American Mutoscope & Biograph

Sim Sloane and his beloved son were the reprobates of the village, not what would be called lovers of peace and kindness. But granddad dwelt in a house filled more with love, and when Sim came in for his brutal sport, he soon went out assisted by granddad. Incited by ridicule and drink, Sim swore to get even. That was where granddad's new supply of powder came in. Sim appropriated it and although he wrecked the house of love, he destroyed through his venom the only thing he cherished in life.

Griffith adapts the story of the Apocryphal Book of Judith to the screen. During the siege of the Jewish city of Bethulia by the Assyrian tyrant Holofernes, a widow named Judith forms a plan to stop the war as her people suffer in starvation, nearly ready to surrender.

In this story set at a seaside fishing village and inspired by a Charles Kingsley poem, a young couple's happy life is turned about by an accident. The husband, although saved from drowning, loses his memory. A child is on the way, and soon a daughter is born to his wife. We watch the passage of time, as his daughter matures and his wife ages. The daughter becomes a lovely young woman, herself ready for marriage. One day on the beach, the familiarity of the sea and the surroundings triggers a return of her father's memory, and we are reminded that although people age and change, the sea and the ways of the fisherfolk remain eternal.

Moving Picture World described the film: "There is a small need to describe this subject as the poem of Lord Tennyson is so well known, so suffice it to say that this Biograph subject is an unusually faithful portrayal of that beautiful romance of Enoch Arden, Annie Lee and Philip Ray, taken in scenes of rare beauty".

The question is, would the young tramp really have fallen in love with the groceryman's daughter if he had not caught her in the heart struggle? Be that as it may, she could not find it in her to drown the unwelcome visitor to the pantry, so she let it go and the silent little drama witnessed by the tramp greatly impressed him. Not so the strict aunt, she declared the whole thing to be in exact accordance with everything else in the family. Their hearts ran away with their heads. That was why they lost money on credit, could not pay off the mortgage and send the sick sister to a better climate. As for the tramp, they had no business to take him in. He could not pay for his keep. But the tramp surprised them all.

Agnes, a singer in a country church, is practicing one day when a vaudeville manager hears her and offers her a job. Over the objections of the curate who loves her, she accepts the offer and goes to the city. Later the curate goes to hear Agnes perform and, fearing that her soul is being corrupted by show business, he asks her to return to the small town with him. When she refuses, he is prepared to kill her in order to protect the purity of her soul. This brings about her change of heart, and together they return to the little church.

A man recognizes the thief who had previously robbed him as one of the men involved in an unrelated mob shootout.

A pair of young ladies cause trouble at the cinema with their lavish hats.

The physician's death orphans his two adolescent daughters. Their older brother is able to convert some of the doctor's small estate to cash. But it is late in the day, and with the banks closed he stores the money in his father's household safe. The slatternly housekeeper, aware of the money, enlists a criminal acquaintance to crack the safe. She attempts to get into the adjacent room where the sisters tremble in fear, but finds that the door is locked. The drunken housekeeper menaces them by brandishing a gun through a hole in the wall.

Griffith intercuts between the lives of two couples married on the same day. One couple is rich, the other poor. Time passes, and in desperation over joblessness, the poor husband attempts to burgle a home, only to be captured at gunpoint by the mistress of the house. It is the home of the rich couple. While holding the poor intruder at gunpoint, the rich wife accidentally discovers evidence implicating her own husband in a bribery scheme.

On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.

The amateur dramatic society chooses the Joneses' residence as the location of its next meeting, and both Joneses catch 'the acting bug' in this split-reel subject.

At the Italian boarding house the male boarders were all smitten with the charms of Minnie, the landlady's pretty daughter, but she was of a poetic turn of mind and her soul soared above plebeianism and her aspirations were romantic. Most persistent among her suitors was Grigo, a coarse Sicilian, whose advances were odiously repulsive. The arrival at the boarding house from the old country of Giuseppe Cassella, the violinist, filled the void in her yearning heart. Romantic, poetic and a talented musician, Giuseppe was indeed a desirable husband for Minnie.

Ramona, residing on her wealthy Spanish adoptive mother's rancho in California, falls in love with the Indian Alessandro. When Ramona is denied permission to marry Alessandro, the lovers elope, only to find a life of great hardship and unhappiness amidst the greed and injustice of the white landowners.

Mr. and Mrs. Hilton throw a New Year's Eve party. They agree not to drink the punch themselves, but as guests begin to arrive their resolve weakens, and soon they are both cavorting drunkenly. Next morning Mr. Hilton, feeling very sick, is conscience-stricken over his drunkenness and his behavior with another woman. He fears to face his wife until he discovers that she feels just as guilty herself.

Griffith interweaves two tales of one family: A stern father rules his family by what he thinks to be the Bible's precepts, but it is simply the influence of his own narrow mind. Hence when his boy suggests going to a barn dance, he flies into a rage and commands that the boy remain at home. The boy, however, becomes rebellious and goes, and for this act of disobedience the father drives him from the house and forces the rest of the family to swear never to mention his name again. It's soon revealed that father does have a soft spot and misses the boy. Mary's not-so-bright suitor, the local smith, asks for her hand. When her brother does return to the old home to reconcile, Mary's partner believes her to be unfaithful.

Soon after their engagement, Bill goes to sea, and Emily vows to stay true until his return. Unknown to her, Bill marries another woman from a different port. Emily waits faithfully for six years, finally becoming dangerously ill. When Bill suddenly appears in town with his family, Joe, who has loved Emily all along, forces Bill to make Emily's final moments happy by pretending he has returned to marry her.

A thug accosts a girl as she leaves her workplace but a man rescues her. The thug vows revenge and, with the help of two friends, attacks the girl and her rescuer again as they're going for a walk. This time they succeed in kidnapping the rescuer. The girl runs home and gets help from several neighbors. They track the ruffians down to a cabin in the mountains where the gang has trapped their victim and set the cabin on fire.

Mazie lends her necklace to Nellie, her guest. Nellie is asleep in a hammock when Sam, her sweetheart, arrives in his auto. He awakens Nellie with a kiss. As she starts up she drops the necklace in the grass and their efforts to find it prove futile. Sam promises to buy her one to replace it, thinking it was her own properly. He has her minutely describe it that he may get an exact duplicate. Meanwhile, the governess has found the necklace and given it to its owner, Mazie, who is unknown to Sam. He sees it on Mazie's neck and after a chase insists on purchasing it.

An American Indian child, maltreated by her mother and other tribespeople, accompanies her family to a nearby town to buy supplies. There, local white settlers — a couple and their young daughter — befriend the child and give her a doll, her first and only toy. Meanwhile, another tribesman is wantonly killed by a settler. Enraged, the Indians plan revenge and organize a war-party to attack the town. The Indians also take from the child the doll she was given and smash it. The child mourns her broken doll, and buries it with traditional tribal rites. Alarmed that her new friends will be harmed when the town is attacked, the child rushes ahead of the war-party to give warning of the imminent attack. In the raid the child is struck by a bullet, and makes her painful way to her doll’s burial site. Alone, she dies.