Arthur Donaldson

Old Lace is a 1931 Musical short.

J.H. Wareing, a New York City financier, is found murdered in his library after the robbery of several securities and a necklace. Suspicion points to the butler, Jason, to whom Wareing had shown the necklace the night before. Wareing's daughter, Florence, is also a suspect and therefore denied her father's estate.

Mary Tudor falls in love with a new arrival to court, Charles Brandon. She convinces her brother King Henry VIII to make him his Captain of the Guard. Meanwhile, Henry is determined to marry her off to the aging King Louis XII of France as part of a peace agreement.

Bill Ruble, whose atheism earns him the dislike of his fellow townspeople, elopes with Mary Norwood. Bill is falsely accused of theft and leaves town, signing up as a deckhand on a ship sailing around the world. A baby is born to Mary in Bill's absence, and she is disowned by friend and neighbor alike. She attempts to drown herself in the river, but an old Negro rescues her. Mary returns home and finds Bill there. He has become a true believer and a member of the church during his travels, and he and Mary are happily reunited.

A string of valuable pearls provides the motivation for the murder of Wareing, a widowed banker, who intended them for his daughter, Mary. She is comforted by Barton, a criminologist and friend of her late father, who appears to have left his financial affairs in a terrible state. Meanwhile, Mary's fiancé works diligently to identify the murderer. Although the criminologist places the blame on Wareing's butler, a reformed burglar, the killer is finally revealed to be Barton himself.

The Swan (1925) is a silent film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film is based on Melville Baker's 1923 Broadway play adaptation, The Swan, of Ferenc Molnar's play A Hattyu Vigjatek Harom Felvonasbarn. This film was directed by Dimitri Buchowetzki, a recent Russian immigrant working for Famous Players-Lasky. Buchowetzki had directed pictures in Russia, Sweden, and Germany. The story of this film was remade in 1930 as One Romantic Night, an early talkie for Lillian Gish, and in Technicolor as a 1956 vehicle for Grace Kelly.

John Kavanagh, a Maine lumberman, clashes with Stephen Marthorn, owner of a spruce-logging company, when Marthorn orders his men to make their drive before Kavanagh can get his logs down the river.

Bob Stafford, the wastrel son of a wealthy businessman, is disowned by his father for his reckless and irresponsible ways. He changes his name and opens a gym for wealthy young girls, hoping to land a rich and pretty wife. He meets and falls for pretty young Eileen, but a rival soon drives him out of the gym business. He gets a job in an airplane factory owned by Eileen's father, who is soon told by a rival that Bob is really out to steal a new airplane invention so he can give it to his father.

Shortly after his marriage, a millionaire begins an affair with another woman. His wife tries to win him back by starting an affair herself.

Mame Walsh promised their mother on her deathbed to look after little sister Janie. But Janie helps herself to everything of her sister's, be it her clothes or her men - even the money entrusted to her by fellow employees at the store they work at. Regardless, Mame can't break her promise. So when it comes to getting Janie out of trouble, big sister comes to the rescue.

A modern love story is the framework for a costume love story, based on Boccaccio's "The Falcon."

No synopsis available yet.

Lexington, Massachusetts, mid-1770s. Renegade British officer Captain Walter Butler struggles to enlist the aid of Indians against the tide of colonists rebelling for independence. Meanwhile, impoverished farmer Nathan Holden, in love with aristocrat Nancy Montague, reluctantly joins the Patriots – only to find himself at odds with Nancy's stern father and her arrogant brother.

Young Austrian girl Marie Helmar, is left penniless by the death of her father and disgraced by Prussian officer Captain Von Pfaffen, she flees to the safety of her French cousins, the De La Mottes. There she falls in love with their eldest son Gerome. On the night before their wedding, Marie sends a letter to Gerome confessing her indiscretion with the Prussian, but the letter is returned unopened. Soon after, she recognizes a new household servant to be Von Pfaffen, who demands that Marie disclose war secrets in return for his silence about her past. Torn, she passes on false information, which disgraces the Prussian. In revenge, he attempts to kill Marie, but she shoots him in self-defense. Shaken by remorse, Marie presents Gerome with her confession, which, he then reveals, he had read the night of their wedding. Their life thus unclouded, Marie announces she is expecting Gerome's child.

