The Stepping Stone(1916)

Won't Back Down(en)

Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.

The Safety of Objects(en)

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.

Come Sunday(en)

Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.

Return(en)

Back from a tour of duty, Kelli struggles to find her place in her family and the rust-belt town she no longer recognizes.

Jungleland(en)

Stanley manages his boxer brother Lion but when a devastating loss in the ring leaves the pair in debt, an opportunity to recoup the cash leads to a series of misadventures that threaten to break the bond between them.

Hands of Stone(en)

The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

Sky(en)

A woman embarks on a journey alone across the United States after fleeing from her violent husband.

Imagine(en)

A blind teacher breaks the rules to help a female student rediscover the pleasures of life.

Head Full of Honey(en)

A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.

Scandalous Sex(en)

A daughter seeks to restore the reputation of her disgraced father, a wronged college professor. With help of a professional student, she must overcome an ambitious sorority bitch and corrupt college dean.

Lucky Them(en)

More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-stone-unturned search to discover what really happened to long lost rock god, Matt Smith, who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Teaming up with an eccentric amateur documentary filmmaker, Ellie hits the road in search of answers.

The Girl in the Book(en)

The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds(en)

Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.

Home Run(en)

A pro ball player with a substance abuse problem is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team

TalhotBlond(en)

Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.

Effie Gray(en)

A look at the mysterious relationship between Victorian art critic John Ruskin and his teenage bride Effie Gray.

Adopt a Highway(en)

Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.

Nothing Personal(en)

Alone in her empty flat, from her window Anne observes the people passing by who nervously snatch up the personal belongings and pieces of furniture she has put out on the pavement. Her final gesture of taking a ring off her finger signals she is leaving her previous life in Holland behind. She goes to Ireland, where she chooses to lead a solitary, wandering existence, striding through the austere landscapes of Connemara. During her travels, she discovers a house that is home to a hermit, Martin.

God's Pocket(en)

A boozy lowlife tries to bury the truth about his crazy stepson's suspicious death, but a nosy newspaper columnist and the young man's mother complicate matters.

Palm Trees and Power Lines(en)

A disconnected teenage girl enters a relationship with a man twice her age. She sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem.

Through Flaming Gates(en)

Peeved and piqued, she sat in fretful mood before the fireplace. Perhaps in the fleeting flames she saw the lights and sights of the ballroom. She chided herself for having married a man who was wedded to his professional duties. Of course, she admitted to herself, the hospital required her husband's duties. The brilliance of the ballroom beckoned with boisterous invitation to her yielding thoughts. She put the baby girl to sleep, and went to the ball alone. The lights were bright, the people were merry and she was happy. But at home a great record was writing itself on the walls, writing mother's negligence in writhing flames. The fire in the hearth, left to its own mischievous irresponsibility, had set the house ablaze.

The Alien(en)

Poor ditch-digger, Pietro Massena, lovingly raises his daughter Rosina. After Phil Griswold's inheritance goes to his brother William, Phil orchestrates a series of crimes to get money framing Pietro. First he has a friend rob a flower shop then when William refuses him money, Phil kidnaps William's daughter Dorothy and sends a ransom note, blaming Pietro. William accidentally runs over Rosina while searching for Pietro in the slums. The grieving Pietro is then framed for the kidnapping when he visits the flower shop for a rose for Rosina's coffin on Christmas morning. The situation is resolved when William announces Dorothy has been found, and Pietro, despite an offer of compensation, sorrowfully returns home.

The Law of Nature(en)

A beautiful eastern society girl is the governess of the children of a wealthy cattleman whom she eventually marries.

The Recoil(en)

Evelyn Nelson portrays the character Frances Powell in this story that centers on themes of justice and personal vendettas in the old West.

A Motion to Adjourn(en)

Silas Warner, Jr., is the playboy son of a wealthy New York financier. When Silas’s brother, Archie, commits a near-theft, Silas nobly takes the blame. Disinherited by his father, Silas travels West to start a new life in a mining town. Once there, he is inducted into a local fraternity of fortune seekers known as the "Ornery and Worthless Men of the World". A series of events leads to a compromising situation that forces Silas to marry Sally. The film blends Western themes with comedic and dramatic elements as Silas navigates his new life and marriage.

The Charmer(en)

Genuinely sweet natured, Ambrosia Lee loves to help everyone, soothing their sorrows with her cheerful spirit. Her charms are put to the test, when she tries to save her own Aunt Charlotte's marriage. Happily, all ends well, when her Aunt and Uncle are happily reunited.

The Eagle(en)

Following his mother's death, John Gregory becomes the "Eagle," a thief determined to get even with the mining company that stole his family's fortune. Breaking into the company’s head office he discovers that another robber has preceded him and killed the night guard. When he is falsely accused, Lucy the girl he loves, discovers a written confession from the real killer just before John is to be hanged and rides wildly to the jail to save his life.

Fires of Rebellion(en)

Madge Garvey (Dorothy Phillips) works in a shoe factory. Her father Joe (Richard de la Reno) is a drunk who beats his wife (Alice May Youss), and her sister Helen (Belle Bennett) has repeated the pattern by marrying Dan Mallory (Edward Brady). The new foreman, John Blake (William Stowell), fires Mallory. Mallory attacks him, but because of his alcohol abuse, his heart gives out and he dies. Blake asks Joe for Madge's hand, and he accepts for her. Madge longs for something better, when Cora, a former stenographer from the company (Golda Madden), writes her from the big city.

