Frank Powell

A nostalgic look at film clips from the Silent era.

John Schuyler, a happily married lawyer, is appointed diplomat and sent to England. Due to an unfortunate accident, his wife and child can not come along with him. On the ship to England, Schuyler meets the notorious Vampire - a relentless gold digger who causes the moral degradation of those she seduces, first fascinating and then draining the very life from her victims.

Hugo Reid loves and is engaged to the fair Irene. Warned by his father that insanity runs in their family he chooses to break with her without sharing the reason why. Driven by his loneliness and despair, Hugo goes back to his former flame, Hazel Hamilton, a lady of loose character. Irene sees them together and hurt flees with Hugo in pursuit. At first anxious to win her back, Hugo eventually tells all to Irene’s mother, leaving the house for good. Shortly thereafter he falls into madness.

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, of course, the miner decries, and the wanderer uses force to obtain the old man's gold. The wanderer collapses in the desert, only to be rescued by a certain young woman: the miner's daughter.

The evils of drink cause a man to separate from his family. In time he becomes sober and prosperous. Then he meets and falls in love with a young woman, and they become engaged. Unbeknownst to him this young woman is his own daughter.

An historical dramatization of a Spanish woman during the reign of Spanish and Mexican owned California in the early 19th century.

Mildred lives with her husband, the prospector Steve Clark, in an out-of-the-way cabin in the mountains. She is affectionate and considerate, but her husband shows little if any concern for her, let alone love. A newcomer of friendly disposition and good humor one days runs into Clark and later finds Mildred by herself at home. Lonely and lovesick, she is overwhelmed by his lively attention and apparent affection.

Bored by a doting wife who is too eager to please (she even puts a cigar in his mouth and lights it), Mr. Avery falls for a dancer, and is invited to a party she is throwing in his honor. Over her husband’s shoulder, the wife reads a letter from the dancer, with the telltale salutation "My dear boy", and threatens to poison herself if he goes. To show that he is not to be deterred by such a melodramatic trick, Avery takes the vial and pours the poison into a wine glass, saying if she decides to do this, why not do it with style? He then leaves, but not without misgivings. At the party the dancer offers him wine in a glass which looks exactly like the one he had handed to his suicidal spouse. This triggers an attack of conscience, and Avery rushes home, to find his wife in a swoon which he takes for her threat fulfilled. Madly, he bursts into the dancer’s party, confesses assisted suicide, and dies.

Owen Moore is addicted to gambling and about to lose his family and job because of it. James Kirkwood, his brother-in-law, shows up and cures him of his gambling fever.

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.