After screams from a beautiful house draw neighbors and the police, Victor Bailey is shot and wounded while leaving the premises. Investigation reveals that an unknown assailant attacked Cynthia Holmes, a blind musician, and her secretary, killing the latter. Despite Cynthia's objections, Bailey, who claims to have been investigating the scream, is arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death. To keep Cynthia's mind occupied, her friends persuade her to give a benefit recital at the house; there, she shakes hands with music critic Harry Warren, whom she instantly accuses of the murder, having recognized his touch. Warren escapes but is pursued by Detective Hayden, who tricks him into a confession. Bailey is freed and marries Cynthia, and the birth of their first child restores her sight.

The backdrop is fifteenth century France, and Charles, Duke of Burgundy has promised his daughter, Princess Mary, that she can marry the man she loves, Prince Maximilian of Styria. But when the Swiss threaten war, the duke is compelled to take back his word and he arranges for Mary to wed the half-witted dauphin of France's King Louis XI .

At a reception for Mr. and Mrs. Vance Leighton, three men are discussing the effects of heredity in shaping the careers of children. To prove his contention that the theory of heredity is often demonstrated to be false, John Strong, a secret service agent, tells a true story: Two orphan sisters are adopted, one by society leaders, the other by a couple of crooks. The latter, known as "The Angel," becomes an expert pickpocket, while the other, Evelyn, becomes a reigning belle.

This whodunit bears no relation to the 1918 picture of the same name, but both films coincidentally had the same director, Tom Terriss. When sleazy theatrical agent Maurice Beiner (Arthur Donaldson) is found stabbed to death in his office, just about everybody is a suspect -- there's aspiring actress Clancy Deane (Eileen Huban), who was one of the last people to see him alive, and Sophie Carey (Alma Rubens) who knows he has some love letters she wrote to Judge Walbrough (George MacQuarrie) before she married her alcoholic husband, Don (Henry Sedley). Or is it Marc Weber (Norman Kerry), who had a falling out with Beiner, or Weber's devoted wife, Fay (Ethel Duray)?

When Keene McComb, a young explorer on an expedition to the North Pole, is given up for lost, his fiancée, Hester Thorpe, is coerced by an ambitious aunt into marrying Martin Ward, a man of reputed wealth. McComb survives, however, and returns to New York a few hours after the marriage. Later, Hester seeks his protection when Ward strikes her because of her refusal to ask McComb for money, and when it appears that Ward has committed suicide she and McComb are married. Ward is still alive, however, but he meets his death on a rocky precipice.

No synopsis available yet.

An innocent man goes to prison for obstruction of justice when his wife refuses to reveal that her father was killed by her mother (and it wasn't suicide). When he is finally released, he meets and becomes involved with a young woman who belongs to the town's influential elite. Once again, he finds himself caught up in intrigue - which eventually leads to his exposing the mayor of the town as corrupt.

School for Wives is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Victor Halperin and starring Conway Tearle, Sigrid Holmquist, and Peggy Kelly. It provided an early role for the future star Brian Donlevy. Based on Leonard Merrick's 1907 melodramatic novel The House of Lynch, it was not well-received by critics.

When his wife is killed by the evil Marques de Bazan, Spanish army officer Dorando becomes a notorious outlaw known as El Bandolero. He kidnaps Bazan's son Ramon and has him raised by one of his own men. When Ramon grows up to be a man he meets and falls in love with El Bandolero's beautiful daughter Petra. Bandolero forbids his daughter from seeing Ramon, so Ramon leaves to become a bullfighter. A vengeful young woman he has spurned sets up Ramon to be gored by a vicious young bull. Complications ensue.

When her father's death leaves Virginia Hastings facing a life of poverty, she breaks her engagement to Robert Monti to marry millionaire James Vandam. Unaccustomed to wealth, she entertains lavishly and flirts with many men, although her husband's secretary remains immune to her wiles.

No synopsis available yet.

When World War I breaks out, young West Point cadet Gerald Ackland, who is studying in Paris, joins the French army as a fighter pilot. His French fiancee, Martha Landeau, and her father flee to the family farm, which is near the Marne River, for safety. When German troops take over the area, they raid Marthe's farm and attempt to ravage her--but suddenly, out of the sky, comes a French fighter plane that scatters the Germans--and its pilot is none other than Gerald. However, that's not the end of their troubles, by any means.

