Ruth Roland

A compilation of thirteen rare silent films digitized by the Library of Congress, selected for the 2022 Domitor conference theme “Copy/Rights and Early Cinema.” Drawn from nitrate and safety film, the program spans comedies, trick films, and dramas exploring censorship, invention, adaptation, and social rights. Titles include: Pruning the Movies (Nestor, 1914); Imperial Japanese Dance (Edison, 1894); Early Edison Camera Tests (Edison, c.1890s); Censorship and its Absurdities (Edison, 1915); In Wrong (Crystal, 1914, dir. Phillips Smalley); Tillie’s Tomato Surprise (Lubin, 1915, dir. Howell Hansell); Indian Land Grab (Champion, 1910); The Stolen Play (Falcon Features, 1917, dir. Harry Harvey); And the Villain Still Pursued Her (Vitagraph, 1906, dir. J. Stuart Blackton); The Doll’s Revenge (Hepworth, 1907, dir. Lewin Fitzhamon); The Disintegrated Convict (Vitagraph, 1907); The Mexican Joan of Arc (Kalem, 1911, dir. Kenean Buel); and Fads and Fashions of 1900 (U.S., 1940s).

A rollicking compendium of the greatest hits of silent-cinema chase sequences

An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.

Bob Monkhouse introduces the golden age of slapstick comedy.

The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of edition #1, then a tribute to movie people who have died in those 25 years. Finally there are tributes to the Screen Snapshots series by Cecil De Mille, Walt Disney, Louella Parsons and Rosalind Russell.

Ruth Roland comes in crashing in on George E. Stone as the host for the 13th installment of The Voice of Hollywood, with Charles Irwin, Davey Lee and Jack Benny among the guests.

Ruth Roland in her last role alongside Roland Drew in a mystery about murder, blackmail and stolen jewels.

Felicia Brett is married to Alexander W. Brett, a bullying and unfaithful man who openly flaunts his affair with Rita. Pushed to her limit, Felicia travels to Reno, Nevada, to establish residency and file for divorce. While in Reno, Felicia encounters her old childhood flame, Dick Belden. Alexander, desperate to avoid a settlement and gain sole custody of their young son Bobby, follows Felicia to Reno. He attempts to manufacture evidence of adultery by trapping Felicia in a compromising situation with Dick. Alexander initially succeeds in using this falsified evidence to take custody of Bobby. However, the story reaches a melodramatic conclusion when Alexander is killed in a sudden avalanche. Because the divorce had not yet been finalized, Felicia becomes Alexander's widow rather than his ex-wife, which grants her both her son and the freedom to marry Dick.

Two factions struggle to gain and keep possession of a pool of molten gold.

Just before he propelled the crime melodrama to new, macabre heights in The Unholy Three, Browning directed this partially lost morality tale pertaining to a different kind of horror: that of a middle-class family living beyond their means and falling prey to moneylenders. Produced by and starring Ruth Roland for FBO Studios, a small operation that later became RKO Pictures, Dollar Down follows Roland as the spendthrift daughter of a manufacturing firm’s general manager (Henry Walthall), who pawns a ring purchased on credit to throw an extravagant party and sends the family’s livelihood into a tailspin. Because its last reel completely disintegrated before it could be copied, the film remains an ultra-rare curio that nonetheless captures an important chapter in Browning’s career before his successful string of films made for MGM.

A young woman finds a trunk full of stolen diamonds, takes them and heads westward, pursued by the thief.

Jane Brower wants nothing more than to leave behind her ranch life in the West and go East. When she happens upon a party in the private railroad car of wealthy August Van Dorn, Jane gets the idea to finance her trip by kidnapping his son, Donald, for ransom. While Jane is negotiating with the senior Van Dorn, his son is kidnapped by two bandits. Donald soon escapes and seeks out Jane, with whom he has fallen in love. After Donald rescues Janes from the bandits, they decide to marry and spend their honeymoon in New York City.

A young woman attempts to rescue her father from a gang that has kidnapped him in order to find out his secret for making "Fuelite," a substitute for coal.

The Timber Queen follows Ruth Rowland as the inheritor of a wealthy timber business who tries to stay independent of a cruel man who wants to marry her and steal her wealth. The UCLA Film and Television Archive has preserved episodes one, four, eight and nine, and distributor Harpodeon has preserved episode twelve.

