An early satirical anthology of socially conscious shorts.
Social & External
The people behind it
A man abandons his wife, weds a wealthy woman, takes a mistress, steals an inheritance, and eventually murders his first wife, all while keeping these secrets hidden.
Identical twin brothers, Ward and Clyde Kingsley lives intertwine in a scheme involving marriage, insurance fraud, and mistaken identity. Clyde marries heiress Agnes for her money, but when he plans to fake his death with the help of his dying twin Ward, Agnes falls for Ward, leading to a murder plot where Clyde is accidentally killed by his own accomplices, leaving Ward and Agnes to marry after Ward's recovery.
Sam Higgins, a grocery clerk, sends his invalid wife, her mother, and their baby to Arizona, hoping the desert climate will improve her failing health. The family rents a cottage owned by John Hecker, a stern railroad superintendent. However, they soon find themselves unable to pay the rent. Hecker threatens them with eviction, demanding they pay immediately or leave the premises. Desperate, they write to Sam for help. The film concludes with Sam attempting to secure the funds to save his family from being stranded in the desert.
Don McFadden, an East Side gunman and member of the Gopher gang, of which Schwartz is the leader, is in love with Lola, a girl from his neighborhood. The Gopher gang throws a dance, which is broken up by a group of rival gangsters. In the fight, Lola is shot in the shoulder and taken to the hospital, where she is kindly treated by the nurse and Dr. Deering.
Chorus girl Jane Woods who vacations in a small town, catches the eye of the local parson, James Larkin, and marries him, but faces town gossip and the arrival of her old troupe until she proves herself a devoted wife, learning true happiness away from the stage life.
A mounted police lieutenant investigates the murder of a factor, MacKenzie, discovering it's a tale of vengeance: MacKenzie had stolen the assistant factor Burke's wife and daughter, leading Burke to kill him in a coin toss for the first shot, a brutal act presented as a chilling story of betrayal and revenge in the wilderness.
In nineteenth century Mesopotamia a series of romantic enganglements ensue.
Young Jackie Kernwood, the daughter of the colonel commanding an army post, is bored with the routines of post life, and to break the monotony she organizes a girls' brigade, of which her father disapproves. When the colonel forces her to disband the group, she makes up her mind to run away and become a nurse in the Red Cross. Before she can do that, however, she stumbles across evidence of a spy ring headed by an officer on the post that is plotting to blow up a troop train--and it looks like the chief spy is her boyfriend, Lt. Adair.
A former captain in the French secret service who decides to travel the world following World War I. Arriving in America, he enlists in the U.S. Secret Service, and the main plot unfolds when he eventually rescues a young woman being held captive in her uncle's house.
John Warner, the newly elected governor, as district attorney, had ordered the execution of Horgan's sons, thus making him his worst enemy. Horgan, head of the First District, owns a fancy saloon. Donald Warner, John's brother, a reckless and reckless, though very lovable boy, is a frequent visitor to Horgan's house, visiting with Dolly, a girl from the underworld.
Helene Palmer and her husband Orrin have grown apart, and she becomes infatuated with bachelor Edward Wadsworth. With the outbreak of World War I, Orrin and Edward enlist, while Helene works as a Red Cross nurse in a small French town. Edward is wounded on a dangerous scouting mission near the town and Orrin carries him to safety. The enemy invades during the night, and Orrin rescues Helene as she is about to be overpowered by a German officer. The dying Edward, morally strengthened by his experience as a soldier, encourages the couple to reunite. Soon after, peace is declared.
John Dale, a lawyer, who, after a trip to the Middle East, is asked by his niece why he's never married, leading him to recount a tale of a yachting party and a love affair.
Society girl Sybil Lawton is left penniless by her father's death, and though her mother wishes her to marry into wealth, her sole ambition is to achieve fame in the theater. Her youthful charm and talent interest producer Stewart Thrall, who finds her a position with an Omaha stock company. Under Sybil's encouragement, fellow actor Jim Roberts, disillusioned by an unhappy marriage, improves and becomes her self-appointed guardian. Sybil returns to New York and begins rehearsals for "Romeo and Juliet" with Thrall as her costar and Roberts as stage manager. Meanwhile, Thrall's unhappy wife obtains a divorce, and Roberts, recognizing her as the woman who ruined his life, blames Thrall and shoots him at a performance as he bends over "Juliet" on her bier. Thrall recovers, however, declares his love for Sybil, and looks forward to happiness with her.
Arsdale, a candidate for mayor misconstrues the situation when he sees his wife Alice enter the apartment house of gambler Norton. Unknown to him Alice’s sister Mabel had married the dissolute Norton and made her life misery. Norton, recruited by Arsdale’s rival to incriminate his opponent surreptitiously tries to compromise Alice and Arsdale, consumed with jealousy shoots him, ruining all their lives.
Dirk Morgan, a trusted member of a powerful international criminal gang, receives word that the steamer Empress has left Melbourne with a secret shipment of gold; the letter also contains plans for the ship's hold and cabins. Dirk books passage for himself and Anne and they board the steamer in Sydney.
Violet Waldron is the daughter of dissolute parents with no hope of redemption. Yet, strange as it may be, she is a loyal and loving soul, supporting her father and mother in their degradation, no matter how badly they mistreat her. Seeking help for Bill Waldron, who has overdosed on cocaine, she tries in vain to convince his mother, whom she finds in a wine room, to come home with her.
Jim and Flora work together to rob a diamond broker's office, successfully stealing several large, valuable diamonds. Making their getaway in a taxi Flora asks Jim for her agreed-upon share of the stolen diamonds. Jim refuses to give her the diamonds immediately, telling her it wouldn't be safe for her to have them at that time, and promises to divide the loot later. This causes tension and conflict between the two accomplices.
Yano is a small delivery boy for his uncle, who keeps a curio shop in Chinatown. His loves are Tama, his sweetheart, and Bengi, his dog. Bengi is seized by dog catchers, but is rescued by Letty Stanford, for which Yano promises his fealty. Later Letty is kidnapped by Germans because of her war activities, and it is Yano who goes to her rescue and gets her free in spite of his diminutive size. The Little Japanese has paid his debt.
There is, at once, quite a change in Dot and her sweetheart Robert plainly doesn't like it. After a tussle with a burglar and a cop the couple come to an understanding.
Bessie's father is a widower contemplating remarriage to widow Irene Hunt but Bessie jealously objects, fearing Irene will intrude on her relationship with her father.
A filmmaker talks about his work and love life with an unseen friend behind the camera. We also watch four of his short films.
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Owing to his alleged involvement with communist parties, film director David Merrill is forbidden from working in Hollywood. He decides to fight for his rights and faces numerous challenges.
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Inspired by Chris Marker's iconic 1962 featurette La Jetée; the year is 2073—a not-so-distant dystopian future—and the setting is New San Francisco, the scorched-earth tech-dominant police state where democracy and personal freedom have been well and truly obliterated.
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Based on the true story of Quawntay “Bosco” Adams. Sentenced to 35 years for attempted possession of marijuana, Adams miraculously escaped from a Federal maximum-security prison while under 24-hour surveillance in solitary confinement with the help of an older woman he met through a lonely-hearts ad.
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
Allied agents infiltrate the Nazi rocket complex at Peenemunde in order to obtain their secrets and sabotage the plant. The film alternates between German developments of the V-1 missile and V-2 rocket (with a German cast speaking their own language) and discovery by British Intelligence of the weapon.
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Facing eviction in a city her family can no longer afford, a woman plunges into a desperate and increasingly dangerous all-night search to raise $25,000.
At a media-swamped party to celebrate his seventieth birthday and screen his avant-garde film-in-progress, a legendary but jaded Hollywood director is faced both with voracious fans and unsettling questions about what became of his lead actor.
In an English boys' boarding school, social hierarchy reigns supreme and power remains in the hands of distanced and ineffectual teachers and callously vicious prefects in the Upper Sixth. Three Lower Sixth students, Wallace, Johnny and leader Mick Travis decide on a shocking course of action to redress the balance of privilege once and for all.
Disgrace is the story of a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his good looks, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his cherished daughter. After having an affair with a student, he moves to the Eastern Cape, where he gets caught up in a mess of post-apartheid politics.
After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him.
During World War II in North Africa, a group of British commandos disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital Nazi oil depot.
