Film 106 in the Hazards of Helen series
Social & External
Helen
Mr. Grayson
The Lineman
Spug
A farmer frames a petty officer for theft and confesses after falling over a cliff.
The wanton dancer Thais, tries to entice Paphnutius from becoming a monk but fails. He later returns to reclaim her soul and follow in his footsteps. They attempt to live lives of simplicity, but the pull of worldliness is too strong.
When a taxi carrying socialite Ruth Darrow drives into the middle of a gun battle between hijacker Kid Gloves and a trio of bootleggers, Ruth is injured. She is taken to a nearby apartment, and The Kid helps to care for her. John Stone, Ruth's fiance and a bootlegger with a respectable front, finds them together and blackmails The Kid into marrying the girl.
A woman with a taste for expensive clothing has four nightmares. An impoverished disabled girl sells her hair, a trapper finds he has an unfaithful wife, the wife of a dying weaver finds she cannot work the loom, and a model harassed by her boss is driven to murder.
A lonely wife becomes obsessed with furs and keeps bad company in an effort to obtain more.
A crooked lawyer sells his car.
Restored by the George Eastman House in 2001, this 1928 serial was considered a “last hurrah” for the silent-era serial, and brought together some of the biggest names of the era: director J.P. McGowan, actors Francis Ford and Joe Bonomo (a carnival strongman-turned-actor), producer Trem Carr (who would later help found Monogram Pictures), and a slew of silent-era supporting icons such as Ruth Hiatt, Grace Cunard, and more. Chapter names like “The Clutching Claw,” “The Devil’s Dice, “Galloping Fury,” and “The Invisible Hand” offer all one needs to know of the film’s concerns: to promise and deliver as much action and suspense as possible, and move our intrepid hero and heroine from one perilous situation to another. One of the biggest stars of the early silent era and a successful serials director in his own right, Francis Ford was the brother of director John Ford.
A cowpuncher by the name of Whistling Dan is adopted by a rancher, Joe Cumberland (James O. Barrows). His daughter, Kate is immediately attracted to Dan, but Cumberland discourages the union since he thinks the young man is too wild for her.
Ralph Kirkwood is falsely tried for murder. He is found guilty after being represented by lawyer, Tom Gannell. Kirkwood's wife believes she knows the identity of the real killer and sets about trapping him.
Millionaire meat packer Peter Cameron, greedy for more money and power, maneuvers an alliance between his daughter Rose and George Gray, the son of Cameron's business rival Max Gray, in order to increase his control of the food industry. George, a lawyer, opposes the trust, and as a result is professionally ruined by Cameron, disinherited by his father, and jilted by his fiancée. Out on his own, George gets a job at a mill and starts at the bottom. When an epidemic breaks out among his fellow laborers due to their eating spoiled meat from the trust, George secures evidence of criminal practices which ultimately brings about the conviction of Cameron and the trust. In championing the rights of the downtrodden, George wins back Rose and reforms Cameron.
Daredevil cowboy Ned Ferguson is hired by John Stafford to stop the cattle rustling plaguing his ranch. On the way to the ranch Ned is bitten by a rattlesnake and is nursed by Mary Radford, who is writing a western novel. Ranch foreman Dave Leviatt tells Ned that Mary's brother Ben is behind the rustling. After Ben and Ned come to an understanding, Dave shoots Ben from under cover but Ben is sure that Ned double-crossed him. Mary will have nothing to do with Ned, even after Ned saves her life during a cattle stampede. Ned finally runs down the rustlers, and Mary sees him as a hero instead of merely putting him in her novel.
Young Jim takes over from his father, political boss Jim Gordon Sr. As ruthless and unfeeling as his dad, Young Jim blocks the efforts by a crusading newspaper to bring about reforms in the city's tenement district. But he comes to regret his intransigence when his father is ruined financially.
A runaway becomes a thief and is sentenced to a reformatory.
Duplicitous Patricia Chase schemes to break up the new marriage of Margery and Wallace Graham because she yearns for Wallace despite her marriage to another. She nearly succeeds but the revelation of a secret thwarts her at the last moment and she gets her just desserts shortly after.
Romantic political drama set in Mexico that costarred Dorothy Gish and Wallace Reid.
A woman hears of a murder plot through a whispered voice on the telephone.
The Lone Wolf, an international thief who is expert in dodging the police, is rifling a wall safe when he senses the approach of detectives. Secreting a necklace in a cigarette case, he makes a hasty retreat. In disguise, he climbs to the balcony of another house where a bal masque is in progress and conceals himself in Marcia Mayfair's boudoir. Later he mingles with the guests and dances with Marcia. Lanyard is disclosed as a stranger when detectives force the guests to unmask, but Marcia remains silent while Lanyard replaces the jewels lifted from her bedroom. Lanyard is warned by Detective Crane, who suspects him but has no evidence. A visit to a bohemian resort owned by Morphew, leader of a band of thieves, provokes a heated argument in which Lanyard is threatened; and Marcia and Lanyard barely escape being caught in a raid. Their romance is threatened when Marcia's jewels are again stolen, but Lanyard traps Morphew and his gang and brings them to justice.
The disgrace and suicide of her father drives Eleanore Marston from her comfortable existence into a life as a department store clerk in New York. There she meets wealthy Powers Fiske, who offers her a life of luxury if she will consent to an operation on her brain which would deprive her of her memory.
The Thompson-Thorpe automobile was once a great car but dissension between the owners led to the break-up of the company, and Thompson and Thorpe have each started their own car-manufacturing company. Not knowing his true identity, Earle Thorpe Jr. has been hired by Henry Thompson to drive his new car in an upcoming race. Unknown to Thompson has two crooked mechanic/engineers on his payroll who plan to make their own car, using Thompson's plans, and win the big race themselves. Etta, Thompson’s daughter, and Earle team up to re-unite Thompson and Thorpe Sr. by taking the best features of both cars and combine them into one super car.
When Rosamond, a convent girl, discovers that her mother is Baby Brabant, a notorious queen of Petworth's gambling house, her ideals are shattered and she denounces her mother's life.
