Edwin August
Also Known As: Edwin August Phillip von der Butz, Montague Lawrence
Biography: Edwin August (born Edwin August Phillip von der Butz; November 10, 1883 – March 4, 1964) was an American actor, director, and screenwriter of the silent era. He appeared in more than 150 films between 1909 and 1947. He also directed 52 films between 1912 and 1919. August co-founded Eaco Films in 1914. He wrote novels under the pen name Montague Lawrence. [biography (excerpted) from Wikipedia]
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Adult: No
Birthday: November 10, 1883
Age: 141 years old
Gender: Male
Deathday: March 04, 1964
Popularity:
Known For:
Romance of the West
Overview: Chasing the man who had caused the death of his sister, Jack Walsh rescues Mary Winters from the unwanted attentions of a drunk, and learns that she has been lured to Mexico by the false promises of an ex-prizefighter "Kayo" Mooney. The latter kidnaps Mary but Jack wins the showdown and Mary, and finds that Mooney is the man he was looking for.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-06-15
Popularity:
The Long Road
Overview: Edith enters a convent after losing her fiancé to someone else. Years later, Edith finds him again, now poverty-stricken, and secretly helps his family.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-10-26
Popularity:
The Sands of Dee
Overview: A young girl who lives by the sea with her parents, is the object of one fellows affection. One day she meets a wily artist painting on the beach, he seduces the young girl and gives her a ring, with the promise of marriage. When the young admiring fellow comes to propose, she proudly announces her engagement to the artist. Shocked he leaves and her parents demand meeting her husband to be. She goes to bring him home, and finds he already has a sophisticated fiancée. Distraught she hurries home, and when her father realizes what she has done, he orders her out of the house. As she wanders despondent along the sea, the young fellow who has found out about her betrayal, immediately goes to see her. Finding she has been disowned by her father, he goes looking for her...
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-02-21
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Waifs
Overview: The waif came to live with the unsuspecting old shoemaker. Then a homeless newsboy followed. One friendly heart bred another. That was too much for the proud, wealthy widowed sister. She declared she would have no orphans wished on her. Stilling her conscience, she took the children's legacy, but one Sunday morning after the war, peace silenced all conflict.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1914-01-17
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The Old Actor
Overview: An elderly actor who lives with his wife and daughter is dismissed from his acting job because he is considered too old. On his way home from the theatre he panics at the thought of telling his family the bad news and decides to disguise himself as a beggar. His daughter's beau accidentally gives him a five dollar gold piece, thinking that it was a smaller coin. A chase ensues with a policeman, the daughter, and her beau in hot pursuit. When caught he is recognized by his shocked daughter, but is quickly forgiven by all. Meanwhile the actor hired to replace him has already been fired and a messenger is dispatched to rehire the Old Actor to the delight of his wife, daughter, and fellow actors.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-05-06
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The Fugitive
Overview: Two Johns, a Confederate and an Union soldier, leave their families to go to the front. After a skirmish they end up separated from their respective sides, the Union soldier shoots the Confederate, but he has to escape and look for refuge in the house of his enemy.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1910-11-07
Popularity:
Into the Lion's Pit
Overview: Marius goes into the lion's pit, taking his life into his hands to save the girl who has been brutally left to die by Marius' rival.
Genres: Adventure Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1914-02-06
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A Beast at Bay
Overview: Mary Pickford as "The Young Woman", is quite taken with Edwin August; in fact, he is her "ideal". But Mr. August's refusal to get mixed up in a street brawl makes him look like a coward to Ms. Pickford. Meanwhile, convict Alfred Paget has escaped from prison; and, he is "A Beast at Bay". While Pickford and August go for a ride in her automobile, criminal Paget ambushes one of his guards, taking the man's clothing and gun. Pickford drops off August, still arguing he is a coward, and drives off. Alone, Pickford gets out of her car to retrieve a fallen garment; then, on-the-lam Paget moves in to carjack her. From a distance, August witnesses Pickford being taken at gunpoint - can he save his girl, and prove he's not a coward?
