Milton Sills
Also Known As: not available
Biography: From Wikipedia Milton George Gustavus Sills (January 12, 1882 – September 15, 1930) was an American stage and film actor of the early twentieth century. Sills was born in Chicago, Illinois into a wealthy family. He was the son of William Henry Sills, a successful mineral dealer, and Josephine Antoinette Troost Sills, an heiress from a prosperous banking family. Upon completing high school, Sills was offered a one-year scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he studied psychology and philosophy. After graduating, he was offered a position at the university as a researcher and within several years worked his way up to become a professor at the school. In 1905, stage actor Donald Robertson visited the school to lecture on author and playwright Henrik Ibsen and suggested to Sills that he try his hand at acting. On a whim, Sills agreed and left his prestigious teaching career to embark on a stint in acting. Sills joined Robertson's stock theater company and began touring the country. In 1914, Sills decided to conquer the new medium of motion pictures. He made his film debut the same year in the big-budget drama The Pit for the World Film Company and was signed to a contract with film producer William A. Brady. The film was enormously successful, and Sills made three more films for the company, including another huge box-office draw The Deep Purple opposite silent screen star Clara Kimball Young. By the late 1910s, Sills had reached leading man status and parted ways with World Film, taking the then unusual path of freelancing as an actor. By the early 1920s, Sills was enjoying a highly successful acting career and working for such prominent film studios as MGM, Paramount Pictures, and Pathé Exchange. He was often paired with the most popular leading ladies of the era, including: Geraldine Farrar, Gloria Swanson and Viola Dana. His greatest public and commercial successes came with the now lost Flaming Youth (1923) opposite Colleen Moore, and the enormous box-office hit The Sea Hawk (1924). Sills made two sound pictures, showing that he had an excellent voice. Many may have forgotten that Sills had extensive stage training before embarking on his career before the cameras. Sills died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1930 while playing tennis with his wife at his Santa Barbara, California home at the age of 48. He was interred at the Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago, Illinois.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Birthday: January 11, 1882
Deathday: September 15, 1930
Adult: No
Gender: Male
Popularity:
Known For:
As Man Desires
Overview: The story of a man who was robbed of his greatest love and the South Seas wildflower who found it for him, in the land of pawn trees where men of all nations gather; some seeking vengeance and some forgiveness.
Genres: Action Adventure Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1925-01-11
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The Hushed Hour
Overview: Judge Robert Appleton (Winter Hall) has led an exemplary life. His four children, however, fell short once they grew up and had to fend for themselves. When Appleton dies, his widow (Lydia Knott) explains that his last request was that each child spend one hour of contemplation with his body. The first is the youngest daughter, Daisy (Rosemary Theby), an artist of note who was betrayed and left with a son to raise out of wedlock. Next is Luke (Milton Sills), a wild young man who ran away at 19, and even though he is now married and a father, he still can't quite settle down. The eldest son, Bob (Wilfred Lucas), is next -- he wed a wealthy woman, but the marriage has no love.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1919-05-18
Popularity:
The Claw
Overview: Clara Kimball Young stars as Mary Saurin, a British gentlewoman who journeys to South Africa to visit her district-commissioner brother Dick (Henry Woodward). Upon arriving, she is introduced to Major Anthony "Kim" Kinsella (Milton Sills), the most important and influential Army officer in the region. Falling in love with Kinsella, Mary agrees to marry him, but he is apparently killed in a native uprising.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1918-06-10
Popularity:
The Woman Thou Gavest Me
Overview: Mary Mac Neill (Katherine MacDonald), whose father (Theodore Roberts) marries her off to Lord Raa (Jack Holt) in order to satisfy an old grudge. But Mary wants nothing to do with the dissolute Lord and tells him so on their wedding night. So he takes his mistress, Alma Lier (Fritzi Brunette), to India and passes her off as Lady Raa, while Mary disappears to a French village, where she spends time with the man she loved all along, explorer Martin Conrad (Milton Sills).