In the summer of 1914, Alsatian maiden Louise de Villars is attacked by two German soldiers. Hugh Brown, a visiting American, comes to her rescue and they fall in love. When war is declared, Hugh enlists in the French flying corps and shoots down thirty enemy planes. He is captured, but escapes with other prisoners while being transferred to another camp, and arrives at Louise's house to find camp commander, Baron Von Steinbach. To save Hugh from being executed, Louise offers herself to the lecherous Baron. Louise then kills him and escapes with Hugh to an American trench, where they are married by a chaplain on the final day of the war. Afterward, they leave Europe for Hoboken, New Jersey.

Short film lost. Based on the novel, The Day of Days. by Louis Joseph Vance

Composer Edvard Björkman suffers amnesia during an accident at sea, but finds a new identity and career in Paris. Meanwhile, back in Sweden, his family suffers.

No synopsis available yet.

A Woman's Honor is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Roland West.

Louise Grayling escapes from a straight-laced aunt on a plea that she wants to visit her uncle, Captain Abe, on Cape Cod. Abe is henpecked by his housekeeper and rather looked down upon by the villagers who haunt his store. To give himself a fictitious glory he invents a fictitious brother, Amzon, who is a composite of all the pirates from Blackbeard to the food profiteers. Louise penetrates the deception and induced Abe to go away and come back as the fictitious brother.

General Wolfe, appointed commander of the expedition against Quebec, comes to bid his mother goodbye. Before sailing, the general calls upon his sweetheart, Katherine Lowther. She presents him with a locket containing a miniature of herself. Wolfe places the jewel on a chain about his neck. Mignon Mars and her brother, Hubert, of a Canadian family, are captured by a body of men attached to the Royal Americans. Lieutenant Arleigh, the officer in charge, secures their release. Mignon loses her heart to the young officer. General Montcalm arrives at Quebec and takes command of the French forces.

No synopsis available yet.

Major Temple vainly tries to purchase of the priests the Green God he sees on a visit to China. He commissions Robert Ashton to get it for him, promising him the hand of his daughter in marriage.

A young man leaves Ireland for America, but doesn't forget home.

Tony Vallenci, just over from Italy, is offered a job by Pietro Valli, an unscrupulous padrone. Ignorant of American money, Tony signs a contract calling for a wage of sixty cents a day. He goes to work in a quarry owned by Dodge. The following day Tony is knocked down by an auto containing Mrs. Dodge. He is uninjured, but the kind lady takes him to his home.

When she is orphaned Lily Upjohn, from the London slums, becomes a chorus girl at the Pandora Theatre. During a performance a scene painter drops some paint near Lily and her screams prompt the show's composer to create a hit song "Mind the Paint Girl," which Lily makes an overnight sensation. She is courted by young officer Nicholas Jeyes and by Lord Francombe. Driving both men to near ruin she promises marriage to both but in the end choses neither.

When elderly Joseph Moreau and his young wife Therese offer refuge to starving young dramatist Paul Savary, gossips begin to spread rumors of a love affair between the wife and the writer. For the good of all concerned, Paul moves into separate quarters. One day Paul overhears the gossip again at a café and challenges the purveyor of the lie to a duel. Moreau, for his own satisfaction, takes Paul's place in combat and is mortally wounded. Moreau staggers to Paul's apartment where he discovers Therese, who has come to beg the writer to refuse to fight.

Romance between the playwright Harry Bryant and the homeless and illiterate Kate.

A bride who discovers during her wedding ceremony that her husband-to-be has fathered a child out of wedlock with another woman.

Kathleen, the daughter of a fisherman meets Henry, the son of a Wall Street Broker, her father forbids their relationship, Kathleen defies her father, and travels to New York to be reunited with Henry.

A young American doctor and his brother are involved in an auto accident in a foreign country. The doctor happens to catch a glance of a beautiful princess and falls immediately in love. Meanwhile, in a neighboring country, the princess' husband--a spoiled wastrel who happens to look just like the doctor--is in pursuit of a courtesan. The doctor overhears a group of army officers plotting to kill the king and put the prince on the throne. Unfortunately for the doctor, the plotters mistake him for the prince.

A young English nobleman is sent to Switzerland by his parents, where he meets a mysterious older woman with whom he has a torrid three-week romance.

Jack Duncan returns from the war in France to his wife and baby and learns that his job as a draftsman at the Loring Steel Mills has been taken. Given work in the machine shop, Jack becomes the prey of Red agitators who want him because of his popularity with soldiers. The Reds cause Jack's discharge just when his house payments come due, and when they convince him of the injustice of his situation, he joins their ranks. After learning of plans to burn the factory and Loring's home, and start a riot in the town, Jack is won over by a socialist's arguments advocating mild reforms. At a meeting of workingmen, Jack praises Americanism. He warns Loring and, with soldiers at a nearby camp, quells the riot. After a woman agitator kills her comrades and then shoots herself, Jack arrives home to save his wife from an attack by a Red ringleader. Jack is then made a foreman at the mill.

A girl in the Swedish archipelago finds herself in trouble with her fiance, when rumors about her engaging with other boys starts to emerge.

To receive the $5,000 promised in her Uncle Stephen's will, Dulcie Culpepper must live with her Uncle John in New York for six months so that her father, a Confederate colonel, will be reconciled with his brother whose marriage to a Northern woman long ago caused a breach.

Roger Kendall is sent to Nashville by the editor of his magazine to sign a contract for two cents a word with a woman writer named Azalea Adair. Once there, Kendall realizes that Azalea is very poor and is also the abused wife of Major Caswell, a drunkard who takes from Azalea every cent she earns. Kendall is able to piece their story together by following the movements of a torn dollar bill, which he gives to Azalea's former slave Caesar and which eventually winds up in Caswell's hands. In order to help Azalea, Kendall convinces his editor to increase her stipend to eight cents a word and also to advance her $30.

Mary Randall, who has just lost her job, is taking care of her widowed mother. Mary learns that her late uncle has left her part of his estate. She and her mother move to Florida to live on the Twisted Oaks Plantation. Mary meets her neighbor, Jack Carleton, and the two fall in love. The workers on the plantation believe in voodoo. The Voodoo Priest incites the superstitious workers. Mary orders him off the plantation, and he vows revenge.

John Howland travels to the frozen North to build a branch of the Hudson Bay Railroad. There he meets and falls in love with Meleese Thoreau who warns him that her three bloodthirsty brothers, Max, Pierre and François, have sworn vengeance against a man named John Howland, the son of a man who killed their mother, and that torture and death await him along the route to his station.

The film is based on a book of the same name by Arthur Guy Empey, detailing his service as an American volunteer with the British Army on the Western Front.

Paul, a blind basket weaver, plies his trade at a small seaside village. Anna, a cripple, is madly in love with the handsome young man. He does not know of her deformity and Dolly, who also loves him, is too tender-hearted to tell.

A young Irish boy has fallen in love with a poor girl and wants to marry her, but his mother will stop at nothing, including murder, to see that he marries his rich cousin.

John R. Bradley, a wealthy ship builder, seeks a title for his daughter, Miriam. Mr. Bradley introduces Baron de Coverly, a fortune hunter to Miriam. The baron becomes an ardent suitor and after a short courtship Miriam consents to be his wife. They start for a long cruise on Mr. Bradley's new schooner, Carpathia. Captain Hastings is taking his son, Gilbert, a rising young artist, on the cruise. Miriam and Gilbert become friends and the jealousy of the baron is aroused. During a drunken frenzy the baron sets fire to the schooner.

During World War I, Kervyn Guild, an American citizen who was born in Belgium, is captured with other Belgian refugees by the Germans. Brought before the commanding officer, General Von Reiter, Guild is offered his own freedom as well as that of the other refugees if he goes to London and returns with the officer's daughter, Karen Girard, who actually is his mistress.

No synopsis available yet.

Lillian Hill, a poor stenographer, sacrifices her romance with an equally poor playwright, Henry Parker, to marry her boss Wilbur Mason. She does this only so that she will have the means to pay for surgery to restore her mother's sight. But the surgery is unsuccessful, and her coldness towards Mason arouses his jealousy.

An Irish mother uses her life savings to pay for her son, a talented musician, to study in America.

Based on the story of the real-life 17th Century Irish rebel and the eighteen century ballad about him, this one-reeler is one of the Kalem pictures shot by Olcott and his company on their second trip to the Emerald Isle.

Lillian Stevens was raised without care, attention, or education on the ways of the world. When she becomes pregnant by the reckless Harold Winthrop, her mother takes her to an abortionist. Harold then falls for Ruth Stevens, raised by an attentive and loving mother, who is not so easily taken advantage of.