Henry King

Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with Roman officer Messala as conqueror and Judah as a wealthy, though conquered, Israelite. A slip of a brick during a Roman parade causes Judah to be sent off as a galley slave, his property confiscated and his mother and sister imprisoned. Years later, as a result of his determination to stay alive and his willingness to aid his Roman master, Judah returns to his homeland an exalted and wealthy Roman athlete. Unable to find his mother and sister, and believing them dead, he can think of nothing else than revenge against Messala.

No synopsis available yet.

In March 1916, Pathé released a short feature entitled Little Mary Sunshine, starring a four-year-old Marie Osborne. This was one of the first features ever directed by King and it was so successful that Pathé asked the original production company, Balboa, for five more features with the same child wonder. All were produced during the second half of 1916, and only three of them survive today – one being Twin Kiddies, which shows the amazing progress King had made since the first film in the series. Of course, the story is thin, the ending quite abrupt, and the opening sequences rather long. Yet, the direction is much more subtle, alternating between shots of different size, suggesting that King was mastering the art of composition.

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.

To track an elusive mountain still, Secret Service agent Dorothy Madison goes undercover as an artist, faking an injury to infiltrate the home of a handsome moonshiner named Dave. There, she must maintain her cover while dealing with Dave's suspicious mother and Nell, a hostile, rifle-toting local girl.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

Shouts of joy and the clapping of many tiny hands welcomed the arrival of the big birthday cake. For this was Little Mary's birthday. To celebrate all Mary's little friends had been invited and the big event which preceded the supper and the cutting of the cake was a performance of Cinderella and the affair of the glass slipper. Little Mary forgot to leave at the hour of 12, and when she was called away by the fairy she dropped her glass slipper on the stair. Of course, to every one's amazement, when the Prince went looking for the owner of the slipper, the only one whom it fitted was Little Mary.

Harry Wentworth is the profligate son of a ranch owner. His father is tired of Harry's irresponsible drinking and gambling and banishes him from home. Harry becomes a sailor, but right away gets in trouble with the captain. The hard work does him good, however, and when he feels he's had enough of the captain's brutality, he escapes overboard with a couple of friends, whom he takes to his father's ranch. Back home he discovers that his father is in danger of losing his ranch to scheming lawyer Jim Martin. Martin is in love with Ethel Crandall, the sister of gambler Ralph Crandall.

Leona Stafford receives a legacy of $1000 and invests it in a scheme to catch a rich husband. After purchasing a new wardrobe, Leona goes to a fashionable resort hotel where she poses as a widow with a mysterious past. She arouses the suspicions of the hotel clerk, a correspondence school sleuth, who suspects that she has kidnapped Captain Cromwell, a wealthy aviator who has been missing for several days. Desperate, Leona appeals for help to Tubbs, whom she believes to be an idle tramp. Tubbs wins her love before he discloses himself as the missing aviator, causing Leona to heave a sigh of relief that her search for a husband has ended.

James Sterling, wealthy bachelor, is told by his doctor that he must go up into the mountains if he would recover the health lost in his midnight parties. He goes, leaving behind Clarice Driscoll, a society girl whom he loves. In the mountains he meets Lucy Bingham. Away from the city influences, he falls in love with this maid of the wilds

Just after Bob's fiancée breaks off their engagement, he meets young Mary, whose mother has just died, and the two of them comfort each other.

Wealthy diamond collector Larry Hanrahan is given the opportunity to assist the beautiful, jewel-bedecked woman he admires in a Broadway café when she and her guardian are attacked by robbers. Larry is invited to visit the grateful pair, Col. Paul Gascoyne and his ward Adrienne, at the colonel's laboratory, where he is introduced to Wintermute, a chemist who produces imitation diamonds. In return, Larry asks them to view his priceless diamond collection. Although he has fallen in love with Adrienne, Larry is forced to believe that she is a thief when he is robbed by a woman wearing Adrienne's scarf. Larry finds his jewels in Gascoyne's house, but before he can escape, a group of thugs overpowers him. Adrienne assists him in contacting the police, who arrive in time to capture Gascoyne and his gang. Badly wounded, the colonel confesses that Adrienne has been his innocent dupe, whereupon Larry happily takes her to his heart.

Arnold Truesdell, a rich invalid, requests his secretary, Robert Sheridan, to summon his lawyer. Truesdell is the foster father of Marion Robertson, the child of his bosom friend who died some time ago. His happiness with the little girl was soon dissipated, for she was kidnapped by a gypsy whose enmity he had aroused.

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.

After a lover's quarrel, writer Grace Hunt goes vacationing to a seaside resort where she decides to swap identities with a student.

Tom Milford, foreman of the Hayden ranch, and Sylvia Hayden, daughter of the ranch owner, are in love. Hayden has been notified that Archie Hollister, son of an old friend in the east, is coming to visit the ranch. Just before Hollister arrives, a cowboy brings word to the ranch that Simms, a troublesome neighbor, has been illegally interfering with the ranch supply of water.

A man neglects his wife to be with a dance hall singer. When the truth of his infidelity reaches his wife and the truth of his marital status reaches his lover, both women are heartbroken.

Having served ten years at hard labor, Robert Richards, Convict No. 832, regains his freedom from prison. Resolved to start life anew, he seeks employment, but the world looks askance at him, and failure meets his persistent efforts.

The fastest gun in the West tries to escape his reputation.

When notorious pirate Henry Morgan is made governor of Jamaica, he enlists the help of some of his former partners in ridding the Caribbean of buccaneers. When one of them apparently abducts the previous governor's pretty daughter and joins up with the rebels, things are set for a fight.

A widowed doctor of both Chinese and European descent falls in love with a married American correspondent in Hong Kong during China's Communist revolution.

Lovely Anita dreams of escaping the monotony of her island home and sailing to bustling Havana. But when her abusive father promises her to the greasy local merchant, Anita does everything in her power to make her dream a reality.

In the early days of daylight bombing raids over Germany, General Frank Savage must take command of a 'hard luck' bomber group. Much of the story deals with his struggle to whip his group into a disciplined fighting unit in spite of heavy losses, and withering attacks by German fighters over their targets.

Writer Harry Street reflects on his life as he lies dying from an infection while on safari in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men he believes murdered his wife. When the convicts escape, Jim tracks them into Mexico, determined to see that justice is done. But the farther Jim goes in his quest for vengeance, the more merciless he becomes, losing himself in an unrelenting spiral of hatred and violence.

In 1858 Lourdes, France, adolescent peasant Bernadette has a vision of "a beautiful lady" in the Massabielle grotto - the townspeople assume this lady to be the Virgin Mary. Pompous government officials think the girl is insane, doing their best to suppress her and her followers, while the church wants nothing to do with the matter. But as Bernadette attracts wider and wider attention, the phenomenon overtakes everyone in the town, ultimately transforming their lives.

Billy Bigelow has been dead for 15 years. Now outside the pearly gates, he long ago waived his right to go back to Earth for a day. He has heard that there is a problem with his family: namely with his wife Julie Bigelow, née Jordan, and his child he hasn't met. He would now like to head back to Earth to assist in rectifying the problem; but before he may go, he has to get permission from the gatekeeper by telling him his story. Adapted from the Rodgers and Hammerstein hit Broadway musical.

In the late 1930s, Sheilah Graham’s Hollywood column quickly becomes popular for its biting tone. At a party, she meets author F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the two begin a torrid affair. Scott laments that his writing has fallen out of fashion, and when he is fired from his screenwriting position, he begins drinking heavily. Soon his intrusive, volatile behavior threatens their relationship and Sheilah's career.

In Renaissance Florence, a Florentine trader meets a shipwrecked stranger, who introduces himself as Tito Melema, a young Italianate-Greek scholar. Tito becomes acquainted with several other Florentines, including Nello the barber and a young girl named Tessa. He is also introduced to a blind scholar named Bardo de' Bardi, and his daughter Romola. As Tito becomes settled in Florence, assisting Bardo with classical studies, he falls in love with Romola.

After railroad agents forcibly evict the James family from their family farm, Jesse and Frank turn to banditry for revenge.

Young John Glenarm's wealthy grandfather leaves him his estate, but the will stipulates that John live in the estate, rumored to be haunted, for one year or it will be forfeited to schoolteacher Marian Deveraux. John moves in and strange and unexplained events begin to occur. He really doesn't want to stay there anymore, but finds that he is falling in love with pretty young Marian, and decides to stick it out. However, there's more to his grandfather's will than John realizes, and it's not long before he finds out just what that is.

The O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.

The political career of Woodrow Wilson is chronicled, beginning with his decision to leave his post at Princeton to run for Governor of New Jersey, and his subsequent ascent to the Presidency of the United States. During his terms in office, Wilson must deal with the death of his first wife, the onslaught of German hostilities leading to American involvement in the Great War, and his own country's reticence to join the League of Nations. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 2006.

During Civil War Reconstruction, the Connelly family is romantically restored to their former glory when Will Connelly marries a Yankee farm girl, Joanna Tate, despite the objects of his temperamental father Bob Connelly.

A group of disillusioned American expatriate writers live a dissolute, hedonistic lifestyle in 1920's France and Spain.

King David enters into an adulterous affair with the beautiful Bathsheba, which has tragic consequences for his family and Israel.

Kingston Hollister admires Bernice Cleveland from afar. He asks Officer Callahan, the policeman on the beat, about her and mistakenly believes she is a lady's maid. So the wealthy Hollister disguises himself as the cop so he can meet her.

Five O. Henry stories, each separate. The primary one from the critics' acclaim was "The Cop and the Anthem". Soapy tells fellow bum Horace that he is going to get arrested so he can spend the winter in a nice jail cell. He fails. He can't even accost a woman; she turns out to be a streetwalker. The other stories are "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of Red Chief", and "The Gift of the Magi".

Boy Leyton is second mate on board the Lady Spray, the ship on which his father is Captain Leyton. Boy is often chided by his father for his effeminacy and more often beaten. While in port Boy proposes to Minnie and suggests that she go to Glasgow to meet him there to be married. The ship sails and the Captain learns of his son's intention to marry. He calls him in and tells him about his mother, who deserted him, and tries to turn him away from all women, but Boy refuses to listen. The Captain is suddenly taken ill, but before he dies he makes Boy promise that he will not marry until he has found the man who wronged his mother. The Captain is buried at sea and the ship continues on its course. Upon reaching Glasgow Boy tells Minnie what happened. While at the bar, he meets an old woman who comes in begging. During the conversation he discovers that she is his mother, and he forces her to tell him who her betrayer was. A lost film.

Two men who bear a striking resemblance to each befriend each other while stationed in France during WWI. One is fatally fatally wounded and requests makes a dying request to his doppelganger to take on his identity.

Two men who bear a striking resemblance to each befriend each other while stationed in France during WWI. One is fatally fatally wounded and requests makes a dying request to his doppelganger to take on his identity.

Two men who bear a striking resemblance to each befriend each other while stationed in France during WWI. One is fatally fatally wounded and requests makes a dying request to his doppelganger to take on his identity.