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1919-05-25
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The Last Hour
Overview: Steve Cline returns to the U.S. after earning his fortune in South America. He reads in the paper that his brother Tom was arrested for safecracking. Tom escapes and runs to the home of Sadie McCall, whose father Reever heads a forgery ring. Steve rushes to meet his brother, but Tom is killed in a police raid. Reever gets away and Steve falls for Sadie, but Steve takes the blame for the murder and faces death by hanging. Reported by some to be Gary Cooper's first film as an extra. However this is not confirmed in any way.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1923-01-01
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Seeing Stars
Overview: First National gala celebrity banquet with stars.
Genres: Documentary History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1922-10-29
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Eyes of Youth
Overview: A young woman, confronted by four options for proceeding in her life, is granted the ability to see what results would come from her choice of of the options. After she sees her future along three of the roads, she makes her choice.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1919-11-29
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The Sea Hawk
Overview: The adventures of Oliver Tressilian, who goes from English gentry to galley slave to captain of a Moorish fighting ship.
Genres: Adventure Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1924-06-14
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The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Overview: A documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life, and his premature death.
Genres: Documentary TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1961-05-24
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The Barker
Overview: A successful carnival barker deals with the arrival of his eager son, who he'd hoped would stay far from the carnival world, his son's entanglement with a showgirl, and his own jealous mistress.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-10-02
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The Forgotten Law
Overview: Margaret Jarnette discovers that her husband Victor has been cheating on her and confronts him. Outraged, Victor has his lawyer rewrite his will so that in the event of his death, his brother Richard will get custody of his daughter Muriel, and his wife won't. When Victor dies shortly afterward, Richard suspects that Margaret had murdered him and takes custody of Muriel. However, he soon begins to suspect that things may not be quite as cut-and-dried as he thought they were.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1922-11-01
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Flowing Gold
Overview: The film deals with the Texas Oil Industry. A silent film, it was famously remade in 1940 with sound.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1924-03-01
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Under Southern Skies
Overview: Lelia Crofton, a Louisiana belle of the 1860s, loves Burleigh Mavor. By chance, she sees one of her father's black stablemen making love to a neighbor's maid, whom she supposed was white. The incident shocks Lelia and leaves a great impression upon her. When she rejects suitor Steve Daubeney, he threatens to expose a damaging secret about her mother, whom she has never met. Remembering the incident with the neighbor's maid, Lelia worries that her mother might be black, and when Daubeney learns of her fears, he leads her to believe that they are well-founded.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-09-20
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The Faith Healer
Overview: A traveling preacher has, through his faith, the power to heal, but loses it when he falls in love. Considered lost.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1921-03-13
Popularity:
A Trip to Paramountown
Overview: Documentary short film depicting the filmmaking activity at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, featuring dozens of stars captured candidly and at work.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1922-07-10
Popularity:
Miss Lulu Bett
Overview: Lois Wilson (as Lulu) is the spinsterish member of the Deacon family: "The family beast of burden, whose timid soul has failed to break the bonds of family servitude." Her brother-in-law is patriarchal Theodore Roberts (as Dwight Deacon); running the house with an iron fist, he is both a dentist and a Justice of the Peace. As the latter, he accidentally marries Ms. Wilson to his visiting brother Clarence Burton (as Ninian Deacon) while they are out for dinner. Schoolteacher Milton Sills (as Neil Cornish) is also interested in Wilson...
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1921-11-01
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The Circus: Premiere
Overview: Footage from the premiere of Charlie Chaplin's 1928 film 'The Circus'.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-01-13
Popularity:
Man Trouble
Overview: A hard-boiled nightclub owner saves a beautiful young girl from drowning. He promptly falls in love with her, but she prefers a younger, more-genteel lover.
