Arthur V. Johnson

A nostalgic look at film clips from the Silent era.

In the Kingdom of Never-Never Land there live a great Lord and Lady, each presiding over their own domain. This great Lord goes for a stroll through his estate and coming to the border of his own land he is struck by the entrancing beauty of the contiguous estate, so like his own, that the inclination to intrude is irresistible. His peregrination is halted by the appearance of the great Lady, who is indeed as fair as the flowers that clothe her land. He introduces himself and invites her to stroll with him in his gardens. She is in like manner entranced by the beauty of his possessions. How alike in beauty are they; a veritable fairyland. If they were only one, for it seems they should be. This thought is mutual, and the Lord proposes a way, a marriage, and so a betrothal of convenience ensues. They know nothing of love and so are content in the anticipation of being Lord and Lady of all Never-Never Land.

Aunt Jane's nieces and nephews bicker over an anticipated legacy.

A melodrama about a boy who initially wants nothing to do with his stepmother.

A storm smashes a ship onto a rocky shore, coincidentally bringing together two rivals of one woman’s love: one a drowning sailor, the other his would-be rescuer who lets him slip beneath the water. Later, overcome by guilt and the recriminations of the woman he loves, the survivor sacrifices himself by joining his rival under the sea.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

The film follows a, love triangle in a Maine fishing village, where a girl named Rosie (Lawrence) gives a rose to two brothers who are vying for her hand. The plot involves jealousy, a fight at sea for a rose, a near-death experience, and a final resolution where the younger brother gets the girl.

An escaped mental patient assumes the identity of a society girl's dead father and threatens her marriage.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

The husband of the young woman is shot by a rejected suitor and she is left with an infant boy, who is to be spared until he reaches man's estate. Standing over the dead body of her husband she vows vengeance.

One man squanders a fortune and loses his house and sweetheart to another who strikes it rich.

No synopsis available yet.

A society woman gambles at cards.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

A rich nobleman steals a perfume merchant's wife just prior to the French Revolution, in which the perfumer is a leader of the peasants. His priest made him swear an oath to leave vengeance to God, however.

No synopsis available yet.

A young society swain is stolen away from the young blind girl he loves by a rapacious queen of the demi-monde who is only out for his wealth…at first. Soon enough, she falls for him and is purified by her feelings. Realizing she will ruin his life if they stay together, she commits suicide in the gray of the dawn, and he returns to his true love.

Tony Gazeco, one of the workers in the factory, is an anarchist and agitator. Being of excitable nature he is looked upon by the other men as a leader and during the lunch hour makes impassionate speeches. Will and May Mason passing in an auto are witnesses to one of the tirades and going to the office of Fred Jackson, the owner, tell him of the probable strike...

The orphan girl of San Gabriel meets and is attracted by a Spanish stranger. The Spaniard is accused of cheating and set to be lynched, but is saved by the girl's ruse, who later becomes his bride.

"It's in the surprise" that great plays are made and battles won, and our tenderfoot friend, appreciating this, pulls a victory that is amazing.

A young governess catches the eye of an aristocrat and romance blossoms.

This film with a highly offensive and racist title tells the story of Jose, a handsome young Mexican, who leaves his home in the Sierra Madre Mountains with a cross-embroidered gauntlet from his mother. In a border tavern, he is falsely accused of theft after a Chinese servant frames him. A lynch mob attempts to hang Jose, but Mildred West, a romantic newcomer, discovers the real thief and saves Jose just in time. Grateful, Jose cuts the gauntlet in half, giving Mildred the wrist portion as a pledge of lifelong protection. Over the next five years, Jose falls into alcoholism due to his hopeless love for Mildred, who is now the wife of engineer Tom Berkeley. The villainous Bill Gates recruits Jose to attack the couple and kidnap Mildred and, during the assault, Jose discovers Mildred’s dropped gauntlet token. Recognizing his savior, Jose turns on Gates, kills him in a fierce battle, saves Mildred, and returns reformed to his mother.

A contest is being held in Cremona for the best violin, with Giannina's hand in marriage as the prize. Filippo is secretly in love with her, but is also ashamed of being a cripple, so he switches his superior violin with that of another apprentice, Sandro, whom Giannina loves.

During the American Revolution, a young soldier carrying a crucial message to General Washington is spotted and pursued by a group of enemy soldiers. He takes refuge with a civilian family, but is soon detected. The family and their neighbors must then make plans to see that the important message gets through after all.

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.

Mr. Jones at the Ball is a 1908 American silent short comedy film, part of the once-popular Biograph series centered around the titular Jones and his long-suffering wife. In this film, Jones rips his suit pants and chaos ensues.

Adaptation of a poem written by Thomas Hood.

A man arrives home late and drunk as usual. His wife reminds him that he's supposed to take their daughter out to a play. While watching the play, he's faced with his own drinking evils and how his life would be without them.

Based on Shakespeare's play. Petruchio courts the bad-tempered Katharina, and tries to change her aggressive behavior.

After being jilted for another, a woman sends her lover's old letters to the new fiancée and looks forward to the reaction. But when she spots her old lover's glove left behind, she has a change of heart and repents.

George Redfeather, the hero of this subject, returns from Carlisle, where he not only graduated with high honors, but was also the star of the college football team. At a reception given in his honor by Lieut. Penrose, an Indian agent, the civilized brave meets Gladys, the lieutenant's daughter, and falls desperately in love with her.

An Indian village is forced to leave its land by white settlers, and must make a long and weary journey to find a new home. The settlers make one young Indian woman stay behind. This woman is thus separated from her sweetheart, whose elderly father needs his help on the journey ahead

A disfigured young woman with two beautiful sisters is courted by a blind man. Will he still love her when his sight is restored?

Agnes, a singer in a country church, is practicing one day when a vaudeville manager hears her and offers her a job. Over the objections of the curate who loves her, she accepts the offer and goes to the city. Later the curate goes to hear Agnes perform and, fearing that her soul is being corrupted by show business, he asks her to return to the small town with him. When she refuses, he is prepared to kill her in order to protect the purity of her soul. This brings about her change of heart, and together they return to the little church.

A pack of admirers won't leave a beautiful woman alone at a seaside resort, so she devises a plan. She appears in a leg-revealing swimsuit, but the stockings have been stuffed with cotton to make her limbs appear misshapen. All but one of the men is driven off, and regret it when she removes the misleading leggings.

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.

A woman who is filled with romantic ideas is making no secret of her eagerness to find a husband. Her father decides to help her by pressuring and threatening an eligible bachelor, who reluctantly allows wedding plans to be made.

"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.

A mountain girl is seduced by a traveler from the valley. Her brother tracks the seducer down and kills him. In retaliation, the sheriff captures the brother and prepares to lynch him. Mother intervenes and, to save her son the disgrace of hanging, shoots him.

A girl from the New York slums falls in with crooks. After her love is arrested following a barfight turned deadly, her life seems directionless-- that is, until she's saved from the streets by a band of Salvationists. She enrolls, and soon afterward encounters her former love in the same bar. Her faith is real, and strong, and her former love doesn't like this.

As Poe's lover is slowly dying, he struggles to make money to care for her.

Out-of-work, Tim steals a sandwich, then knocks out the policeman who chases him. He changes into the policeman's uniform, and is approached by a wife who needs help with her drunken husband.

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.

A king grows suspicious of his favored woman's affection for an Italian troubadour. After confirming their secret romance, he takes a cruel revenge by sealing the lovers inside a secluded tower chamber with no means of escape.

A woman is scarred in an accident and refuses to stand in the way of her lover's marriage to another.

Mons. Flamant, a typical roué of the French nobility, is surrounded by all the pleasures and pastimes his fabulous wealth can procure. In a quest of diversion he visits the art rooms, just as a young girl enters with a magnificent piece of sculpture and places it on sale. The roué is so impressed with the work and the girl that he purchases it at once and follows her to the atelier, where he learns that she is the maid of the sculptress, whom he sees and at once falls passionately in love with her, but when he learns that she is totally blind, his feelings change to one of deepest pity.

A music teacher is in love with Helen, one of his students, but she rejects him. In his hurt he joins an anarchist group who plan to blow up a rich capitalist's house. When he realizes it's Helen's house, he tries to stop the plan.

Ruthless bandit Bill Preston rules a terrorizing frontier gang. Frontier girl Nellie Carson loves him despite his cruelty, but he abandons her wounded after a dispute. When a kind mountain girl who offered Nellie aid is kidnapped by Bill, Nellie rescues her from his camp out of jealousy and pity. During their escape, a dropped gun alerts the gang. As they flee on one horse, Nellie shields the mountain girl and takes multiple bullets. A sympathetic bandit kills Bill, stopping the pursuit. Nellie tragically dies from her wounds just as they reach safety at the mountain cabin.

Manuella, a wealthy Mexican girl, rejects the honest cowboy Renaldo to marry Gonzales, a dashing but greedy musician. Upon finding her marriage-box empty of money, a furious Gonzales abandons Manuella for a life of dissipation. He later returns to violently rob her of her jewelry for drink money. Learning of the abuse, Renaldo confronts Gonzales in a destructive tavern brawl. Renaldo defeats the villainous husband but spares his life at Manuella’s request, ultimately rescuing her.

A tramp tricks a cook into leaving her wealthy employer's house. While the clubman's house is empty the tramp makes himself at home, starting by helping himself to a good meal, then going upstairs for a bath and a new set of clothes. Attired in the clubman's clothes, the tramp walks around town, where he is continually mistaken for the clubman.

After three years at sea, Edward returns home to find his sweetheart forced into an engagement with a much older man.

A mother punishes her son for eating a plate of cream puffs, unaware that the daughter really did it. As the daughter watches the punishment, she feels guilty, and confesses her misdeed.

A young female teacher is assigned to an unruly class. After a student revolt, a passing surveyor helps her restore order, and the teacher becomes interested in him. Soon she learns that he has a wife. Dave, an older pupil, offers the teacher solace and it becomes apparent that he is smitten with her.

On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.

Two lovers elope and expect to be pursued by her father. But the clever father has tricked them into running off, and celebrates their wedding when they return home.

Soon after their engagement, Bill goes to sea, and Emily vows to stay true until his return. Unknown to her, Bill marries another woman from a different port. Emily waits faithfully for six years, finally becoming dangerously ill. When Bill suddenly appears in town with his family, Joe, who has loved Emily all along, forces Bill to make Emily's final moments happy by pretending he has returned to marry her.

A Duke's daughter is loved by a gallant knight, but her father wants her to marry another. With the help of his friends, the knight hatches an elaborate scheme to marry his sweetheart.