The Dawn of Understanding is a lost 1918 American silent Western comedy film produced by The Vitagraph Company of America and directed by David Smith. It stars Bessie Love in the first film of her nine-film contract with Vitagraph.
Bessie LoveSue Prescott
George A. WilliamsSilas Prescott
John GilbertIra Beasley
J. Frank GlendonJim Wynd
Dorothea WolbertMrs. PrescottGeorge KunkelSheriff Jack ScottJacob AbramsParson Davies
When the painter Christopher Bean dies, some unscrupulous art dealers try to get several of his paintings cheaply from a family who have no idea of their value.
Sonny Boy's parents are in the midst of a bitter divorce when the boy's mother talks her sister into kidnapping him because she is terrified that her husband will take the boy out of the country after the divorce.
Tiger Thompson promises a dying train robber to mind his innocent daughter and return the stolen loot. Along the way, Thompson is attacked by the dead man's gang but manages to reach the law (and the girl) in one piece and with the stolen money intact.
J. Wesley Pringle and S. S. Thorpe are running against each other for sheriff. Unscrupulous Thorpe has his gang kidnap Pringle to prevent his win but Georgie Hibler, the daughter of Pringle's biggest supporter and her good friend, Fite, whom Pringle had saved from suicide, team up to saves him from the gang. Pringle wins the election and the girl!
Gracia, a half-breed Indian girl, plots with Cons Saunders to steal cattle from Blake because he is oblivious to her charms. With his stock gone, he cannot repay the money he owes his Uncle Benedict, and when Benedict is murdered, Blake is suspected. Because Blake has taken care of Saunders (Cons's father) for the many years he has been without the use of his legs, the latter is finally conscience-stricken and confesses to the crime, thus freeing Blake to marry Diana.
The story of a man -- accused of a crime he didn't commit and wounded by the posse -- who hides out on a desert ranch.
Neil Allison is tricked into assaying some false samples from a young crook's mine. When Neil sees that he has been duped, a quarrel ensues, and Jim Starke, the youth, is stabbed by an unknown assassin. Neil runs away thinking he has committed murder and becomes the unwitting partner of the victim's father.
A once-wealthy sister and brother rent out their Southern mansion and stay on as cook and butler. Spanish language version of the 1930 film "Honey".
The Man Upstairs is a lost 1926 silent film comedy directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Monte Blue. It was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers. The film is based on a novel, The Agony Column by Earl Derr Biggers.
Irene, a young girl from a small town, arrives in New York City determined to make it on the Broadway stage. She meets up with Cookie, a worldly chorus girl who takes Irene under her wing. When Irene falls for young Ronald, his rival Crane sets out to break up the pair so he can have Irene for his own--and he doesn't much care how he does it.
Austin Starfield has his greedy eye on a steel mill belonging to Eve Burnside. He persuades an impoverished count, Leon Molnar to marry Eve so he can then gain control of her fortune.
This musical comedy with an all-black cast imagines what television entertainment will be like in the near future.
Spanish coquette Tula Moliana finds herself encumbered with two husbands, and to get a divorce from the first, Senator Wakefield, she engages Jim Blake, the fiancé of Helen, the senator's daughter, to be her correspondent. Jim agrees to help her but finds himself entangled in a web of deceit and has difficulty in making excuses to Helen for the numerous adventures in which he becomes involved, especially when a jealous rival pursuing Tula threatens his life. Matters are cleared up when Helen discovers he has been victimized, and Tula accepts her first husband. This film is lost.
Dolly Mainard, en route to her father, a major at Fort Blaine, is escorted through dangerous Sioux territory by a cavalry detachment and Army scout Jim Cardigan. When Captain Blackwell offends some braves of Chief Gray Wolf's tribe, Jim is sent ahead to the Indian camp to ask for peace. Imprisoned by the Indians, he sends a message to Blackwell not to advance; Donlin, a renegade scout, tears the note in such a way that the message is distorted, and the entire force is killed. When Jim escapes, he is accused of treason by Blackwell, court-martialed, and sentenced to death; however, he escapes and rescues Dolly, her father, and Blackwell from Donlin's band of renegades. Jim discovers the missing portion of the note in Donlin's hat, proving his innocence. Dolly remains to become his wife.
A drifter hobo is falsely accused of killing a saloon owner
Gold digging blonde Lorelei and her brunette friend Dorothy are searching for rich husbands. This film is believed lost.
Cattlemen attempt to keep their lands and herds from being overrun by nesters.
Street cleaner Elmer Peck (Clyde Cook) inherits a million dollars from his uncle Adam Peck (Tom Ricketts) on the conditions that he retains the uncle's valet, Briggs (William Demarest). until such time as Elmer marries, and that he appears at the office of the probate judge (Douglas Gerrard), at 5 P.M. on an appointed day. Complications arise as a result of the valet's determination to ruin the arrangement, and the equal determination by Elmer and his sweetheart Annie (Louise Fazenda) to see that he doesn't.
Four heirs to a family fortune are summoned to appear at the family estate for the reading of the will, where they meet the estate's staff, which includes a nurse, a crazed doctor, and a sinister handyman.