Beans(en)

Brewster, the bean king, has an option of renewal on a certain bean canning plant owned by Ellis. Ellis does not want to renew so hires shyster lawyer Wingate to help him. Brewster sends Betty to renew the contract but Ellis declines. Later Brewster sends his lawyer along with Ellis' man to persuades her that he isn't crooked. There follows plot and counter-plot, but innocent Betty carries the day.

Bondage(en)

Dorothy Phillips was starred as Elinor Crawford, a small-town girl who becomes a reporter on a big-city newspaper -- and immediately plunges into the "Bohemian" lifestyle. Assigned to interview a condemned murderer, Elinor must first obtain permission from criminal lawyer Evan Klavert (William Stowell), who happens to hail from Elinor's hometown and who prudishly disapproves of her current mode of living.

The Car of Chance(en)

In his will, Mr. Baird leaves his son Arnold just one seven-passenger auto and a hundred dollars to keep it filled up and in good repair. When James Bennett hears of this, he insists that Baird do something to make his fortune before he can marry his daughter Ruth. Bennett begins by using the car to start a jitney-bus line. This is not terribly impressive to Bennett -- who owns a trolley company -- and he decides he would rather see Ruth married to his controller, William Mott-Smith.

Tarnish(en)

The Face on the Barroom Floor(en)

As a derelict paints the face of a girl on a barroom floor, the plot is developed in a series of flashbacks: Robert Stevens, an artist engaged to marry Marion, a society girl, becomes charmed with a fisherman's daughter who poses for him. The society girl's brother brings dishonor upon the fisherman's daughter, and when she commits suicide the artist shields the brother. Stevens is blamed by his fiancée, who terminates their engagement. The artist becomes a derelict and is wrongfully imprisoned. Eventually Stevens is exonerated and reunited with Marion.

The Red Virgin(en)

Seeking refuge from an arranged marriage, Prince William flees to America where he secretly marries. When his father dies, he is persuaded to return to save his country but leaves before he can explain to his now pregnant wife. In despair she perishes. Her child, Fay, is raised to live for revenge. Years later when her father, the King, is forced to abdicate he comes to America with his son Franz. One evening Fay meets the young Prince and sets out to ruin him, which she does but when her father explains what really happened, she repents. In an unexpected twist a message arrives: the people of Moravia are clamoring for their King, and so Fay goes with her father and brother to face a new future across the sea.

Lonely Heart(en)

Dramatic adventure of the wildcat oil industry set amongst the derricks.

The Empty Cab(en)

Henry Egbert Xerxes' big chance as a cub reporter comes when he is assigned to track down a gang of counterfeiters which gathers regularly at the Red Dog Inn. As he leaves the office, Henry witnesses a girl being dragged into a cab -- the same girl he had seen that morning passing counterfeit money. Henry follows, but on overtaking the cab, he finds it empty. At the Red Dog Inn, he discovers that the girl is being held captive. After a series of rough and tumble adventures with the resident thugs, he and the girl escape, after which he rushes home to write up the story. When it fails to appear in print, Henry storms into the city room only to discover that the entire business was a hoax, intended to test his reporter's instincts.

A Virgin Paradise(en)

Pearl White is a child living alone on a South Seas island after the death of her missionary father. By a stroke of luck, she becomes an heiress, and is transplanted into modern society.

Flame of the Argentine(en)

Doña Aguila, owner of a vast ranch and a valuable emerald mine in the Argentine, longs for her lost daughter, Conchita, and is victimized by her manager, Emilio Tovar, who is secretly stealing gems. Tovar goes to New Orleans to dispose of some emeralds, and persuading cabaret pianist Inez Remírez to impersonate the dead daughter, he schemes to divide her inheritance. Dan Prescott, a stranger, forces himself into their confidence and accompanies the couple on their return voyage. Doña Aguila's kindness causes Inez to repent and to refuse to carry out the plan; Tovar and his men attack the rancho to acquire an emerald necklace, and Inez rides for aid. Prescott, revealing himself to be an insurance agent, wins the heart of Inez, and Doña Aguila adopts her as her legal daughter.

The Face at the Window(en)

Like his father before him, Ralph is admitted to the Graduate Club upon completing his studies at the university. He is presented with a commemorative stein to mark the occasion. Ralph meets an artist’s model, marries her over his father’s objections, and is disowned by the old man. Eventually, he becomes a drunkard and deserts his wife and their baby, who is taken in by Ralph’s father when the young mother dies. The grandson is raised with the same advantages as his father, graduates from the same university, and is admitted to the same club. During the festivities, Ralph stumbles by the club, is seen through the window by his son and his friends, and is brought inside. He attempts to drink from his old stein, but is shoved aside by the boy, who does not know him. The old man enters and recognizes Ralph. All three are reconciled as Ralph dies.

The Gamblers(en)

A father-and-son team of cons gamble their firm’s assets. The son is caught investing money that doesn't belong to him and is indicted on a swindling charge. The plot gets spicy when the District Attorney handling the case is his former sweetheart's husband. This situation gives the DA an opportunity to prosecute his romantic rival.