Secret Strings

Fashions for Women

March 1927 •English

Celeste de Givray is renowned throughout Europe as the most beautiful and best-dressed model in all Paris. Her press agent DuPont concocts an attention-getting publicity scheme by having Celeste undergo cosmetic surgery, then unveiling her "new" face at a posh fashion show. But thanks to a delay in the surgery, DuPont is forced to hired a substitute for Celeste, a look-alike American girl named Lulu Dooley

Convict's Code

August 1930 •English

Just before the scheduled electrocution of stockbroker Kenneth Avery for the murder of Mazie Lawrence, Nan Perry makes one last plea to the governor for a stay of execution and relates the incidents that led to Mazie's death. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

The Girl o' Dreams

January 1918 •English

After his young wife dies, Phillip Fletcher, a millionaire and sculptor, makes his home on an uncharted desert island. Harry LeRoy, a cad who is courting the widow Mrs. Hansen, desires the widow's convent-bred daughter Norma and persuades mother and daughter to accompany him on a sea cruise. When the ship catches fire, Norma, abandoned by LeRoy and her mother in the confusion, is washed ashore on Phillip's island.

Cheap Kisses

December 1924 •English

Refusing to join his family in their new social life when Henry Dillingham suddenly becomes wealthy, Donald Dillingham causes even greater disapproval by marrying chorus girl Ardell Kendall. Learning that famous sculptor Gustaf Borgstrom wishes to use Ardell as model, the Dillinghams suddenly welcome Donald and Ardell to their estate. Donald surrenders to both the jazzy pleasures and the attentions of Maybelle Wescott, but Ardell remains aloof and in order to pay off Maybelle threatens Mr. Dillingham with exposure of his infatuation with a chorus girl.

The Rasp

April 1932 •English

When cabinet minister John Hoode is murdered at his country house, his secretary, Alan Deacon, is the prime suspect and is arrested. Reporter Anthony Gethryn determines to unmask the real murderer.

Sally in Our Alley

September 1927 •English

Sally, a girl of the tenements, is being raised by three bachelor foster-fathers, a pawnbroker, an organ-grinder and a peddler, and is very happy preparing their meals and keeping the house, while the old men bask in the attention she gives them. However, this happy home is broken up when Sally wealthy aunt appears on the scene and takes Sally back to her luxurious penthouse in order to give her the advantages of money and social position. But Sally's heart is back across the river with her plumber sweetheart, Jimmie Adams.

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

May 1917 •English

A doctor's wife is arrested for educating impoverished women about birth control.

The Betrayal

June 1948 •English

In this film, African-American Leroy Collins struggles with the onus placed on him by Society when he falls in love with a white woman.

At The Beauty's Altar

September 1917 •Russian

The Light

January 1919 •English

Theda Bara does her usual vamp turn in this picture, but this time she's a vamp who turns out to have a heart of gold. Her character, Blanchette DuMonde, is known as "the wickedest woman in Paris," and because of this sordid reputation, she is not allowed to serve as a nurse during World War I. So she becomes an Apache dancer instead.

The Last Hour

January 1923 •English

Steve Cline returns to the U.S. after earning his fortune in South America. He reads in the paper that his brother Tom was arrested for safecracking. Tom escapes and runs to the home of Sadie McCall, whose father Reever heads a forgery ring. Steve rushes to meet his brother, but Tom is killed in a police raid. Reever gets away and Steve falls for Sadie, but Steve takes the blame for the murder and faces death by hanging. Reported by some to be Gary Cooper's first film as an extra. However this is not confirmed in any way.

Her Double Life

September 1916 •English

Mary Doone (Theda Bara) is a poor British girl who runs away from her adopted family because the father made a pass at her. She lives at a parish house, and at the outbreak of World War I, she becomes a Red Cross nurse.

The Tiger Woman

February 1917 •English

Theda Bara's vamping is at its most evil here. She plays the Russian Princess Petrovitch, who loves only her pearls. Her husband, the Prince (E.F. Roseman), sells state secrets to a spy to pay her exorbitant bills, and her response is to report him to the secret police. Then she runs off to Monte Carlo with her lover, Count Zerstoff (Emil deVarney), but she poisons him after he racks up a load of gambling losses.

Her Greatest Love

April 1917 •English

Vere Herbert lives with her wicked mother, Lady Dolly (Marie Curtis), who is living in sin with Lord Jura (Glen White). Although Vere is in love with an opera singer, Lucien Correze (Harry Hilliard), Lady Dolly convinces her that marrying the dissolute Prince Zouroff (Walter Law) will save her father's honor. But the Prince makes her miserable and insists on having his mistress, Jeanne deSonnaz (Caille Torrez), live with them.

Camille

September 1917 •English

Camille is a courtesan in Paris. She falls deeply in love with a young man of promise, Armand Duval. When Armand's father begs her not to ruin his hopes of a career and position by marrying Armand, she acquiesces and leaves her lover. However, when poverty and terminal illness overwhelm her, Camille discovers that Armand has not lost his love for her.

The Forbidden Path

February 1918 •English

Mary Lynde (Theda Bara) is an innocent girl who has grown up in New York's Greenwich Village. One of the artists there, Felix Benavente (Sidney Mason), uses her as model when he paints a portrait of the Madonna for a church. His friend Robert Sinclair (Hugh Thompson) corrupts Mary so that her father (Walter Law) casts her from his home. She goes to live with Sinclair in his mountain lodge, but after the birth of a child, he callously casts her aside. Subsequently, her baby dies and she sinks to the depths of despair.

Stormy Seas

July 1923 •English

Two men in love with the same girl race to save her when she is trapped aboard a ship on fire in storm-swept seas.

Draft 258

November 1917 •English

Mary Alden and her brothers Matthew and George have extremely different political views. Matthew is a committed pacifist, and is constantly giving speeches against war. George is notified that his draft number, 258, has been called and to report for induction, but he refuses. Mary, on the other hand, is intensely patriotic and comes up with a plan to shame him into reporting for induction. Meanwhile, Matthew is being set up for a patsy by a gang of German secret agents, led by Van Bierman, who are planning to blow up an airplane factory.

The Wheels of Justice

April 1915 •English

Ralph Brooks, although engaged to Julia Dean, meets and becomes infatuated with Rita Reynolds. She gains his sympathy by telling untrue stories of her husband's brutality. They plan to run away together but while Rita is taking a large sum of money from her husband's safe, he returns early from a business trip and a fight ensues which results in her husband's death.

Agony!! A Shameful Act

July 1995 •Japanese

Pinku distributed by Shintoho