Genres: Romance Crime Drama Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-08-24
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His Captive Woman
Overview: Cabaret dancer Anna Janssen kills her sugardaddy and escapes to a South Seas island on the yacht of a wealthy admirer. Stolid, conscientious Tom McCarthy, a New York detective, is sent after Anna and arrests her, chartering a steamer to bring her back to the United States. The steamer sinks, and Anna and Tom are stranded on a small island. They fall in love, and Tom's influence brings about a benign change in Anna's character. They are rescued, however, and Anna is placed on trial for her life. Tom takes the stand in her defense and informs the judge of Anna's conversion in the solitude of the island. The judge instructs Tom to marry Anna and then sentences them to life--on the island where they found happiness together.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1929-02-03
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The Hell Cat
Overview: Pancha O'Brien, the beautiful and spirited daughter of an Irish ranch owner, is loved by two men, Sheriff Jack Webb, whom she loves, and outlaw Jim Dyke, whose attentions she repeatedly rebuffs. Jim and his men attack Pancha's ranch, burning it to the ground and killing her father. The outlaw carries her to his cabin, where Wan-o-mee, his jealous squaw, tries to stab the girl....
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1918-11-24
Popularity:
The Stronger Vow
Overview: During the Easter Carnival, Dolores de Cordova flirts with Juan Estudillo, not knowing that he is a member of the family with whom her ancestors have long feuded. Dolores' cousin, Pedro Toral, jealous of her attentions to Juan, kills her brother that night and after leaving Juan's handkerchief by the body, makes Dolores swear to avenge the death with her own hands....
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1919-04-27
Popularity:
Paradise
Overview: After a daredevil demonstration of aviator stunts, Anthony Fortescue-Stirling, more familiarly known as Tony, is cast adrift by his father. He meets Chrissie, of vaudeville fame, at a fancy-dress ball and falls in love with her.
Genres: Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1926-09-26
Popularity:
Puppets
Overview: Nicola Riccobini, a puppet master in New York's Italian quarter, is an energetic and domineering man in the family, in contrast to his dreamy, poetic cousin Bruno.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1926-06-20
Popularity:
The Sea Tiger
Overview: Silent Film drama...now a lost film. Julian Ramos is a fisherman in the Canary Islands. As the guardian of his hotheaded younger brother Charles, Julian regards it as his duty to protect the boy from women -- and vice versa. When Charles begins pitching woo at aristocratic Amy, Julian runs interference by pretending to be in love with the girl himself. As time passes, of course, he stops pretending.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1927-02-27
Popularity:
Framed
Overview: Wrongfully court martialed from the French Army Captain Hilaire heads to Brazil. Upon arrival he is hired as a foreman in a Diamond mine eventually falling in love with the boss’s daughter, Diane. Remsen who wants both Hilaire’s job and Diane frames him for stealing from the company while Hilarie is away. Convicted, he is sent to a Devil's Island-like prison camp. Eventually, Remson, too is sent there, where he confesses on his death bed, freeing Hilaire.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1927-06-19
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The Hawk's Nest
Overview: Lost 1928 film by Benjamin Benjamin Christensen
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-05-27
Popularity:
Souls for Sale
Overview: A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1923-04-22
Popularity:
Hard-Boiled Haggerty
Overview: After bringing down yet another German pilot and escaping uninjured from his burning aircraft, Haggerty (Milton Sills) and his buddy, aircraft machinist Klaxon (Arthur Stone), head for Paris, albeit without an official leave of absence. In escaping from M.P.'s, Haggerty takes refuge in a room occupied by Germaine Benoit (Molly O'Day). Love soon springs up, and Haggerty decides to reform, returning to Major Cotton (Mitchell Lewis) with this resolution. He is unprepared, however, to be awarded a medal for his actions as a fighter pilot. - From Wikipedia
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1927-08-21
Popularity:
Adam's Rib
Overview: Michael Ramsay only has time for gathering his fortune in wheat. His wife seeks comfort elsewhere and, to avoid a scandal, her daughter Matilda assumes her mother's guilt. Ramsay nearly goes broke but gets rich again; his wife returns.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1923-09-24
Popularity:
Patria
Overview: Spies from Japan conspire to steal the Channing "preparedness" fortune and invade the United States, beginning in New York, then allying themselves with Mexicans across the border. They are stopped by the efforts of munitions factory heiress Patria Channing and U.S. Secret Service agent Donald Parr.
Genres: Drama Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1917-01-14
Popularity:
The Valley of the Giants
Overview: Bryce Cardigan struggles to protect his Redwood inheritance from a railroad-owner, who is also the guardian of the woman Bryce loves.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1927-12-04
Popularity:
Making Monkey Business
Overview: Betty has a rich inheritance, but she can't find it. She is engaged to Detective Duffer. One day. "The Flea" comes to rob her, bringing his accomplice, the ape.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1917-06-12
Popularity:
Flaming Youth
Overview: When Mona Frentiss dies, she has her confidante "Doctor Bobs" watch over her family, especially her youngest daughter Patricia. The family has been raised in a most unconventional manner, with Mona having a much younger lover and the father Ralph keeping his own lover on the side. As Patricia grows older, she attracts the attention of her mother's former lover, the much older (than Patricia, who in the book is in her early to mid teens) Carey Scott. Patricia tempts fate with her wild ways, nearly loses her virtue to a musician aboard an ocean-going boat, and is saved in time by Carey. Realizing that he is the man for her, she settles down into an experimental marriage.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1923-11-12
Popularity:
The Street Called Straight
Overview: Directed by Wallace Worsley.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1920-02-01
Popularity:
Men of Steel
Overview: Jan Bokak is a self-educated steelworker who finds himself in the middle of a romantic triangle. Two different girls -- wealthy socialite Claire Pitt and blue-collar worker Mary Berwick -- simultaneously fall for Bokak. It later develops that Claire and Mary are actually sisters, the first of a series of surprising plot twists leading to Bokak being accused of a murder he didn't commit.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1926-07-11
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The Honor System
Overview: A potentially lost film, this film tells the story of a man is convicted unjustly of a crime and then subjected to inhumane torment in a prison run by corrupt administrators.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1917-02-12
Popularity:
The Isle of Lost Ships
Overview: A likely lost film, that tells the story of people and ships trapped in seaweed infested section of the southern Atlantic Ocean known as the Sargasso Sea.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1923-03-17
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Legally Dead
Overview: A man faces being hanged for a crime he didn't commit
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1923-07-30
Popularity:
The Crash
Overview: The Crash (1928)
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-10-07
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A Lady of Quality
Overview: Clorinda Wildairs breaks off an affair with the unscrupulous Sir John Ozen to become engaged to a rich nobleman, Mertoun, the Duke of Osmonde. Clorinda accidentally kills Sir John when he, infuriated by her forthcoming marriage, threatens to blackmail her. She buries the body in the cellar and admits her act to the forgiving Osmonde before marrying him.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1924-01-14
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The Sea Wolf
Overview: George, Ruth and Humphrey go for a boat ride with Wolf Larsen.
Genres: Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-09-21
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Skin Deep
Overview: The plot concerns a war hero who returns home determined to give up his old ways as a crook. Bud Doyle (Milton Sills) is still being hounded by the cops, and both his wife (Marcia Nanon) and a former associate, a dishonest politician, want to do him in.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1922-09-01
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At the End of the World
Overview: This dramatic adventure finds the flirtatious Cherry O'Day as the daughter of the Shanghai saloon keeper Terrence. She works in the dive and entertains the patrons, sending them away after they cease to amuse her. Cherry falls for Gordon Deane, the American writer and adventurer who barely notices her.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1921-08-14
Popularity:
One Clear Call
Overview: An outcast who runs a road house of ill repute leads his mother to believe him dead. His only friend, a doctor, falls for a married woman.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1922-05-20
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The Silent Lover
Overview: Based on the 1922 play Der Legionër by Lajos Biró.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1926-11-21
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Love and the Devil
Overview: A famous Venetian opera singer marries a rich, but very jealous man. After moving to London with him, she misses the opera and all the attention she used to get. Once back in Venice, an old lover shows up causing trouble.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1929-03-24
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The Spoilers
Overview: Based on the novel The Spoilers by Rex Beach.