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-05-26
Popularity:
One Is Business, the Other Crime
Overview: Griffith intercuts between the lives of two couples married on the same day. One couple is rich, the other poor. Time passes, and in desperation over joblessness, the poor husband attempts to burgle a home, only to be captured at gunpoint by the mistress of the house. It is the home of the rich couple. While holding the poor intruder at gunpoint, the rich wife accidentally discovers evidence implicating her own husband in a bribery scheme.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-04-24
Popularity:
The Lesser Evil
Overview: A young woman's peaceful existence is shattered when she is abducted by the crew of a boat of smugglers, who then also turn against their captain.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-04-29
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Winning Back His Love
Overview: A Husband thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. His wife shows him its not.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1910-12-25
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The Revenue Man and His Girl
Overview: In the Kentucky backwoods, Dorothy West helps her moonshiner father take some jugs to his still; along the way, she meets dashing Edwin August. Ms. West and Mr. August are immediately attracted to each other -- but he is "The Revenue Man ", which means, of course, trouble for the moonshiners. After August begins arresting the bootleggers, citizens dependent on the alcohol trade take up arms against the man. Even West wields a rifle; when a loved one is shot, she wants to hunt down, and kill, revenue man August.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-09-24
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The Eternal Mother
Overview: John and Mary divorce their spouses to marry each other. Mary dies after giving birth and the baby is taken in by John's first wife, Martha. She refuses all contact with John until many years later when he becomes ill and she finally forgives him for deserting her.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-01-10
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The School Teacher and the Waif
Overview: Nora, the waif, is forced to attend school. She warms to her teacher for the way that he defends her against the taunts of some of the students, but when she's made to wear a dunce cap, she flees the schoolhouse in shame. Unsupervised by her alcoholic father, Nora becomes a determined truant, wandering the town during school hours. There she catches the attention of a huckster, who convinces her that they will run away and be married. The schoolmaster, meanwhile, preoccupied by Nora's absence, leaves his other students to go find her. He encounters her at a crossroads, being spirited away by the huckster, and calls the man's bluff by saying that he'll find them a minister.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-06-26
Popularity:
A Country Cupid
Overview: Schoolteacher Edith breaks off her engagement after an argument with her fiancé. She writes him a note of reconciliation but throws it away. Without her knowledge, one of her students fishes it out of the trash and sends it to her fiancé. Later, Edith is alone grading papers when a man bursts in and threatens her.
Genres: Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-07-23
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The Pride of the Yankees
Overview: The story of the life and career of the baseball hall of famer, Lou Gehrig.
Genres: Drama Family
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-07-14
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The Bomb Throwers
Overview: "Red Mike" Davis, a notorious bomb thrower, has been landed in jail through the activities of Lawrence, the district attorney. During his incarceration, dissension prevails among his lawless followers.
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-05-01
Popularity:
Muggsy Becomes a Hero
Overview: Two spinsters on their way to church, are accosted by a couple of burly tramps. When Mabel is called to the church meeting with her mother, she sends Muggsy a note asking him to meet her after the service so he may walk home with her. Muggsy is there on time, however, the old ladies are afraid to make the return trip unaccompanied. The pastor asks that a man escort them home. Poor Muggsy gets chosen, and when the trio reach the deserted part of the road, the tramps again appear.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1910-09-01
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Twixt Love and Ambition
Overview: Silent one-reel melodrama
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-12-05
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Side Street
Overview: Three New York Irish brothers cross paths as policeman, doctor and bootlegger.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1929-09-14
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The Courage of the Commonplace
Overview: A farmer's daughter, who devotedly endlessly gives selflessly of herself to her parents and younger siblings, dreams of going to college, which she's saved money to be able to pay for.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1913-08-01
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Youth Takes a Fling
Overview: McCrea plays Joe Meadows, whose only ambition as a Kansas farm boy was a life at sea. He moves to New York to try to get a job as a sailor, finds it more difficult than he thought, and meets Helen Brown, who falls for him and uses her feminine wiles to try to prevent him leaving.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1938-09-22
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Getting Even
Overview: All the young men in the mining camp flirt with Lucy. Bud, the youngest of them, doesn't stand a chance. At a dance, Bud dresses as a woman and all the men flirt with him and abandon Lucy. When his disguise is revealed, the other men are too embarrassed to approach Lucy, and Bud dances the rest of the night with her.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1909-09-12
Popularity:
The Lure of the Gown
Overview: "Fine feathers make fine birds", and handsome gowns make handsome women. Hence it is when Isabelle appears on the scene clad in a gown that is a masterpiece of the dressmaker's art she easily fascinates the male contingent, among whom is Enrico, the sweetheart of Veronica, a street singer. Enrico is so enraptured at the sight of Isabelle in her resplendent attire that he becomes her abject slave, casting aside the poor, peasant-clad little Italian street singer, who has loved him devotedly. Crushed almost beyond endurance the poor girl stands sobbing at the entrance of the park where the inconsistent lever left her. Her tears attract the attention of a wealthy young couple who happen to pass. In answer to their queries she tells them how contemptibly her sweetheart acted, and all because of the fascinating influence of a gown.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1909-03-15
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When It Strikes Home
Overview: Dick hastily marries a young woman, yet his wealthy father rips them apart. Unbeknownst to him, a son is born. Years later, Dick is in happy, but childless marriage when they decide to adopt a child. By chance and unknown to him, the boy is his son.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-05-17
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Overview: After the death of a United States Senator, idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. Soon, the naive and earnest new senator has to battle political corruption.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1939-10-19
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The Magnificent Ambersons
Overview: The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-07-10
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Under Burning Skies
Overview: Joe, "The Bad Man of San Fernand," is one tough customer. He sets his sights on a lovely young lady who spurns his advances and elopes with a fresh-faced young cowpoke. An angry Joe eventually gets his revenge.
Genres: Western Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-02-21
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The Son's Return
Overview: A son leaves to seek his fortune in the city. Many years later he returns and checks into his parents' inn. They don't recognize him, but noticing his fat wallet, plan to rob him.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1909-06-14
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The Song That Reached His Heart
Overview: A Story of the Lumber Regions of Western Canada: a lumberjack remember his past while he listens to a record of the song his fiancée used to sing him.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1910-10-10
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The Calling of Louis Mona
Overview: Louis Mona is left to the care of the monks of the monastery of San Luis, who have brought him up with love and care. Louis, who is devoted to his surroundings, and who knows nothing of the great outside world, and who has no great desire to learn about it in person, desires to join the order, but there is a rule that cannot be overlooked.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1913-03-28
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An Evil of the Slums
Overview: A young man who visits a shady bar and gets involved with the criminals there, by a misunderstanding becomes a murder suspect. An older man who regrets his own life choices is willing to sacrifice himself to give the boy a chance, but the real culprit is caught. The young man promises to improve his life.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1914-01-02
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The Rose of Kentucky
Overview: A farmer takes in a young orphan after her mother's death and sends her off to school. After she's grown, he encourages her to consider his younger brother as a husband. When the younger brother proves to be a coward, she chooses the older brother instead.
Genres: Romance History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-08-24
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The Welcome Burglar
Overview: Mack Sennett appears as a butler and a man in an office in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1909-01-25
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Gentleman Jim
Overview: As bare-knuckled boxing enters the modern era, brash extrovert Jim Corbett uses new rules and dazzlingly innovative footwork to rise to the top of the boxing world.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-11-14
Popularity:
The Golden Supper
Overview: Julian loves his cousin and foster sister Camilla, who is wooed and won by Lionel, his friend and rival. He is a witness to their marriage and after the ceremony he departs heartbroken to his own house. Utopian was the existence of Lionel and Camilla, until some time later Camilla is seized with a serious illness, and Lionel's grief knew no bounds when he heard "That low knell tolling his lady dead." "She had lain three days without a pulse all that look'd on her had pronounced her dead, So they bore her, for in Julian's land they never nail a dumb head up in elm, bore her free-faced to the free airs of heaven, and laid her in the vault of her own kin." Julian learns of the death of Camilla, and hastens to the house, arriving in time to see the funeral cortège moving slowly towards the sepulcher. Following in its wake he exclaims, "Now, now, will 1 go down into the grave; I will be all alone with all I love."
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1910-12-12
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The Good for Nothing
Overview: A social comedy in which the young Dick Evans is seen as a failure, and then tries to prove himself to his father and father-in-law as an editor.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-11-18
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His Daughter
Overview: William promises to marry his sweetheart, Mary, after completing medical school. William's father has saved enough money to set up William's medical practice. However, Mary's alcoholic father discovers the savings and steals it.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-02-23
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The Making of a Man
Overview: A young woman becomes infatuated with the leading man of a traveling theatrical troupe. She sneaks away to join him in the next town, but her father forces her to return home...
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-10-04
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Simple Charity
Overview: A pretty young woman attempts to help a poor, old couple while attracting the attention of a handsome doctor.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1910-11-10
Popularity:
Madame Rex
Overview: Located in the south of France, a woman, who, after the death of her husband, is forced to assume the management of the Gambling Casino, of which he was proprietor. She places her daughter in a convent and keeps her in ignorance of her occupation. Twelve years later the mother becomes engaged to a young nobleman. The young man, however, by accident, meets the daughter, now seventeen years old, and falls in love with her, not knowing her identity. The mother realizing the truth of the situation, sacrifices her own love for the young man for her daughter's happiness.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-04-17
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Lena and the Geese
Overview: A first-born baby girl is sent away and placed in the care of Gretchen, a trusted peasant woman, who is the widowed mother of a child about the same age. The two children grow up as sisters. Later, upon her deathbed, the noble lady repents and sends for her child to reinstate her. Gretchen takes this opportunity to make a great lady of her own daughter Lena, the goose girl, by sending her to court instead of the real heiress. Hence Lena is taken before the noble lady, happy in the belief that she has made reparation. Lena is now a great lady, but the title does not fit well-- She longs to be back with Gretchen and her "geeses".
Genres: Drama Comedy Family History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-06-17
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The Blonde Vampire
Overview: Marcia Saville, thought to be a hopeless flirt by her sweetheart, Martin Kent, shows him that she prefers Tom Smith, a man from the underworld, because Tom is more authoritative. Tom is induced to enter a scheme to rob Marcia's father in a crooked deal instigated by Simon Downs. Downs plans to have Tom marry Marcia and divide the spoils, as she is to receive a sum of money when she marries. Tom is too smart for them and refuses to get involved. Meantime, Kent proves his strength of character, and Marcia is won over. Downs is exposed to her father and discharged.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1922-04-01
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Over My Dead Body
Overview: Berle plays a mystery writer who forever writes himself into corners and is never able to finish a story. While visiting his wife (Mary Beth Hughes) at the office where she works, Berle overhears several men discussing the suicide of a coworker. Struck with a brilliant notion, Berle decides to confess to the murder of the dead man, certain that he'll be able to wriggle out of the situation and thereby have plenty of material for a story.
Genres: Mystery Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-01-15
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Safety in Numbers
Overview: The Jones family patriarch, also mayor, is swindled into thinking the town swamp is a rich mineral deposit.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1938-05-30
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Mr. Lucky
Overview: A conman poses as a war relief fundraiser, but when he falls for a charity worker, his conscience begins to trouble him.
Genres: Comedy Romance Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-07-01
Popularity:
Marked Woman
Overview: In the underworld of Manhattan, a woman dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters.
Genres: Crime Drama Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1937-04-10
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The Rage of Paris
Overview: Nicole has no job and is several weeks behind with her rent. Her solution to her problems is to try and snare a rich husband. Enlisting the help of her friend Gloria and the maitre'd at a ritzy New York City hotel, the trio plot to have Gloria catch the eye of Bill Duncan, a millionaire staying at the hotel. The plan works and the two quickly become engaged. Nicole's plan may be thwarted by Bill's friend, Jim Trevor, who's met Nicole before and sees through her plot.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1938-06-09
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The City of Tears
Overview: Chorus girl Rosa Carillo (Carmel Myers) finds herself in dire straits when the troupe she works with is disbanded and her last fifty dollars is stolen. Artist Billy Leeds (Earl Rodney) offers to take care of her, but she's leery of his proposition. Instead she finds work with an Italian grocer, Tony Bonchi (Edwin August). One of the other ex-members of the troupe has Tony arrested on a trumped up charge. Rosa returns to Billy and offers herself to him if only he'll get Tony out of jail.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1918-06-29
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A Broadway Scandal
Overview: Having been misinformed that all French girls are morally suspect, American soldier David Kendall (Edwin August) is in for quite a shock when he's shipped Over There. After meeting several "nice" Frenchwomen, David returns to the states with a whole new perspective on things. It isn't long before he falls in love with Nenette (Carmel Myers), the daughter of French-born restaurateur Armande Bisson (Andrew Robson). But when Nenette is implicated in a murder, the disillusioned David instantly repudiates her -- and by extension, all Daughters of France.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1918-06-01
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A Wreath of Orange Blossoms
Overview: The daughter of a poor seamstress takes a package to the house of her mother’s wealthy employer and meets the lady’s son. The son requests a date and eventually proposes marriage. His mother is horrified and disowns him. After the marriage they live in an elegant flat and she meets her husband’s social set at the parties that they host. Her husband becomes preoccupied with business worries, leaving her vulnerable to the attentions of a rake. After he is ruined, they are forced to move to cheaper quarters. Her husband goes out to look for work. The rake appears and proposes that she leave with him. As she is packing her bags, she finds the wreath of orange blossoms that her husband had brought to her on her wedding day, which they had stored away together after the marriage. She orders the rake out of the house and begins to clean up. Her husband, who has found a job meanwhile, comes home to a cooked supper.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-01-30
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A Child's Stratagem
Overview: Mrs. Walton wilfully and mistakenly presumes that her husband is unfaithful, and demands a divorce. Devastated by the impending breakup of her home, the Waltons’ little daughter plots to reunite her parents by pretending to be a kidnapping victim. Her absence causes such consternation in the household that her parents do indeed reconcile when she returns home after some misadventures.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1910-10-05
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The Failure
Overview: A man loses his business and his fiancée, and drifts into the saloons. There he meets a similarly-downtrodden young woman. She works behind the scenes to help him recover his life, and eventually he realizes how steadfast she is.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-12-07
Popularity:
The House with Closed Shutters
Overview: During the Civil War a young soldier loses his nerve in battle and runs away to his home to hide; his sister puts on his uniform, takes her brother's place in the battle, and is killed. Their mother, not wanting the shameful truth to become known, closes all the shutters (hence the film's title) and keeps her son's presence a secret for many years, though two boyhood chums stumble upon the truth...
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1910-08-08
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Conscience
Overview: As they have breakfast in their hunting lodge Howard jokingly tells his wife to improve her coffee or he'll shoot her. Later she meets him as he's out hunting and is accidentally shot and killed by another hunter. Because the maid overheard his joke at breakfast Howard is arrested for her murder.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-03-09
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The Renunciation
Overview: Two miners are fighting over a woman, and one is about to murder the other in his sleep. At the critical moment, the woman introduces her fiancé from the city.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1909-07-19
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When Kings Were the Law
Overview: Over the Kingdom of Romanda there reigned a King who was greatly influenced by his favorite, whom he devotedly loved. He presents her with a necklace of fabulous worth and enjoins that she never part with it, which command she swears by the stars to keep. About this time an impecunious cousin of the King calls to beg the loan of money, which is refused. The favorite promises to intercede for him. The cardinal and the favorite are bitter enemies because of her thwarting many of his pet schemes, and he plans a revenge by inciting jealousy in the King. The scheme he devises is to have the necklace missing and found in the cousin's pocket. The plan succeeds so well that the King condemns the seemingly guilty pair to an air-tight chamber, where they would have suffocated to death had not the lady-in-waiting, who helped in the plot, become horror-stricken and confessed.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1912-05-20
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The Message of the Violin
Overview: A girl's family suddenly becomes rich and rejects her long-time sweetheart.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1910-10-24
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The Voice of the Child
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-12-28
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The Trail of Books
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1911-11-09
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The Cardinal's Conspiracy
Overview: A royal woman rejects her arranged marriage. The cardinal hatches a plan: the suitor will shave and change clothes. He arranges with 4 clowns to stage an attack on the princess which he easily repels. It works; the princess falls for him, especially when the cardinal arranges his arrest.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1909-07-12
Popularity: