The story is built around the rivalry of two railroads, and the record run that is to decide the awarding of large mail contracts.
Helen is enjoying a ride on her horse, "Hazard," after her day's work, when news comes that "Red" Purdy and his aides are escaping after making a big haul. When the automobile in which they are escaping breaks down they take to a handcar. Helen pursues them down the track while the Sheriff and his posse set out to head them off on a short cut.
Helen, station agent and telegraph operator at Lone Point, is in despair over a broken sounder when Morley, who has dropped off a passing freight, offers to fix it for her. Recognizing in him a man whose skill points back to happier days, Helen encourages him to tell her his story, promising to get him the position of relief operator if he cares to accept it. Morley's story takes him back several years to the time when he gave up his position as an operator following the death of his wife. He has never seen his little daughter since turning her over to the care of a rich brother.
The shifting of the dynamite contained in a boxcar causes the latter to be cut from the freight and set out as unsafe. While this is being done, the Jones gang waylays Emerick, a cattleman who has just sold a herd of stock. Detectives are sent after the thieves.
Albert Gran and E.J. Ratcliffe are warring San Francisco shipping magnates; Mary Brian is Gran’s daughter and Charles (Buddy) Rogers is Ratcliffe’s athletic son. The result is a swift, exhilarating comedy, full of laughs and a nonchalant charm.
A Texas settler and his daughter, Sally, start on a journey in a prairie schooner after bidding farewell to Sally's mother and to Tom, the ranger, who is operating in the neighborhood on a lookout for cattle rustlers and illicit whiskey sellers. The great wagon is hauled out of the corral by a pair of spirited horses, while ranger Tom departs to take up the trail of a "bootlegger" who is reported to have been operating among the Indians thereabouts.
A Mexican leaves his wife and family with hunger staring them in the face to get a job on the "Rocking Chair" Ranch, so that he can supply them with life's necessities. Mexicans are not popular at the ranch and the new man is bullied and persecuted until he tries to kill his foreman, whereupon he is kicked out. He plans to burn the ranch buildings out of revenge.
The story is of a Redman, a civilized Indian, who takes into his home a wounded gambler, shot while escaping the sheriff. The gambler has no honor and wins the affections of Bounding Fawn, the Redman's pretty squaw. The Indian discovers the gambler's treachery, and throws him together with Bounding Fawn, out of the cabin.
Luke Barns obtains employment with a moving picture concern as a cowboy and declares himself capable of performing any or all feats such as cowboys are supposed to perform.
Elsie's idea of a real man was a dummy dressed like a cowboy, reckless and wild and woolly. Wallace Carey, a gallant city businessman, rich, attractive, and well dressed, was in love with her, but she wanted a real cowboy for a husband.
Pola Negri plays a dual supporting role as a nun and a cabaret dancer in this film.
A german film released in 1917 starring Pola Negri.
German silent film starring Pola Negri.
Belle Bennett plays as the widowed mother of seven children living in Sioux City, Iowa. She moves with them to Cambridge, Massachusetts in order to educate her children with culture and give them every advantage. Bennett, who is unversed in financial matters, soon faces poverty for herself and her children. She takes out a loan from an unscrupulous lender (played by Richard Tucker), who is so impressed by the charm and valiant spirit of Bennett than he neglects to ask her for collateral. Bennett, however, is only able to partially pay her creditors. Marion Nixon, Bennett's eldest daughter, is shocked by her mother's actions and attempts to sacrifice herself to Tucker in order to clear her mother's obligations, even though she is engaged to marry a well to do Harvard undergraduate, played by Rex Bell. This film is believed lost.
Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
Heiress Sybil Drew is told by her Aunt Annabelle she must earn her own living for a year or be disinherited. Setting out for New York she finds many adventures and toils, including being mistaken for a thief before true love and success come her way.
At the suggestion of his sons Horace and Henry, aging Ebenezer Boyce turns over control of his pistol factory to Martin. However, when Ebenezer discovers the extent of Martin's dishonesty and corruption, the shock gives the old man a heart attack and he dies. Soon afterward Martin is discovered dead, and the brothers begin to suspect each other of the murder.
Unable to pay for her passage upon setting sail to the tropics to meet her mail-order husband, Dorothy Ryan assumes the identity of a wealthy passenger who is presumed dead. Enjoying the preferential treatment she receives; Dorothy continues the masquerade when she arrives at her destination. She forgets all about her husband-to-be and falls for local aristocrat John Rice (Larry Kent). The party ends when the woman whom Dorothy is pretending to be suddenly shows up, very much alive and incredibly angry. Disgraced in the eyes of John's family, Dorothy wanders into the jungle only to be captured by natives and sentenced to be burned at the stake. Will true love John be able to rescue her in time?