Genres: Drama Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1923-08-26
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Burning Daylight
Overview: Elam "Burning Daylight" Harnish is a prospector who makes a million dollars in the Dawson, Alaska gold rush and loses the million dollars in Dawson. He journeys to San Francisco, makes three million dollars and loses it in San Francisco. He returns to Alaska and eventually finds his treasure.
Genres: Drama Action Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-03-10
Popularity:
The Furnace
Overview: Folly Vallance marries millionaire Anthony Bond for his money, but he insists on a marriage in name only. Entering the social scene she befriends Bond's close friend Keene Mordaunt. When Count Svensen tries to extort Folly into running away with him, Keene pursues them to a country house where they meet Anthony, who accuses his friend of treachery. Folly finally recognizes her love for her husband and explains the cause of her actions; Bond forgives her leading to their reconciliation.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1920-11-01
Popularity:
The Making of O'Malley
Overview: A policeman falls for a teacher, and befriends her students. A gang of bootleggers threatens his newfound joys.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1925-06-28
Popularity:
The Knockout
Overview: A Lambert Hillyer silent romantic love triangle boxing sports lumberjack logging melodrama about a world champion boxer who must retire due to an arm injury. He becomes a lumberjack, and becomes involved with the daughter of the owner, but rivals sabotage their operation, and the boxer has to return to the ring to save the owner from bankruptcy and win the hand of the daughter.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1925-08-23
Popularity:
Madonna of the Streets
Overview: Rev. John Morton, who is determined to follow as closely as possible the teachings of Jesus, inherits a considerable fortune when his uncle dies. Shortly thereafter he succumbs to the wiles of Mary Carlson and marries her. To Mary's dismay, John uses his money for charitable work. When John learns that not only has Mary been unfaithful to him but she was also his uncle's mistress and became Mrs. Morton in order to share the inheritance she believed to be rightfully hers, he sends her away with his secretary.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1924-10-19
Popularity:
Satan Junior
Overview: Famous playwright Paul Worden decamps to a country bungalow to work on a new play, rehearsing with his leading lady, Marjorie Sinclair, who is staying nearby. Going riding one day to relax, Paul rescues his neighbor, teenager Diana Ardway when her horse runs wild. The pair clash initially, as she does with Marjorie, but after a series of misunderstandings true love triumphs.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1919-03-03
Popularity:
The Yellow Ticket
Overview: Anna Mirrel, a young Jewish girl in Czarist Russia, is forced to degrade herself in order to visit her father, whom she believes to be ill. She obtains a yellow passport, signifying that she is a prostitute.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1918-05-26
Popularity:
The Great Moment
Overview: Sir Edward Pelham, married to a Romani Russian, fears that his daughter will follow in her mother's footsteps and arranges a marriage with her cousin, whom she does not love. During a trip to Nevada with her father, she meets engineer Bayard Delavel, who saves her life when she is bitten by a snake; when her father finds her with Bayard in his cabin, he forces them to marry. Believing that Nadine does not love him, Delavel leaves her and prepares to sue for divorce. A lost film.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1921-09-03
Popularity:
The Woman Who Lied
Overview: After a stirring performance, Cleo Martell, a renowned stage actress, is visited in her dressing room by Gordon Trent, a too ardent admirer. When Cleo's husband enters, a fight ensues, and Trent kills his rival in the struggle. Jack Stanley arrives on the scene to help but is accused of the murder by Cleo and is sent off to prison. The opportunistic Trent marries Jack's rich fiancée Helen Forde, who believes that her former lover is guilty of unfaithfulness. Jealous of the arrangement, Cleo eventually tells Helen the truth about the killing, causing Betty, Helen's daughter, to cry over her mother's unhappiness. Moved by the girl's tears, Cleo joins forces with Helen against Trent, and the two women go West where Jack, escaped from prison, works as a cowboy.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-10-06
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What a Wife Learned
Overview: A novelist's success causes a rift between her and her rancher husband.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1923-01-28
Popularity:
The Arrival of Perpetua
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-03-29
Popularity:
The Pit
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1914-12-28
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Married in Name Only
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1917-10-01
Popularity:
The Taming of Mary
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-08-20
Popularity: