A rather ridiculous war time romance, The Splendid Sinner was one of two films to star opera diva Mary Garden. The Scottish-born singer played Dolores Fargis, who loses her husband (Hamilton Revelle) when her sordid past is revealed. Years later, the couple is reunited in, of all places, war-torn Germany, where he is a captured soldier, and she is a Red Cross nurse. Reformed and repentant, Dolores saves the life of her former husband before bravely facing a firing squad. Deprived of her famous vocal chords, Garden was not much of an actress, and she quickly returned to the Metropolitan and other opera venues.

After a few so-so film appearances, Bert Lytell graduated to full stardom in Metro's The Trail to Yesterday. Having been forced to leave his Eastern home in disgrace, cowboy Lytell is in no mood to entertain visitors, and when heroine Anna Q. Nilsson takes refuge in his cabin during a storm, he is all for throwing her out. He changes his mind when he discovers that the girl's father (Ernest Maupin was the man responsible for ruining his life. Vengefully, Lytell forces the girl to marry him, but she escapes his clutches -- only to return to him when she learns that her father isn't her father, and that Lytell has been dealt a dishonest hand. The film's plot was actually a bit more complicated than this, but basically The Trail to Yesterday is a story of regeneration, of the sort that Bert Lytell always did so well. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Against her mother's wishes, Pamela Martin (Emmy Wehlan) becomes engaged to struggling lawyer Frank Steele (Hugh Thompson). Working in concert with Pamela's mom, the girl's oily ex-suitor Gilbert Martin (Joseph Kilgour) frames Steele on a robbery charge, promising not to prosecute if Pamela will agree to marry Martin. It so happens that Gilbert Martin has a twin brother named Douglas (also played by Joseph Kilgour), who has wrongly been committed to an insane asylum so that Gilbert can lay claim to the family fortune. Douglas escapes from the asylum and catches up with Gilbert, and in the ensuing struggle Douglas is killed. Facing charges for a previous crime, Gilbert hastily changes clothes with Douglas and escapes. The police arrive, find the body of "Gilbert," and accuse Pamela of murder. She is acquitted thanks to the legal know-how of Frank Steele, whom she marries after the trial. Meanwhile, Gilbert returns, intending to drive Pamela insane by posing as a ghost. Gilbert's motivation for his actions are somewhat hazy, but the end result is most satisfying: Trapped by Pamela's new husband, Gilbert pays for his sins in a spectacular fall from a third-story window. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Harold Lockwood in THE BIG BROADWAY SUCCESS

Pals The brilliant young star, Harold Lockwood, has a splendid vehicle in "Pals First," which has won the admiration of hosts of people, first as a book and then as a play on the dramatic stage. Mr. Lockwood introduces it to the third great medium, the screen, so that millions may enjoy its mystery, charm and action. The star has the part of Danny Rowland, a tramp, afterwards known as Dick Castelman, a wealthy young man. His "pal," Dominie, shares good and bad days alike with him, and the two have a strange series of adventures. Love, and fortune, are showered upon "Dick," to Dominie's great mystification, and the threads of the story become more and more entangled. The finish of the play contains a real surprise, as well as complete satisfaction for everyone. "Pals First" will prove a real delight.

Jimmy, a millionaire's son, discovers the family butler is really a German spy.

Since he did not survive into the 1920s -- the golden era for silent movies -- few people today realize that Harold Lockwood was an extremely popular matinee idol. At the time of his death from influenza in 1918, he had several films in the can, which were released in the first few months of 1919. Judging from the plot alone, it's obvious that this melodrama was made before the end of World War I. Cyril Hammersley (Lockwood) is an Englishman engaged to an American girl, Doris Mathers (Naomi Childers). Doris does not understand why Hammersley isn't fighting for his country, and he can't explain that it's because he's a member of the secret service. Hammersley's jealous rival for Doris is Sir John Rizzio (Bigelow Cooper), who is also part of a German spy network. Rizzio tries to convince Doris that Hammersley is the one who's a tool of the Germans. Hammersley then gets his hands on a pack of cigarette papers bearing a secret code -- a message containing a plan to blow up London. The papers were meant for Rizzio, and he locks Hammersley away. Hammersley, however, has already given the papers to Doris, and Rizzio takes them from her by force. Doris calls on Scotland Yard for help and they retrieve the evil plans. Hammersley is freed and is reunited with Doris.

Viola Dana was Metro Pictures' top star when False Evidence came out in 1919. Promised in marriage to wealthy Lot Gordon (Joe King), Scottish lassie Madelon MacTavish (Dana) prefers Lot's poor relation Burr Gordon (Wheeler Oakman). The wisdom of her choice is proven later on, when a vengeful Lot tries to rape the girl. She stabs the bounder, whereupon Burr gallantly takes the blame. When Lot recovers, Madelon fesses up and agrees to marry him if he won't prosecute Burr. It takes the Hand of God to sort this one out.

Jimmy Slocum, whose wealthy father continually pays his speeding fines and loses bets to him, wins a $1,000 bet with his father that Katherine Fowler, whom his father wants him to marry, does not love him. Jimmy then wins a $25,000 bet that he can keep from being arrested more than once in the coming year by getting a twelve-month jail sentence for fighting in a bar and then sassing the judge. He is released early, however, due to his father's efforts and vows to succeed on his own. He gets stranded in a small town where he falls in love with Ethel Wheeler, the owner of a rundown hotel, and with her makes a fortune selling mineral water found on her property. When the town banker tries to foreclose on them, Jimmy opens his own bank with the $25,000, marries Ethel and gains the respect of his father for his success.

When J. Winthrop Drake (Warren Cook) brings his daughter Carlotta (Dolores Cassinelli) home from Italy, he tells his wife (Grace Reals) he is the girl's guardian because he wants his prior marriage kept a secret. Carlotta marries Curtis Austin (Frank Mills), but a suitor she rejected is bent on ruining her marriage and her reputation. He believes he has proof that she was having an affair with Drake, unaware that he is her father. When Carlotta tries to reason with the blackmailer, Austin believes she is having an affair with him and murders him. Austin is put on trial and to save him, Carlotta lies by saying that she actually did have an affair so that the homicide will be ruled justifiable. She gets him off, and when he finds out the truth -- that she is innocent of any wrongdoing -- they are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Just about every silent star in the late '10s and early '20s had to play a dual role in at least one picture, and this is minor luminary Dolores Cassinelli's turn. Wanda Hubbard (Cassinelli) is the lover and partner of a criminal. While they are robbing a safe, they overhear some people discussing a "long lost daughter." Some time later, while Wanda is visiting her mother (Letty Ford) and sister Lucille (Cassinelli again), she discovers that she and Lucille are really cousins, and that Lucille is actually the daughter of the wealthy officer (Franklyn Hanna) of the house she had robbed. Wanda uses this opportunity to pawn herself off to the officer as Lucille so she can benefit from his good life. Eventually her identity is discovered, and Lucille returns to her rightful place in her father's home. Cassinelli did little more to distinguish between characters in this picture other than changing wigs. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Scottie Dean (Edward Pell) and his wife Isobel (Jane Novak) are passengers on board a whaling ship. Dean has a fight with the captain and throws him overboard. He and Isobel escape in a lifeboat and go into hiding at an Eskimo village. Mountie William MacVeigh (House Peters) is assigned the task of tracking Dean down. The Eskimo chief, Bye Bye (Horin Konishi), finds out about MacVeigh and warns the Deans. When the Mountie encounters Isobel, she is traveling back to civilization with her husband in a coffin. Taken with Isobel's beauty, MacVeigh does not investigate too deeply, and as a result, she and her husband evade his grasp. Corporal Bucky Smith (Tom Wilson) also goes after the Deans and MacVeigh arrests Scottie. Once they are away from Smith, he lets him go. Back at the station's cabin, he finds a little girl (Pearlie Norton) who reminds him of Isobel. Dean comes to claim the child, but dies of exhaustion. Isobel, mad from brain fever, drives the Mountie away, claiming that he killed Dean to make her his wife. Later, she is reported to have died. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Annesley Grayle (Katherine MacDonald) answers an ad for a traveling companion to an elderly matron to escape the boredom of living with her aunt. When she goes to meet the lady at the Savoy Hotel, an obviously panicky Nelson Smith (Edmund Lowe) asks her to pose as his wife to escape some impending trouble. The two proceed to the home of Ruthven Smith (Thomas Jefferson), a family friend of Annesley, but Ruthven mistakes Nelson for a thief and he shoots Nelson. Annesley's aunt banishes her from the house over her niece's affair with Nelson, but despite her aunts disapproval, the two are soon married. Later, the bride hears Nelson tell an underworld boss he will give up crime after one last heist. Annesley pleads with Nelson not to engage in any more criminal activity. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Even though her marriage to Charles Chaplin was history, Mildred Harris retained star status for a little while longer. In this drama, she plays a spoiled young girl, something the public may have seen as typecasting (even if it wasn't necessarily true in real life). Irene (Harris) is the daughter of wealthy Richard Fletcher (Emmet C. King). Fletcher doesn't let on that he's having financial trouble, and continues to spend scads of money to make her happy. She has two suitors -- one is John Marshall, a struggling young architect (William Lawrence) and the other is Charles Munson (Walter McGrail), a rich clothing designer (this gave the filmmakers a chance to show off the latest extravagant fashions -- a box office plus in the 1920s). Both young men propose. Before Irene can choose one, she gets in a fierce argument with her father and falls down a flight of stairs. While unconscious, she dreams that Munson offers to bail her father out of his financial bind, providing that he gets Irene to marry him. She has already secretly married Marshall, so Munson takes back his offer, and Fletcher shoots himself. When she comes to, Irene decides to stop being so selfish, and chooses Marshall as her husband.

Popular silent star Anita Stewart is the draw in this soap opera-like feature. Julie Laneau, a French-Canadian girl (Stewart) weds distinguished Englishman Geoffrey Arnold (Herbert Rawlinson) and soon enough, she is expecting. But then she is told that Arnold is already married to a woman, Claire (Grace Morse). Julie flees from their cabin in the Northwoods into a blizzard, where she is found by Hubert Randolph (Walter McGrail). Randolph takes her in and takes care of her. He offers to marry her and take her with him to Jamaica and she accepts. But their life together is a disappointment -- Randolph gets so wrapped up in his political ambitions that he neglects Julie and her little boy (Richard Headrick). Randolph wants to become governor, and he asks Julie to help him entertain an important guest who will help him achieve this goal. It turns out the man is Arnold, and she refuses. The two meet up anyhow, and it turns out that she was his legal wife after all. After hearing the whole story, Randolph willingly gives Julie back to Arnold. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Popular silent star Anita Stewart wasn't immune to appearing in routine program pictures, and this mystery has little to recommend it other than her presence. The lusty Arthur Comstock (Walter McGrail) tries to force himself on lovely Sylvia Langdon (Stewart). In an attempt to escape his unwanted advances, Sylvia hurls a candlestick at him, knocking him senseless. She sees his prostrate form through a window and is convinced she has killed him. She marries her fiancé, Bentley Arnold (Allan Forrest), and tries to forget the incident. But she's in for a shock when she and Arnold throw a party at their home and Comstock shows up. Sylvia dashes out of the room in shock and Comstock follows after her. Instead of demanding her body, however, he demands that she give him the family jewels. Comstock, it turns out, murdered his uncle, and it was his body that Sylvia had seen through the window. Comstock's attempts at thievery are foiled and he gets his due. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

One of the silent era's more popular leading ladies, Anita Stewart, stars in this colorful but not particularly true-to-life picture. Alice Lambert (Stewart) has had a hard life, full of sadness and disillusionment. One day she finally decides to end it all, but she is discovered by David Leighton (Walter McGrail) before she can go through with it. By calling her a coward and a quitter, Leighton convinces her to rethink what she is about to do and strikes a deal with her: He will give her 50 thousand dollars to stay alive for another year, at the end of which she can kill herself. With her sudden wealth, Alice is able to surround herself in luxury -- and she also learns along the way that money isn't everything. At the end of the year, Alice has come to realize that she actually has quite a lot to live for, and one of her reasons is Leighton. He proposes and she is more than happy to accept.

Not surprisingly, this Northwoods drama was adapted from a James Oliver Curwood novel, The Poetic Justice of Uko San. It features an excellent cast, including both Beery brothers, Wallace and Noah. Brothers Tom and Bob Fitzgerald (Kenneth Harlan and Gaston Glass, respectively) are both members of the Northwest Mounted Police. Bob falls in love with schoolteacher Joan Cameron (Alice Lake) when he saves her from an attack by Fu Chang (Wallace Beery). Tom is not so heroic, and he becomes involved with the wife (Rosemary Theby) of post sergeant George Mardeaux (Noah Beery). Tom kills Mardeaux, and Bob is forced to hunt down his own brother. He tracks him down to Joan's cabin. But Bob falls seriously ill, and on what he believes to be his deathbed, he protects his brother by signing a confession that claims he is Mardeaux's murderer. Tom returns to the post with the news, but Bob recovers, and when he comes back he is faced with a lynch mob who believe him to be a murderer. Joan tries to save Bob but is attacked by Mardeaux's two-timing widow. Finally the truth comes out that Tom is the real killer, and he swallows poison to avoid hanging.

Although Anita Stewart receives top billing in this action picture, it's Edward Hearn who has the more prominent role. Bill Shannon (Hearn) is building a dam in the mountains of the West. Leon Morse, a Wall Street millionaire and railroad magnate (Arthur Stewart Hull), wants the same land as a right-of-way for his railroad. He travels West to negotiate with Shannon, bringing along his fiancée, Anne Wilmot (Stewart), and her Aunt Katherine (Adele Farrington). The trip proves to be Morse's undoing in several ways -- Anne immediately falls in love with Shannon, who is not terribly cooperative about handing over the land. After his offer to Shannon is turned down, Morse plants a bomb to blow up the dam. Anne is the one who saves the day by disconnecting the bomb's wire. After losing the battle for both the land and his sweetheart, Morse crawls back to his Eastern home. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Character actor Mary Carr was well known for her maternal roles, especially after the success of 1920's Over the Hill. Here Carr plays Anna Webb, whose husband John (Lynn Hammond) invents a new kind of sewing machine. The patent makes the family wealthy, and after Webb dies, Anna takes over the business. She puts her sons John (Percy Helton) and Harry Joseph Striker) in charge of the factory, while daughter Ruth (Jane Thomas) elopes. When Harry steals some money, the blame falls on John, who leaves town. Harry, who has been spoiled all his life, continues his dishonest ways. He draws money out of the family treasury and forges a check for a huge sum. Rather than see her son go to jail, Anna sells everything to cover the bad check and is reduced to working in a sweatshop. Her children are nowhere to be found. When Anna is injured in a car accident which makes the papers, her children reappear to do right by dear old mom. ~ Janiss Garza,

Just because movies before the late '20s were filmed without sound recording, it doesn't mean they were truly silent. This "heart interest" drama (an important release for First National in 1923) is a case in point -- Curtis Benton wrote the original story, inspired by the 1901 hit song "Mighty Lak' a Rose," and the tune certainly played an important part of the live score when the picture hit the theaters. Instead of the lively flappers for which she would become famous, Dorothy Mackaill plays a blind orphan, Rose Duncan, who has a special talent with the violin. Jerome Trevor, a famed pianist (Sam Hardy), hears her playing and sends her to an uncle in New York so she can become educated. But the uncle is killed in an accident on his way to meet her and she is taken in by gang leader Bull Morgan (Anders Randolph). Morgan pretends to be her uncle to elude the police, and he sees the value of keeping her around as cover. One of the crooks working under Morgan, Jimmie Harrison (James Rennie), falls in love with Rose and her beautiful music and he balks at using her to pull off a job. After a heated argument in which Rose is accidentally injured, Morgan comes under the girl's positive influence, as do the other gang members. They all decide to go straight -- even Morgan's hardened moll, Molly (Helen Montrose) -- but when they find out that Rose's blindness can be cured, they decide to pull off one last heist. Jimmie is caught and goes to prison. Trevor finally finds Rose and sends her to be trained. She is about to make her debut -- and to promise herself to Trevor -- when Jimmie shows up. Rose, who thought he was dead, is happily reunited with him. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi