The Mother and the Law

After the relatively low box office takings of 'Intolerance', D. W. Griffith would revisit his epic film three years later by releasing two of the film's interlocking stories as standalone features, with some new additional footage. The second of these was 'The Mother and the Law', which demonstrates how crime, moral puritanism, and conflicts between ruthless capitalists and striking workers help ruin the lives of marginal Americans.

Scarlet Days

Rosie Nell, a woman of disreputable dance halls in early lawless California, is wrongly charged with the murder of one of her fellow entertainers. Because her daughter, who knows nothing of her mother's station in life, is to return the next day from her school in the east, Rosie is granted three days of grace to be spent in company with her daughter at a nearby cabin. The three days begin happily enough, thanks to the serenades of heroic bandit Alvarez and the poetry of romantic Randolph. But Bagley, the dance hall manager, has seen the dau...

The Battle

Union soldiers march off to battle amid cheering crowds. After the battle turns against the Union Army, one soldier runs away, hiding in his girlfriend's house. Ashamed of his cowardice, he finds his courage and crosses enemy lines to bring help to his trapped comrades.

The Painted Lady

A lonely young woman lives with her strict father who forbids her to wear make-up. One day at an ice cream social, she meets a young man you seems interested in her. However, unknown to her, he is a burglar who is only interested in breaking into her father's house. One night she is awakened by a noise.

Footlight Varieties

A compilation of scenes and acts from various comedy and musical shorts over the years.

Those Awful Hats

A pair of young ladies cause trouble at the cinema with their lavish hats.

The Adventures of Dollie

On a warm and sunny summer's day, a mother and father take their young daughter Dollie on a riverside outing.

Man's Genesis

An old man tells his grandchildren about prehistoric man: Caveman Weakhands is unable to court a woman because of his physical weakness. Humiliated by Bruteforce, he bumps into Lillywhite, who has also been cowering in her cave in mourning. The two new lovers form a connection, but Bruteforce separates the couple and sends Weakhands scrambling. In his cave, Weakhands thinks up the design of a stone club. With this equalizer, he soon vanquishes Bruteforce and wins Lillywhite back again-- An early step in human progress.

The Mothering Heart

A young couple struggle to get ahead, the wife always assuaging the troubles of her melancholy husband. As he climbs the ladder of success, he abandons the homely values and begins an affair with a beautiful woman. His wife leaves him, returning to her mother's home where she bears a child. When the husband is abandoned by his lady friend, remorse drives him to find his wife.

The Sacrifice

Oh, the woe of simultaneous birthdays, as were Mr. and Mrs. Hardlucks', and both being of a generous nature, were seized with an insatiable desire to make on this anniversary of their nativity suitable gifts, each to the other, Hardluck has a watch, but no fob. Mrs. Hardluck has a wealth of hair, but no decorative comb for her hair. What is worse, finances are low, or rather exhausted. An idea strikes Hardluck. He will pawn his watch and buy a comb; thus surprising her. Mrs. Hardluck's mind is also illumined by a bright thought. She will sac...

Rose o' Salem Town

A young girl living in Salem attracts the attentions of The Puritan. After he's brushed off by the girl, he becomes furious and desiring revenge, declares to a council of elders that the girl and her mother are witches.

A Trap for Santa Claus

The children of a household attempt to capture Santa, but they catch something else entirely.

The Miser's Heart

Thieves decide to steal the money an old miser has hidden away. He refuses to open the safe for them, so they threaten to kill a little girl who lives in his building.

Over Silent Paths

In the heart of the American west, a miner toils day after day at his rocker box while his young daughter keeps his camp. His daughter persuades him to return to civilization, where they may enjoy the fruits of their labor. Both are happy in the anticipation of what seems a bright future. While she's away, a desert wanderer appears at the camp, and at the sight of the old man weighing his gold is seized with cupidity. He himself had toiled long in the wilds, but with no success, so he demands that the old man divide his gains with him. This,...

So Near, Yet So Far

It's love at first sight for the Boy, but obstacles-- namely shyness, and the temerity of other suitors-- place themselves in the way of his love. Unknowingly, the Boy and the young woman of his fancy both stay at the home of mutual friends-- But all is not well, as robbers lurk outside the house.

A Romance of Happy Valley

John Logan leaves his parents and sweetheart in bucolic Happy Valley to make his fortune in the city. Those he left behind become miserable and beleaguered in his absence, but after several years he returns, a wealthy man. But his embittered father, not recognizing him for who he is, plans to murder the newly-arrived "stranger" for his money.

Two Daughters of Eve

Calumny is one of the most despicable crimes against our neighbor, and while the wife in this story acted conventionally, she nevertheless maligned the other woman simply because of her profession, an actress. While out on a shopping tour, the wife and her husband enter a store, leaving their little child in the auto in the care of the chauffeur. This gentleman pays but scant attention to the child, so the little one wanders off and strolls into the stage door of a theater during the matinee. The parents upon their return to the auto discove...

Twin Brothers

Two boys, twins, leave the old homestead to seek their fortune in the world. They go divergent roads, and are soon widely separated one from the other, but they grow lonesome and try to find each other's whereabouts, without success. We lose sight of Bill and Dick is seen up against it good and hard. For him the future looks like a chalk ring on a blackboard, until he happens to saunter along the Bowery, where the manager of a dime museum offers him a job to play the gorilla. It looks good so he accepts. It is pretty sort until the astute im...

The Lonedale Operator

A young woman takes over her sick father's role as telegraph operator at a railway station, and has to deal with a team intent on train robbery.

The Girl Who Stayed at Home

Ralph visits France with his father, a shipbuilder, and falls in love with Blossom, the granddaughter of his father's friend, a Civil war veteran not reconciled with the Union. Blossom, however, is engaged to a French nobleman. When the war breaks out, Ralph enlists, while his brother Jim, a heartbreaker, is drafted.