A young woman tries to find out the reason behind why all of her female ancestors have been killed before they reach their 21st birthday.

Footage from the premiere of Charlie Chaplin's 1928 film 'The Circus'.

Baron Tolento lusts for Diane Delatour, his physician's wife, and donates money to their favorite charity, a children's home, in hope of gaining her favor. When Delatour is called away, Tolento inveigles Diane into attending a party at his house. There he threatens to ruin her husband if she does not submit to his demands within three months. Diane retaliates by showing him a letter proving that Tolento has only three months to live, according to a specialist. Delatour learns of his wife's presence at the party from one of the baron's women, and when Tolento makes Diane heir to his fortune, he becomes convinced of her infidelity.

Ruth, the owner of Haunted Valley, borrows a million dollars in order to finish a dam. The terms of the loan specify that if she doesn't pay it back in three months she will lose both Lost River Dam and Haunted Valley.

Cupid Angling is a 1918 silent film starring Ruth Roland and Albert Morrison, with walk-on appearances by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. It was the only feature film photographed using the Douglass Natural Color process.

Daniel Robin has become mixed up with a band of criminals known as "the 13," and is shot when he refuses to do their bidding. His daughter Ruth, brought home from boarding school, reaches his bedside before he expires. He tells her that she will be given thirteen keys. Instructions will be provided with each key and, if she follows the instructions, she will eventually fully learn of her birthright. Many adventures then follow as Ruth attempts to solve the puzzle of each key and establish her true birthright.

A blind playwright is engaged to his assistant, and the two are close to completion of a new play, which is so dark and morbid that they find themselves on the brink of breakdowns. A greedy agent who has admired the playwright's previous work will stop at nothing to secure the play for himself.

A cult of Hindu tiger worshippers and a gang of Western outlaws try to cheat a young woman out of rich mines that belong to her.

A newspaperwoman finds trouble aplenty when an Inca tribe believes her to be the reincarnation of their long-lost princess.

Who Pays? was a series of twelve three-reel dramas, released between March and July 1915. Henry King and Ruth Roland starred in each episode, playing different roles each time, with a variety of supporting players who varied from one episode to another. Each episode told a complete and individual story, but they were all inter-related by a uniform theme. Although there were no cliff-hanger endings, each episode did, in fact, end with a challenge to the audience: Who was responsible for the misfortune of the principal characters? The titles of the twelve episodes were: #1: The Price of Fame; #2: The Pursuit of Pleasure; #3: When Justice Sleeps; #4: The Love Liar; #5: Unto Herself Alone; #6: Houses of Glass; #7: Blue Blood and Yellow; #8: Today and Tomorrow; #9: For the Commonwealth; #10: Pomp of Earth; #11: The Fruit of Folly; #12: Toil and Tyranny.

Chief of Police Ivorytop and Chief of Detectives Sherlock Bonehead, of Rottenport, fall in love with Helen, a girl from the city

A 1917 movie serial

The Red Circle is a birthmark, on the hand of the heroine, noticeable only in times of stress and excitement, which forces her to steal, leading to no end of complications and intrigue. A lost film.

In this rare, surviving one-reel Western from the pioneering Kalem company, Ruth Roland's fiancé, Dick, is falsely accused of robbing a bank, a dirty deed actually committed by one Black McCarty. Roland helps Dick escape and later supplies him with a weapon, but her irate father, the sheriff, must be put out of action -- by his own handcuffs as it turns out -- before the villain can be captured and peace restored.

Rich young playboy Gregory Kirkland reads a newspaper story about a daring robbery, and bets his friends that he can steal a famous diamond tiara, The Sultana, from its designer and then secretly return it without being caught. Robert Sautrelle, who designed the tiara, visits Kirkland's home, and Gregory does indeed steal it. However, he gets cold feet before he returns it and convinces a woman he knows, Virginia Lowndes, to return it. Unfortunately, things don't work out exactly as Gregory had planned.

