, and when De Sartorys asks for the hand of Frou Frou, M. Brigard refers him to Louise, the elder daughter, who is in charge of the household. To Louise, who loves de Sartorys, comes the first anguish of her life, when he confides his love for Frou Frou. However, she confers with her little sister who agrees to marry De Sartorys. Paul also asks for Frou Frou's hand, but Brigard refuses, stating he is too jolly a companion to be trusted as a son-in-law.

Bobby Bumps Starts for School

1917 • 7 min • United States of America

Mischievous schoolboy Bobby disobeys his teacher and swings on a dangerous giant school bell.