Rolfe Photoplays

Rip Van Winkle, a lazy American man, wanders off one day with his dog Wolf into the Kaatskill mountains where he runs into an odd group of men drinking and playing bowls. He drinks some of their mysterious brew and passes out. When he wakes up under a tree he is astonished to find that 20 years have passed and things are a lot different. This is a charming story about how America changed due to the cival war, only in a different and more subtle way than ever told before.

Miriam Monroe and John Conrad are two young scientific workers who, independently of each other, have discovered a chemical called exonite. Miriam discovered it while searching for a cure for cancer, while Conrad used it as a basis for a powerful explosive.

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.

When his friends decide that "Happy Jack" Lewis needs a wife, they place an ad in the paper for one. Glad Mason replies and sends her picture. Jack's pals decide she is the one, and after he sees her picture, Jack thinks so too -- until the saloon proprietor points out that maybe she doesn't look anything like her photo. In fact, she could be an old hag!

Actress Jane Carleson has three admirers: Henry Strong (a millionaire), Hamilton Ross (a chemist), and Murray Campbell (a district attorney). When Jane weds Campbell, Ross writes an anonymous letter to Campbell, warning him that Strong is after his wife.

William Baldwin, ruined in business by his partner, John Blaisdell, implores Blaisdell's aid, and receives in answer a five-dollar bill across the face of which is written, "Spend this for a gun and use it on yourself."

Helena Richie leaves her drunken husband, who had killed their child, and goes to Old Chester in Pennsylvania with her friend Lloyd Pryor. Helena adopts a homeless boy, David, who had been a ward of the town's minister, Dr. Lavendar. Helena's true husband dies, but Lloyd Pryor, now tired of Helena, refuses to marry her. Helena confesses to the minister about her actual relationship with Pryor, and Dr. Lavendar forces her to give up her son. Helena agrees, certain that she is an unfit mother. Helena pleads her case and fights for her maternal rights.

After his wife has run off with another man, New Yorker Bide Bennington decides to stay in Europe. After hearing of his wife's death years later, he returns home but finds it lonely there and heads West. While he is gone his house is robbed, and the leader of the crooks, Richard Glendo, leaves Bennington's coat and identification on an East River pier. The newspapers pick up on this and announce Bennington's "suicide." Since he is now officially deceased, Bennington decides to start life all over again -- but first he must foil a scheme by a gang of con artists, who have forced pretty Constance Brent to pose as Bennington's widow so that they can lay claim to his estate.

Wealthy clubman Richard Dorian is a lighthearted soul who can't seem to take anything seriously, including his wife. Even when they decide to divorce, he meets the lawyers with a smile. When one of the attorneys suggests a charge of brutality, Mrs. Dorian points out that it is ludicrous. Dorian offers to have a party on his yacht, during which he will try very hard to be brutal to her to give her grounds for the divorce. Among the partygoers are Mrs. Dorian's guardian and Morgan, a smuggler who is buying the yacht. The guardian, who has squandered Mrs. Dorian's money on the stock market, kills himself. Dorian thinks that his wife killed him, gallantly takes the blame himself, and dives overboard. He becomes a tramp and is shanghaied by Morgan's men to become a stoker on his former yacht. Dorian's steward, Puck, is still onboard, and he tells Dorian that the guardian committed suicide.

Thrown out of his dad's house without a penny to his name, playboy J. Dabney Barron is told not to return until he has proven that he can keep a job for an entire month. After several false starts, our hero is hired to keep flighty heiress Betty Arden out of trouble. He not only succeeds but manages to get his hands on a valuable jewel that has long been coveted by his father.

John Wheeler (Warren Cook) gets himself in some financial hot water and needs to prove that he is half owner of some land in Canada. But the only person with a copy of the deed is Jean Corteau (Edwin Carewe, who also directed), and Corteau has gone up to the property and decided to claim all of it for himself.

Edwin Rowley is a talented but uncommercial playwright. Stephen Hunt is a successful theatrical manager. Rowley finishes a brilliant play and sends it to Hunt for production. Recognizing it as a masterpiece, Hunt puts his own name on the play and produces it, achieving fame as a playwright. Upon discovery of the theft the shock is too much for Rowley’s wife, who dies. Rowley, devastated, loses his sanity and disappears. Hunt decides to adopt Rowley's orphaned son and raises him as his own. Years later, Rowley, wandering aimlessly, sees a poster advertising his play with his own name on it. This sight brings him back to his senses. Rowley and Hunt are reconciled, and Rowley finally receives public recognition and enjoys his success as the true author of the play.

Rich, spoiled social butterfly Pamela Sayre lives the good life with her two maiden aunts. Bertie Holden, the somewhat slacker son of a wealthy couple, is in love with Pamela, who seems to prefer muscular, daredevil-type men, which Bertie definitely isn't. Pamela flirts with the wealthy but much older Charles Van Gordon in order to make Bertie jealous, but her plan seems to backfire.

Artist model Margot uses her “Power of Decision” to choose between two men she loves, after much distress of course!

In the Roman Coliseum, at the beginning of the Christian era, the Emperor Turnerius, accompanied by his favorite, Nerissa, watches the bestial games in the arena. His son Gordian is asked by Grimaldo the magician to save the life of a Christian girl about to be thrown to the lions. He refuses, whereupon Grimaldo prophesies the fate of the Empire by telling the prince a story of the future: Two thousand years hence, in New York, a parallel situation takes place in which a young man is led to put a stop to the base plans of his father. The prince is so deeply affected by the injustice of the story that he plunges into the arena to save the girl, causing the emperor to die in a fit of rage, thus precipitating the coronation of his son as the new emperor.

Broadway star Mona Mainard retires from the stage for marriage to rising attorney John Norton and watches his career climb. Over time she becomes concerned with his at times unscrupulous ways of getting convictions. When her brother is accused of murder Norton refuses to give up the case despite being aware of his innocence because a victory could land him the governorship. Mona takes extreme steps to bring him to his senses and exonerate her brother.

While touring India, noted English criminologist Richard Duvall saves the life of a Buddhist priest who rewards him with the presentation of a wonderful crystal globe. By gazing in it the priest demonstrates that Duvall can fall into a cataleptic state and his astral body is released and is free to roam at will. Shortly afterward he uses the orbs powers to help his lady love Grace Ellicott solve the murder of her aunt and restore her fortune.

Steve, a young college chap who has been unfortunate in his business career, after a life of dissipation, concludes that life is not worth living and contemplates suicide.

Old Silas Blackburn, a wealthy recluse, lives alone with his butler and his ward Katherine. One night, Katherine discovers Silas murdered in the room where three generations of Blackburns have mysteriously died. Silas' grandson Robert, whom Katherine loves, comes to visit the next day, suffering from amnesia.