A California fisherman starts with his family for a trip up the coast. When the party finds a desirable location, the girls begin to gather shellfish while the men ply their trade. When the fishermen attempt to return, their boat is wrecked in the surf and they are caught in the rocks. As evening comes on the girls leave for the camp and are startled by hearing a gunshot. They investigate and find that a hunter, bitten by a rattlesnake, has fired to attract attention. The girls assist the hunter to dress his wound and as they depart they sight the fishermen imprisoned on the rocks. With the assistance of their newfound friend they succeed in rescuing their relatives.

A father's strict upbringing of his beautiful but innocent young daughter may backfire on him when he finds she is being pursued by a lecherous cad who is determined to take her virtue.

A series of 2-reel thrillers in which a society girl has a position as a special investigator for the police and works on various cases where her unique talents can help to solve crimes. Each episode is complete in itself.

After he learns hypnotism, a husband uses it on his wife and mother-in-law. While they're in a trance, he goes out on the town with other women.

Driven to desperation by his wife's nagging, Mr. Nag, who ordinarily is as meek as any lamb, rebels, and is ordered to leave the house. He does, and when offered the opportunity to follow the burglar's trade, jumps at it. Habit forces him to pick up a squalling baby in the first house he enters

Bill interrupts a dress rehearsal in a wooded section, being held by several society girls who are to give classical dances at an entertainment. The girls hit upon the idea of having Bill portray the role of the mythical Pan at the entertainment. Bill is entirely satisfied, especially so as the girls dress him in good clothes in order that he look the part of a gentleman. The entertainment comes 'round, and Bill, introduced as "Professor Hobo," makes a hit with the guests.

While Tom boasts of his bravery and marksmanship the stagecoach arrives and excited passengers tell of a recent hold-up. Tom is inclined to laugh at the Sheriff for his negligence and declares that no one could hold him up. Nell and Bess, Tom's sisters, determine to teach the braggart a lesson.

Erma Desmond leaves her uncle and aunt to visit a friend, Phyllis, in the city. There, she finds work as the companion to the highly temperamental Mrs. Stanley. Mrs. Stanley has terrorized her husband to such an extent that he has gone away for a few months, purportedly to take their daughter to school, but mainly to get some peace. The servants, however, are still victims of her terrible fits until the day she decides to head for Reno to get a divorce.

Arthur, who has been out the night before, is late to breakfast, much to the annoyance of his wife. When he finally makes his appearance in the dining room he finds that he has no appetite, and after a stormy scene he leaves for the office. Arthur's grouch hangs on until he encounters his friend, John. Both are ardent baseball fans, and a discussion of the game revives the husband's spirits to such an extent that he decides to send his wife a box of flowers as a peace offering.

The scenes are laid in the Hudson Bay country in comparatively recent years and cover the life of a Hudson Bay factor, showing him as a young man assuming his business in the wilderness and, as was common in those days, taking an Indian wife that he had purchased of her father in Indian fashion.

The concept for Walk,—You, Walk! is as old as the battle of the sexes: When Rose’s date tries to get fresh, she walks out and teaches him a lesson, with the help of her sister. What makes this 1912 Kalem comedy so much fun is the sheer pleasure shown by the women in outsmarting the men. It’s a Kristen Wiig comedy 100 years ahead of its time.

Marlin takes his daughter, Ethel, to the seashore in hopes that she will annex a rich husband. The father meets Bill, who looks like "ready money." Marlin introduces the young man to Ethel. The girl promptly takes a dislike to the man. The following day Don saves Ethel from drowning. Bill, who witnessed the incident, feared to go to the rescue because he might ruin his clothes. Ethel and Don fall in love with each other. Bill later asks Marlin for Ethel's hand. The father consents. Ethel stormily declares she will not marry him.

"The Scarlet Letter" is a story of early Puritan days in New England. Hester, a beautiful young Englishwoman, is sent to America by her husband, with a promise that he will follow on the next ship. But he falls to keep his promise and Hester does not hear from him in years. In the meantime she is befriended by a young Puritan minister. Friendship ripens into love and Hester, thinking her husband dead, loves the handsome young clergyman with her whole heart. But when the baby is born the minister, fearing the wrath of the Pilgrim Fathers, denies it and Hester is condemned to wear the Scarlet Letter and to stand in the pillory. And it is only after several years of Hester's shame and ignominy that the little child finally reaches the father's heart. Then comes the great scene. The minister, on a fête day, ascends the pillory, places himself where Hester had been placed, and publicly proclaims his sin.